Introduction: The need for a funds of knowledge approach in higher education contexts

It has been over 20 years since the term funds of knowledge–the existing resources, knowledge, and skills embedded in students and their families (Moll, Amanti, Neff, & González, 1992)–emerged in the literature. The term was very well received in the field of education, particularly in the K–12 context. Indeed, the research on funds of knowledge (FK) has become a standard reference to signal a ‘sociocultural’ orientation in education that seeks to build strategically on the experiences, resources, and knowledge of families and children, especially those from low-income neighborhoods (Moll, Soto-Santiago, & Schwartz, 2013). After decades of research, what we know is that the FK generated, accumulated, and transmitted by students (and their families and communities) bring abundant possibilities for facilitating the success of under-represented students’ education (Moll et al., 2013; Rodríguez, 2013). Indeed, it is the connection between teachers (and their pedagogical approaches and practices) and families’ sociocultural, linguistic, and intellectual resources that makes the funds of knowledge approach appealing, relevant, meaningful, possible, and very much needed (Moll et al., 2013).