Study on Laboratory Equipment Donations for Schools

根据《美国竞争法》第7027条的规定，NSF必须对中小学的实验室设备捐赠情况进行调查，本研究将调查选定的高等教育机构（IHEs）和私营部门的实体，以获取他们捐赠的K-12课堂使用的剩余科学仪器的数据。该研究的目的是确定：(1)捐赠设备的频率、数量和类型；（二）各机构和单位采用什么标准或指导方针来确定哪些类型的设备可以捐赠，设备应该处于什么状态，哪些学校可以接收设备；（三）捐赠机构对受赠学校是否给予支持或跟进；(4)如何鼓励适当的捐赠。本次调查将从2008-09年度的三份国家科学基金获奖者名单中抽取样本：1)100名最高资助的国家科学基金获奖者；2) 100位教育及人力资源处处长（EHR）最高资助奖项获得者；3)来自35个EHR项目（按项目分层）的最多100名最高资助获奖者。将抽取约300个获奖人的样本，以确保其中包括75%的高等教育机构和25%的私营实体。基础分析将包括对国会要求的每一类信息的描述性统计，这些信息是根据卡内基对高等教育机构的分类、私人实体的类型和规模、国家科学基金会组织的资助奖励和学校教育水平进行分类的。

In response to the provisions of Section 7027 of the America COMPETES Act, which requires the NSF to conduct a study of laboratory equipment donations to elementary and secondary schools, this study will survey selected institutions of higher education (IHEs) and entities in the private sector to obtain data on their donations of surplus scientific instruments for K-12 classroom use. The objectives of the study are to determine:(1) How often, how much, and what type of equipment is donated;(2) What criteria or guidelines the institutions and entities are using to determine what types of equipment can be donated, what condition the equipment should be in, and which schools receive the equipment;(3) Whether the donating institutions provide any support to, or follow-up with, the recipient schools; and(4) How appropriate donations can be encouraged.The survey will employ a purposive sample drawn from three lists of NSF awardees in 2008-09: 1) the 100 top-funded NSF awardees overall; 2) the 100 top-funded Directorate for Education and Human Resources (EHR) awardees; and 3) up to 100 top-funded awardees from 35 EHR programs (stratified by program). A sample of approximately 300 awardees will be drawn to ensure that it includes 75% IHEs and 25% private entities. Basic analyses will include descriptive statistics on each category of information requested by Congress broken out by Carnegie classification of IHEs, type and size of private entities, NSF organization funding awards, and levels of schooling.