Thank you for watching our video! We are hoping to get some critical feedback about our project, we have two questions to start the discussion:

• What aspects of our project resonated most with you — the focus on narratives in STEM, the integration of empathy into engineering education, the focus on increasing girls' engagement with engineering, or something else? Why? What connections were you making with your own work or others'?
• What other opportunities are there to use empathy and narratives to create more inclusive STEM learning experiences? What questions remain about how to use this approach successfully with different audiences?

For access to our articles and our Practitioner's Guide from this study, just go to this link:  Narrative Elements Shaping Engineering Engagement Resources and go to Resources at the bottom of the page.

 

Good morning to some of my favorite museum-based researchers.  To answer your first question, Dorothy, the part of the project that resonated most with me is its theoretical framing, which allows it to both substantially improve specific activities and provide more general guidance for the field in making many other activities more engaging, especially for girls.  Just the idea of 'adding narrative" can provide new inspiration and a new lens to museum experience designers - and educators in other settings as well.  Many years ago when I did some research on Zoombinis, a logic-based educational game developed at TERC, I found that girls approached the game from a more character- and narrative-based perspective, often creating their band of Zoombinis as a "family" and expressing genuine concern about the Zoombinis' fates.  So there is something deep and general about your insights and the work you have done to add data and nuance to that insight.

My questions for you are: do these narrative modifications have any impact across gender lines?  Do boys ignore the narrative suggestions - or (hopefully not) find them off-putting?  Do you have any input from parents that indicate that they saw a difference in their daughter's engagement?  And how do we think of "gender" in the current environment in which some young people find "non-binary" to be a comfortable and welcome designation.

Good morning everyone!

As someone who is both a children’s book author and a university mathematics instructor, I find this project absolutely fascinating. The video was beautifully produced, too. I have a couple questions for you, but first I want to respond to your questions, Dorothy. I was primarily struck by how the incorporation of narrative elements transformed engagement. Seeing the children using different terrains, incorporating hard hats, etc., made it so clear how that element of role playing, of seeing themselves within the story of their projects, rather as external and more distant creators, was not only essential to but transformed the experience. I also just love that these elements aren’t fancy or high cost, but just little things that allow children to enter the narrative imaginatively. And it is precisely those elements that unlock the potential of the larger project, getting their creative minds to turn on and begin exploring and asking questions.

 My first question is about your mention of empathy. I can imagine how empathy might play a key role, but I would love to hear more from you about how you came to see empathy as the central emotion or state being evoked by narrative elements and as the goal of your work. You also mention the importance of imagining “who to help” and “what problems to solve.” This seems connected again to empathy but I’d love to hear more.

 And second, you mention both comparing the same activity with and without narrative elements and then also interviewing 200 girls. Were these two separate ways to measure the impact of this project or were you combining these findings? I’d love to hear a bit more about both of these methods of assessment.

And I love your questions about gender, Andee. Very much looking forward to this discussion!

Great viideo! The focus on narrative is of interest to me. Design thinking models also include developing empathy for the users of the designed object. I wondered if you looked at those frameworks and how they influenced you. 

Andee,  thanks so much for watching and for the great questions you always ask. As Suzy said, the study we did was just looking at young people who identified as girls in our spaces because of the large and long history of them being historically excluded.  And I agree with Suzy, what we saw is that many of the design principles that evolved for adding narrative seemed universally appealing.  The key was not to overprescribe the narrative framing but to leave room for all kids to expand on it or not. Issues of what parents thought about the activities is something that I think would make for a very interesting next avenue of research.  We have less information on that although Suzy or colleagues might have things to add about that in their observations. 

Thank you Dorothy and Susan for these wonderful responses. I am particularly grateful for the clarity and jargon-free nature of the language you use. You both beautifully emphasize that these narrative elements are not a superficial aspect of the design (flashy things saying "Come here, play with me!") but rather integral to the actual efficacy and depth of the participants' engagement and willingness to explore problems. 

