Getting to the Next Stop: Teaching Transportation Engineering through a Multilingual Board Game

G. R. Marvez; Greses Perez

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Conference: 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Baltimore , Maryland
Publication Date: June 25, 2023
Start Date: June 25, 2023
End Date: June 28, 2023
Conference Session: Disciplinary Engineering Education Research – Session 2
Tagged Division: Educational Research and Methods Division (ERM)
Tagged Topic: Diversity
Page Count: 9
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--43789
Permanent URL: https://strategy.asee.org/43789
Download Count: 118

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Paper Authors

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G. R. Marvez Tufts University Center for Engineering Education and Outreach

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Marvez is a PhD student in the joint STEM Education and Cognitive Sciences program at Tufts University interested in games, language, and controversial discussions. In past research projects, they have worked on the development of virtual simulations for teachers to practice leading controversial discussions. They are interested in ways to prepare teachers to facilitate controversial debates with students in STEM classrooms, such as through simulations and games, on topics such as genetic modification, climate change, and public infrastructure. Marvez has also worked on the development of natural language processing models for assessment and personalized feedback in educational settings. At Tufts, Marvez works with McDonnell Family Assistant Professor Greses Pérez in the CEEO on the development of engineering board games for multilingual students in culturally relevant contexts.

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Greses Perez Tufts University orcid.org/0000-0003-4737-0888

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Greses Pérez is an engineer, learning scientist and educator. She received her Ph.D. in Science Education with a focus on Learning Sciences and Technology Design from Stanford University. Her scholarship specializes in the interdisciplinary study of language and cognition for students who experience a cultural and linguistic mismatch between the practices of their communities and those in engineering and science. In addition to her work on culturally relevant learning through emerging technologies, Greses uses mixed methodologies to investigate the strengths multicompetent individuals, whose lives exist between languages and/or cultures, might be able to contribute to the social fabric. Her mission is to expand who is heard and can contribute to the disciplines as society demands professionals with backgrounds as diverse as the challenges we face.

Greses’ scholarship advocates to include the rich trove of insights from multicompetent groups in creating engineering solutions and scientific ideas. Before her time at Stanford, she was a bilingual educator at low-income elementary schools in Texas. As a civil engineer, Greses led EU funded projects in the Caribbean to create educational opportunities for coffee farmers and their families. She holds a B.S. in Civil Engineering from Santo Domingo Technological Institute, a M.Eng. in Civil Engineering from the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez, and a M.Ed. in School Leadership from Southern Methodist University.

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Abstract

Games are powerful tools for learning, whether that be modified off-the-shelf games or custom games for a certain topic. Games can help model complex systems for engineering students, such as mass transit systems in urban areas, that students would otherwise have difficulty interacting with due to dangers or lack of access to such systems. Additionally, games about complex systems offer a way for teachers to introduce potentially difficult discussions into the classroom and encourage students to practice debate about design. However, board games are often made for English speaking audiences, highlighting a gap in opportunities for playful learning for multilingual students.

This paper shows the design of a collaborative game focused on redesigning the Boston transit system to create opportunities to learn for multilingual learners at the middle school level from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds. In this game, students learn about how transit systems are constructed and how routes of buses and trains have equity related consequences, such as that lower income areas often have less access to frequent service. By studying a game board with a section of a map of Boston and information such as high travel areas and socioeconomic statistics, students are encouraged to think about designing transit options that serve them and their community. Goals for the game include moving the most passengers while handling transit disaster cards like unexpected track work and delays. Up to four students work together to design a system that moves a certain number of passengers between student selected areas of interest before the transit system becomes overcrowded. The rules and materials for this game are written in a mix of multiple languages (one rule could be in Spanish, but the next is written in English or combinations of both, Spanglish, so that students who speak different languages work together to decipher the game and make moves towards their goal.

In future studies, we will also include the results from playtests of the game with multilingual learners to examine how students respond to the game and measure what students take away from the experience. We can examine how learners redesign the city-space to work for them and see what they value in a mass transit system. We will also be able to study how students collaborate across multiple languages when tackling an engineering challenge. Additionally, students will be able to examine how transit is designed and become more informed about issues facing public transportation systems. For teachers who implement this game, they will provide an opportunity for students to engage in engineering in languages other than English, centering speakers of non-dominant languages as important, critical players in this game and engineering experience. Lastly, we will design a debrief game lesson plan for teachers to facilitate discussions with students about transit processes in their lives, including inequities in transit access. This game design has implications for future engineering teaching and learning through games that aim to include players and students from different backgrounds in playful engineering practices.

Citation
Format

Marvez, G. R., & Perez, G. (2023, June), Getting to the Next Stop: Teaching Transportation Engineering through a Multilingual Board Game Paper presented at 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Baltimore , Maryland. 10.18260/1-2--43789

TY - CPAPER
AB - Games are powerful tools for learning, whether that be modified off-the-shelf games or custom games for a certain topic. Games can help model complex systems for engineering students, such as mass transit systems in urban areas, that students would otherwise have difficulty interacting with due to dangers or lack of access to such systems. Additionally, games about complex systems offer a way for teachers to introduce potentially difficult discussions into the classroom and encourage students to practice debate about design. However, board games are often made for English speaking audiences, highlighting a gap in opportunities for playful learning for multilingual students.

This paper shows the design of a collaborative game focused on redesigning the Boston transit system to create opportunities to learn for multilingual learners at the middle school level from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds. In this game, students learn about how transit systems are constructed and how routes of buses and trains have equity related consequences, such as that lower income areas often have less access to frequent service. By studying a game board with a section of a map of Boston and information such as high travel areas and socioeconomic statistics, students are encouraged to think about designing transit options that serve them and their community. Goals for the game include moving the most passengers while handling transit disaster cards like unexpected track work and delays. Up to four students work together to design a system that moves a certain number of passengers between student selected areas of interest before the transit system becomes overcrowded. The rules and materials for this game are written in a mix of multiple languages (one rule could be in Spanish, but the next is written in English or combinations of both, Spanglish, so that students who speak different languages work together to decipher the game and make moves towards their goal.

In future studies, we will also include the results from playtests of the game with multilingual learners to examine how students respond to the game and measure what students take away from the experience. We can examine how learners redesign the city-space to work for them and see what they value in a mass transit system. We will also be able to study how students collaborate across multiple languages when tackling an engineering challenge. Additionally, students will be able to examine how transit is designed and become more informed about issues facing public transportation systems. For teachers who implement this game, they will provide an opportunity for students to engage in engineering in languages other than English, centering speakers of non-dominant languages as important, critical players in this game and engineering experience. Lastly, we will design a debrief game lesson plan for teachers to facilitate discussions with students about transit processes in their lives, including inequities in transit access. This game design has implications for future engineering teaching and learning through games that aim to include players and students from different backgrounds in playful engineering practices.
AU - G. R. Marvez
AU - Greses Perez
CY - Baltimore , Maryland
DA - 2023/06/25
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Getting to the Next Stop: Teaching Transportation Engineering through a Multilingual Board Game
UR - https://strategy.asee.org/43789
DO - 10.18260/1-2--43789
ER -