Towards a Culturally Responsive Design Experience: How Students' Community Capital Contribute to their Design Approach

Abstract

This Research work-in-progress (WIP) presents the preliminary analysis of how undergraduate engineering students incorporate their backgrounds and experiences into their design approach. Like practicing engineers, students draw from their lived experiences to support their design process. This WIP uses Community Cultural Wealth to capture the extent to which local connections and cultural networks (i.e., community capital) influence the design considerations of students from a Hispanic Serving Institution. Preliminary results analyze the design process of three mechanical engineering undergraduate students in their first semester of a Capstone Design course. The students participated in a focus group interview, where they were asked to complete a design task and respond to follow-up questions. This WIP focuses on a community-driven analysis of students' design approach and considerations solely within the focus group interview. This study aims to inform the development of more inclusive and culturally responsive learning environments that enable students to purposefully leverage their backgrounds within their design process.