This statement from Dorothy nails it: "We were interested in looking at whether a hint of narrative would offer a chance for learners to imagine design options differently by considering what a person would need in a given situation, how it would make the end users feel, or how you looked at consequences of your design (like keeping someone safe from falling out of their all terrain vehicle)."

And then Susan powerfully connects this to empathy here: "[Bruner] describes how narratives prompt people to imagine others’ perspectives and intentions, and fill in details from their own imaginations and prior experiences. We’ve thought a lot about both aspects of narrative in this project, in terms of both fostering empathy for others and allowing some freedom for learners to make the narratives their own."

This strikes me as really central - the ability for these same elements to go both ways, to take the students imaginatively into others' potential struggles and experiences but also to give the students deeper access to their own experiences.

A follow-up question: I'm curious how you settled on given elements of your designs? Was there some trial and error period? Did some elements end up getting discarded? As you say, they had to be chosen carefully so that these little hints, as you put it, would have big imaginative possibility central to the task at hand.

 

Dorothy - what a fantastic and concrete response!  I can see why you and Susan are working on this project - because you are both beautiful communicators who have a sense of the power of narrative to transform engagement and understanding. You modeled this again here in your response.

Often stories, once they are written, seem simple, obvious even. Many people think, "Oh I could have written that." But if the story is a good one that simplicity is deceptive. In the same way, the narrative elements you introduce are apparently simple, but your example powerfully illustrates how not any narrative elements will do.

If you are just coming to this page, READ THE EXCHANGE ABOVE! Not only will it deepen your understanding of this amazing project, but it is a wonderful model for expository writing about a STEM topic (jargon-free, concrete, compelling, and generous in spirit). 

I'll keep checking back here, because I want to read all of your responses! 

Really wonderful approach to creating more meaningful engagement in engineering and thinking about how important it is to frame (and reframe) problems. So important! 

Such a wonderful project, video and thoughtful discussion.  I love the way gender is centered and tackled creatively with low-risk, hands-on experiences.  We are looking at the role empathy-driven learning experiences play in student engagement in higher ed engineering contexts – your project zeros in on an aspect I hope to focus on in the coming year, fabrication and DEI.  Thank you for giving "informal" a place at the table :)

Wow! What an incredible video! I love it. My area of research is creative self-efficacy of women engineering students and the pipeline into engineering, Here is a paper we have on the topic, and my doctoral dissertation. I think you will find these to be interesting.

Delahanty, C., & Silverman, J. (2021, July), Creative Self-Efficacy of Undergraduate Women Engineering Majors Paper presented at 2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access, Virtual Conference. 10.18260/1-2—36877

Delahanty, C. (2020). Creative Self-Efficacy of Undergraduate Women Engineering Majors: A Mixed Methods Study (p. xvi, 188 pages) [Drexel University]. https://doi.org/10.17918/00000005

I found that the female students in my study did not know what engineering was prior to entering the major, and many had negative perceptions that is was only for males. How do you approach the misconception by some that engineering is a male dominated field? What do you think is the best way to increase the self-efficacy of young female students so that they are more confident in choosing majors like engineering? How powerful do you find the creative aspect of engineering to be in engaging and inspiring these students? 

Thank you for sharing such an incredible video. My research interest also includes designing STEM/CS outreach programs and I am amazed by the findings presented in this video. Could you please say more about how the narrative data is being collected? Did the activities being offered in a one-time workshop or through a more formal class in which parents signed up for their children? Thank you!

Amy,  I have seen that these additions of narrative or even a tweak to the problem frame in some of our colleagues' work in formal classrooms as well as my former work documenting a design-based high school engineering program go a long way in inviting engagement and investment in the problem.  It is mostly asking, if you are designing a ________,  follow up with a for whom and where? So for example, in a robotics design challenge, rather than creating robots to beat someone to the end of a path, you allow for kids to think about a setting they might be designing for and what their designs will need to be able to do (e.g., a dance floor where you are designing a way for the robots to synchronize their movements for a routine uniquely their own).   Or in another example, I have seen teacher adding characters (small plastic animals) to designing amusement park rides with everyday materials.  We will be testing these ideas out with teachers alongside our collegues at the Amazeum in Arkansas this June and will let you know what we find! Mindy, don't know if you have anything to add about what you have been hearing from the teachers you have recruited.

