About this session

Thursday, 10:00 AM - 11:30 AM

Family engagement in early learning: Innovation and investigation through co-design

This symposium brings together four projects in which developmental scientists use co-design methods to partner with families and communities. These co-design partnerships are used to innovate and investigate strategies for family engagement in young children’s learning. In each project, co-design is employed as a method for improving the ecological validity, equity, and impact of developmental science. The first paper reports feasibility testing of a co-designed family engagement program that leverages cooking and eating together as culturally powerful activities for supporting attitudes toward learning and literacy. The second paper describes a co-design research project to uncover and better understand variation in Latine caregivers’ culturally enriched mathematical explanations while using the Mexican craft of papel picado to support their children’s math learning. The third paper comes from a partnership of researchers, pediatric providers, and a community organization of early math advocates and designers/artists; the project is focused on co-design and impact testing of early math learning exhibits for a community health center. In the fourth paper, a community-based research methodology is presented that involves Latine families as (a) co-designers of community spaces (e.g., bus stops, parks, and grocery stores) to promote playful learning and (b) as co-researchers. Underscoring the co-design method, the symposium will include developmental scientists and a community organization leader as presenters. Together, the presentations will illustrate how co-design can improve the meaningfulness, relevance, and impact of early learning interventions by harnessing core principles of developmental science in tandem with the wisdom, skills, and lived experiences of families and communities.

Paper #1
Title	Co-design and Evaluation of the Feasibility of the Literacy Eats Program
Presenting author	Diana Leyva, Ph.D., University of Pittsburgh, United States

Paper #2
Title	The Art of Papel Picado as a Context for Math Engagement with Latine Families
Presenting author	Paola Montúfar Soria, New York University, USA

Paper #3
Title	Playful Early Math Learning in a Community Health Center
Presenting author	Eric Dearing, Ph.D., Boston College, United States

Paper #4
Title	Latine Parents as Community Researchers: Exploring the Impact of Playful Learning Landscapes on Community Perceptions
Presenting author	Vanessa N. Bermudez, University of California, Irvine, USA

View all paper details

Session chair
Eric Dearing, Ph.D., Boston College, United States

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