# Blossom STEM: A Bilingual Parent-Child Co-Reading Platform for Promoting a Growth Mindset towards STEM Interest among English Language Learners (ELL) and Their Caregivers

> **NIH NIH R44** · TRANSCENDENT INTERNATIONAL, LLC · 2022 · $776,388

## Abstract

Project Summary
English language learners (ELLs) are a growing population and underserved with regards to science,
technology, engineering and math (STEM) resources. Of the limited supply of bilingual STEM materials, the
majority follows an outdated, side-by-side presentation of English content and its foreign-language translation.
On top of the many academic and socioeconomic obstacles, the ELL population must also contend with
stereotypes and misperceptions that are detrimental to STEM achievement. Furthermore, outcome-based
research thus far has concentrated on STEM educational and career achievement as the endpoint and has
produced limited insight as to the underlying psychological and behavioral mechanisms that lead to those
outcomes. This project will develop a much-needed resource for ELLs in the four-to-seven age segment, in the
form of interactive STEM-themed storybooks that promote parent-child co-reading activities. The interactive
storybooks will feature graduated bilingual text and audio in five blended ratios of the native language (L1) and
English (L2) to accommodate the diverse variabilities of intergenerational language fluency. Culturally relevant
stories that feature relatable role models for both the adult and child readers and infused with STEM-related
themes will be engineered to tackle stereotypes and encourage involvement from parents who are limited
English proficient. Mechanisms that influence ELL students’ STEM outcomes -- such as empowerment of
parents to be involved in nurturing their children’s STEM interest and encouraging incremental beliefs among
ELL students about their own intelligence -- will be baked into the eBook content and intervention design. This
project aims to create a corpus of interactive eBooks that are blended in the English-Spanish pair and evaluate
the system’s feasibility in Phase I and then efficacy and sustainability in Phase II for increasing children’s
perceived competence in and affinity for STEM subject matters and their families’ support for their learning and
interest in STEM subject matters.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10460234
- **Project number:** 5R44GM137681-03
- **Recipient organization:** TRANSCENDENT INTERNATIONAL, LLC
- **Principal Investigator:** WILLIAM Z TAN
- **Activity code:** R44 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $776,388
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2020-06-01 → 2024-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10460234

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10460234, Blossom STEM: A Bilingual Parent-Child Co-Reading Platform for Promoting a Growth Mindset towards STEM Interest among English Language Learners (ELL) and Their Caregivers (5R44GM137681-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10460234. Licensed CC0.

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