Equity Pedagogies for Preschool Family Engagement in Science and Engineering

Around the world, the demand for scientists and engineers grows while institutions struggle to provide more equitable STEM education and opportunities. The global movement for equity and diversity in STEM has implications for early childhood educators’ local teaching practices. An early childhood teacher educator describes the guiding principles and process of developing an equity-focused program in collaboration with diverse preschool families and teachers. The research-based program, called Family Science and Engineering Nights, used culturally responsive pedagogy as a framework for instruction and family engagement. The program made innovative, bilingual science and engineering encounters (testing hovercrafts, improving simple robots) available to 375 preschool children and their families. This chapter proposes strategies to enhance engagement with traditionally marginalized families through science and engineering education. Implications include considerations for applying a culturally responsive framework to global trends in STEM research and practice, including early childhood engineering, making, and tinkering. This work advances discourses on pedagogy in early childhood STEM education by deepening connections to an equity framework and family engagement.