ABSTRACT
This chapter describes a participatory design research project among learning scientists, public librarians, informal science education staff, and staff from Native American–serving community organizations who are jointly focused on designing family-centered and culturally expansive STEAM learning experiences with nondominant communities. The program that is described in some detail is TechTales, a program that invited families to conceptualize new relationships to technology (such as robotics and Scratch) and desettle some of the traditional knowledge relationships associated with educational programming. Perspectives and voices from partners, including from staff at the Seattle Public Library, are shared. The accumulated wisdom of this experience is translated into new possibilities and considerations for participatory design and design-based implementation research in the future.