So wonderful to see your work again! I didn't know that you had a video posted here until today, but funny enough, I actually referred someone to your work yesterday. They have a similar emphasis on empathy and storytelling but at the higher ed level and I immediately remembered your project. I think I must have heard you present last year at ASEE.  Anyway, I'm obviously a fan, and hope to continue to learn from your research! If you have time, come check out our work too! 

Loved the integration of the narrative in this project and the guide you put together.  You did an amazing job at providing guidelines that can be adapted into the work we do without making it prescriptive or feeling it's a collection of pre-baked activities. 

I was wondering what the process of creating the guide was like. I am currently working on a similar facilitation guide for culturally-relevant game design and it is often difficult not to turn the guide into something prescriptive.

Very much appreciating the framing of this project and the focus on creating empathy; as well as the inclusion of a narrative. I could see this work as so generative in terms of ultimately looking at other areas of prosocial and equitable dimensions, in addition to empathy, to helping young people see the social use and  power of scientific work across a variety of domains. The guide looks very helpful and concrete. I will pass on to my colleauges!

Susan, I was going to ask a similar question as Hui. I have experience in culturally relevant robotics with preschool families. We use narrative as a vehicle for family activities and sharing big conceptual ideas. Our partnering parent leaders have been designing the program with us. (Year 1, design). 

I noticed you had girl scouts at least in a snippet. My daughter has completed the engineering patches, and, we solved a social issue when we did it. It would be really cool to have local girl scout troops collaborate on the narratives. 

Great project, much-needed work. I look forward to reading the published work that comes from your efforts. 

Great project and amazing video! The focus on empathy makes me wonder about how either empathy OR your narrative method might intersect or relate to socioscientific issues and justice-centered engineering. I think it is important how your project makes "classic" engineering projects more accessible, though my own work has taken the route of introducing new, real-world problems that introduce social or environmental justice issues. I am imagining the possibilities of doing both - introducing social and justice-centered problems through these narratives.

Side note, what struck me is the willingness to share your packet (I would love to see your design principles). But I am not able to get to QR code to take me to it! Would you mind sharing the link?

Good project. This is the genesis of engineering "creativity". Job well done.

Thanks Christina and great question. I think there is an important t role for narratives to play in justice oriented engineering and socio-scientific issues.  Especially with older children, having them create their own use cases of who they might be designing for based on interviews with stakeholders can encourage deeper problem scoping and ideation.  Would love to hear more about the problems you are thinking of and in what context. 

Apologies about the QR code.  I am attaching the link here: Guide for Museum Practitioners: Using Narratives to Support Empathy and Engineering  Let us know if you have trouble accessing it.

This is such a wonderful project, and thanks for the link to the guide you produced. Our work incorporates live action role play (basically shared improvisational storytelling) into computational learning, hope you will check out our video and would love to talk with you, and also, get references to other publications you may have produced from this work. Very inspiring and sharing with my team! 

Katherine

Hi Katherine,  Would be great to talk to you further about your work.  For access to other articles, just visit our informalscience.org project page.  I also posted the link to our opening post if you come back here again!

Thank you so much! Going to share with our team, much appreciated :)

And glad to connect via email to set up some time to talk, katherine.isbister@ucsc.edu

Wow, this is fantastic! I'm taking a look at the guide you produced to learn more.

I'm at Boston College, and we just finished the first year of a new Human-Centered Engineering program. There are similarities between that undergrad degree and the work you're doing with young learners, namely, bringing purpose and meaning to the forefront of engineering design. I saw some mentions of older children in the discussions; I think we'll find some exciting ideas for undergrads studying to be professionals in your work!

