Parent Leaders opened their homes so researchers could observe children at home and learn about the natural STE opportunities and resources that were part of children’s daily lives.
Parent Leaders opened their homes so researchers could observe children at home and learn about the natural STE opportunities and resources that were part of children’s daily lives.
Parent Leaders and researchers worked together to create guidelines for student researchers to conduct home observations. Parent Leaders helped to prepare student researchers to enter homes respectfully and to actively look for STE learning opportunities embedded in children’s home activities and environments.
Parent Leaders offer guidance to researchers to plan the home visits.
Parent Leaders work with researchers to plan routes for the neighborhood walks.
Goal of home observations: To get a sense of the physical spaces and objects in children’s home environments, specifically to note natural opportunities for STE learning.
During your visit, take note of the following:
With parent permission, this could be where you introduce using the camera with the child to capture important places, objects, people, routines, activities.
Aluminum foil is used as a tool to protect the surface of the counter in the kitchen of a Latino immigrant family.
Aluminum foil is used as a tool to protect the wall near the cooking range in the kitchen of a Chinese immigrant family.
This is a photo of a ramp leading to the basement of a home of one of the Parent Leaders.
This is a photo of a ramp in a supermarket that is popular among the families from the program near downtown Boston and Chinatown.
Religious pictures and artifacts (crucifix, rosary beads) are observed frequently in the homes of families from a community with a lot of Latino immigrants.
Religious artifacts such as incense are seen in the local supermarket popular among Chinese immigrants.
Seeds are traditional food to celebrate the Lunar New Year. One Parent Leader’s family member displays a seed in this photograph.
A child demonstrates the usual way to eat seeds.
The remains from firecrackers used in Lunar New Year celebrations are visible in the snow on the pavement outside homes of families from the program serving predominantly Chinese immigrant families.
The Lunar Calendar is a common artifact observed in the homes of Chinese immigrant families.
Student researchers completed Participant Observation (PO) reports immediately after each home observation. Altars with photographs of ancestors were frequently observed in the homes of Chinese immigrant families. See the following excerpts from Participant Observation Records.
As one entered the apartment, s/he could see the living room with couches, a dining table, an altar for ancestors, and an open closet with buckets of toys, balls, and small stools.
– From PO on Family #3
The kitchen was as large as the living room, with a dining table and also an altar with a photo of an ancestor.
– From PO on Family #6