City STEM Learning
A mobile app to support playful learning for families
In this project, we work alongside families from the Santa Ana Early Learning Initiative (SAELI) to co-design a mobile application that accompanies our Playful Learning Landscapes initiatives in the city of Santa Ana, CA.
Previously, the Playful Learning Landscapes project, co-designed in partnership with Dr. Andres Bustamante of UC Irvine and Dr. Kathy Hirsh-Pasek of Temple University, imagined physical learning spaces within the urban spaces of the city, to promote early-childhood and family-centered STEM learning experiences that build from the cultural, social, and local STEM practices of Latinx families in Santa Ana.
The City STEM Learning mobile app will allow families to explore a hidden, virtual city we created within Santa Ana called Bizumia. Our goal is for families to experience playful learning landscapes anywhere they go! Through our design work, we work with our SAELI families to make sure that our application fits the wants and needs of our audience. Using a culturally informed approach, our team has designed bilingual and bicultural storylines and characters that resonate with our audience on multiple levels.
In the 2022-2023 school year, we will be working with our application developer, Artisan, to design our mobile application. This process involves working on designing and organizing Figma Prototypes and testing our versions of the app with our families.
Please contact Julie Salazar (julies6@uci.edu) if you have any questions or would like to learn more. Also check out this recent feature in PBS SoCal!