 Just cycling back to this video to read the ongoing discussion, which is wonderfully rich!  It seems to me that you're getting kids to do REAL engineering - which always has a purpose deeply rooted in human needs and dilemmas.  It's sad how we sometimes remove that part of engineering (and other subjects) when we think about education.  I often think of some of my favorite math educators - Janet Ainley and Dave Pratt of the UK - who emphasize designing educational tasks with purpose and utility - as seen from the learners' perspective.  Thank you for your work - and thanks to all the commenters for making this such a valuable discussion.

Thank you for sharing this important work. I find it so compelling that not only are the participants more engaged, they are using more engineering practices too. I also wanted to commend you for such a rich discussion board. I feel like I've learned so much just reading through the thoughtful exchanges here!

Thank you for sharing this clearly-described approach to this research in service to practice project, and for providing access to the practitioner guide that resulted from the work. Thanks also for providing a peek at how the narrative activities are playing out at the partner institutions. Were there any interesting differences in how the character, setting and problem frames, or the aspects of empathy worked in each institution or region?

This has been a rich discussion! Many thanks for the thoughtful questions and comments.  Andee, I have to second what you said-  it is sad to think engineering and other subject areas have been so separated from addressing human needs and dilemmas. I think what most excited me about this work is that while it took a great deal of iteration to get a sense of what worked, the changes one can make to bring empathy to the center are not a heavy lift for many. 

In terms your question Jamie:   Based on our iterative testing in the first two years, we generally all started with the same guidelines for the narrative framing of the activities and for the basic types of materials needed to conduct the activity (e.g., having three different landscapes with three different textures or providing materials that can serve as connectors for the air powered vehicle activity).  But each museum used materials they had available to them and their own ingenuity in extending the narrative frames that we were testing to suit their settings and audiences. For example, our colleagues at the Tech were creative in adding hardhats from a former earthquake exhibit they had on hand to the earthquake structure activity which enhanced the narrative framing and added role play opportunities for younger children that seemed to promote visibly more collaboration within the space.  While all of the activities were not part of the formal evaluation across sites, we did observe qualitatively that these small modifications seemed to go a long way in increasing engagement in practices and in fostering empathy. At NYSCI, we varied the Help the Pets activity by not only having the automated pets present but adding collars on the pets that had prompts like, I "want to play" or "I am hungry" and our evaluators did see more expressions of empathy and wider array of engineering practices with the addition of the collars to make the presence of the end users' needs more present.  

The guide includes many of these stories from across our three sites and we hope people will let us know if they help!

What an excellent program and video!  I work a lot with narrative as a teaching tool, and this has given me a lot to think about.  The program my team and I are presenting this year, which was funded by the Department of Defense, uses a variety of narrative structures to teach the science behind BioFabrication. (https://stemforall2022.videohall.com/presentations/2489).  Part of our mandate intersects with yours, which is to bring more women into STEM.  To that end we again brought narrative into play.  We created videos that tell the stories of recent college graduates and how they came to working for BioFab startups.  You can view them here: Building a Strong Workforce Alliance for Biofabrication & Bioengineering through K-12 Education.  I'd love to get your thoughts!  

Hi Ezequiel, A long one! We made a decision rather early on that we didn't want to be prescriptive and that our activities while they could be implemented the way they ended up, it was really the design principles that we wanted people to see in action.  Fortunately, as part of our design-based research process, our team had protocols for documenting activity modifications along the way which gave us good content to use and offered us the opportunity to backtrack and tell the story of the evolution of an activity and design decisions that made a difference.  We then experimented with different ways to visually and in words tell that story.  We got very good input from our advisors to the project on what kinds of information and framing made the most sense.    So lessons learned, if your goal is not to be prescriptive, keep that as a guiding goal in the organization of your guide, document the evolution of you work well along the way,  involve your advisors  or critical friends into the process on early drafts and experiment with formats.

I love this project. Empathy is important in so many ways. I read a paper recently that talked about how girls tend to choose careers where they can help people. It suggested that if engineering and design are presented in a way that highlights how people can be helped, it might be one way to keep young girls on a STEM path.