It is our hope that the RISE Model of Co-Construction will inform future efforts to ensure that all students, regardless of where they live or the language they speak at home, feel a sense of belonging at school and learn the significant STE content required to participate in a technology-based society as STE-literate citizens and professionals.

Co-Construction is the principal innovation of RISE in which a more inclusive early childhood curriculum is conceptualized from a process of reciprocal engagement between parent and teachers to develop curriculum that empowers teachers and families to work jointly as equal partners and to incorporate home and community funds of knowledge into the formal curriculum of the preschool classroom. This is done by supporting teacher-parent communication and relationship building through experiences including joint activities and parent-teacher discussion groups.

Co-Construction Process

Examples of Co-Constructing

During professional development workshops, teachers and coaches co-constructed solutions to various STE challenges and ways to better connect HSC into their classroom all while building relationships with one another.

Teachers work collaboratively on a shared goal of creating a water fountain.  Through trial and error along with active participation, the co-constructed fountain was successfully achieved!

Notice the established mutual respect and trust built within the group as one teacher shares her ideas and is positively recognized by other teachers. Laura’s ideas around exploration of water repelling using ponchos and extending on the multiple uses for umbrellas reflects her appropriation of the RISE approach, integrating STE and HSC.

Inviting teachers to share validates their expertise and importance within the group. Listen to the wonderful information Hilda has to share with her own experiences of moving water, both in a classroom experience and in her home country.  Sharon then builds upon the cultural relevance Hilda identifies, citing other examples and co-constructing in a way that shifts the interactional role of teachers.

During discussion by teachers around obtaining HSC information around moving water, teachers’ appropriation of the RISE approach is seen. Ultimately the discussion depicts a plan that integrates HSC and STE.

Teachers co-construct ways to design experiences for families that will be inviting and welcoming while also incorporating a co-construction element.

During this PD, teachers in Phase 1 collaborate on ways to bring parents and teachers together, building mutual respect and leveling roles of authority when teachers share their ideas openly and RISE team members validate their expertise. It is the shared agenda of familiar neighborhood locations that will guide this process.

An icebreaker can offer a comfortable space for participants to share. The thoughtfully chosen activity around the meaning of names can establish trust, leverage relationships and shift attitudes of participants to see one another as valuable contributors. These concepts are mirrored in the co-construction process teachers engage in, as seen in a RISE team member crediting the teachers with the ideas he shares.

Teachers brainstorm ways to bring families together, having appropriated the RISE approach of co-construction. Through the experience of shopping and cooking together, everyone’s unique dish will validate their importance in the school community.  This co-constructed experience of cooking a shared meal will also serve as a way to leverage relationships and build connections.

Successful parent-teacher conversations emerge from a positive co-constructed approach.

Cooperatively agreeing on ways to manage the meeting establishes mutual respect and trust. Notice the facilitator asking whether participants prefer to raise hands or not, thus demonstrating awareness of cultural differences for participating in meetings. Notice also one parents shares the importance of getting to know his son’s teacher supports leveling roles of authority by providing more interaction between families and teachers.

Families and teachers discuss ways in which sharing baby photos of children can support children learning about stability and change, integrating STE and HSC.

Sharing cultural traditions allows participants to learn about one another, and to understand how culture is everywhere. It also encourages active participation and mutual roles within the group. In turn, mutual respect is reinforced and relationships are leveraged.

Click here for more examples of parent-teacher co-construction.