INSPIRE: Kreyol-based Cyberlearning for a New Perspective on the Teaching of STEM in local Languages

该INSPIRE奖部分由Cyberlearning资助：在信息和智能系统（IIS）在计算机和信息科学与工程（CISE）的部门，在科学和工程教育（REESE）计划的研究和评估在正式和非正式环境（DRL）在教育和人力资源（EHR）的学习研究部门，以及社会，行为和经济科学（SBE）的行为和认知科学（BCS）部门的语言学课程。该项目旨在解决如何帮助那些母语为不包含科技术语的语言的人学习STEM内容和实践的问题。虽然语言学和人们如何学习的研究表明，用母语学习比用另一种语言学习更能促进深度学习，当母语不包括科技术语时，没有专门围绕这个问题进行研究。该项目的重点是为后STEM学习创建和创新使用开放教育资源（OER）。在中学阶段，以海地克里奥尔语（Kreyol）为教学语言。作为他们工作的一部分，PI和他的团队正在为海地的STEM高等教育创建一套基于海地克里奥尔语的技术支持的主动学习资源。海地的公共政策是用法语教学，这对说克雷约尔语的公众来说是一个明显的劣势。此外，Kreyol几乎没有任何材料，几乎没有在线材料可以作为资源。麻省理工学院创建的互动材料和资源（星星;学者和研究人员的软件工具）正在被翻译成Kreyol，并嵌入到由麻省理工学院创建并成功用于大班的学习科学和工程的主动学习框架（TEAL;技术支持的主动学习）中。作为该项目的一部分，正在将TEAL的专业发展材料翻译成Kreyol，海地教师正在学习使用主动学习方法。正在处理各种基本研究问题，涉及（一）创造机会以母语学习的效果、影响和挑战，特别是当母语还没有包含相关词汇时;（二）在没有技术词汇的语言中创造和传播科学和技术词汇，称为“语言工程”，（iii）在适应和将学习技术纳入服务不足人群的学习环境中的技术和社会技术问题。拟议的项目跨越了NSF语言学，教育和网络学习计划的目标，但不直接适合任何现有的NSF计划。在语言学方面，该项目在材料制作中系统地使用Kreyol，并包括大量的语言工程。因此，它是一个翻译语言学项目，将语言结构的知识以可能为语言学研究提出基本新问题的方式发挥作用。在STEM教育方面，拟议的项目促进大规模采用经过验证的教育创新，其方法（系统使用社区的话语语言）与其他扩大和传播项目截然不同。关于网络学习，拟议的工作旨在研究现有教育软件和其他资源对学习的影响，并扩大现有设计良好的学习技术的覆盖面。将要建立的基础设施很可能为其他研究人员提供更多关于为特殊人群进行个性化学习的机会。该项目旨在汇集跨学科的知识，促进积极的社会变革。在海地和“全球南方”的其他地区，教育只以前殖民国家的语言提供，而不是以人口的母语提供。 由于殖民地语言不是教师或学生的母语，大多数人在STEM学习方面处于巨大的劣势。这反过来又助长了这些国家长期的贫困和经济发展不足。 两个假设构成了这个项目的基础：（1）欠发达国家更好的科学，技术，工程和数学教育将导致更好的经济发展。(2)以社区语言进行教育将从质量上和转型上改善学习。因此，调查人员正在汇集语言学、教育和学习技术领域的知识，以海地学生的母语开发有效的教育材料，并帮助教师学习最新的主动学习方法来教授STEM科目。他们正在研究这些材料和方法的效果，并学习如何设计这些材料并将其融入学习者的学习环境和更广泛的文化环境。该项目正在各种中学后教育机构中实施。潜在的更广泛和变革性影响包括改善“全球南方”国家的经济发展，以及在思考当地语言在STEM教育中的作用方面的范式转变。这种模式的转变可以改善所有人接受教育的机会，无论是在口语不是科学和技术词汇的国家，还是在一些人口（例如，难民和新移民）还不能很好地讲该国的语言。

This INSPIRE award is partially funded by the Cyberlearning: Transforming Education program in the Division of Information and Intelligent Systems (IIS) in Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE), the Research and Evaluation on Education in Science and Engineering (REESE) program in the Division of Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Environments (DRL) in Education and Human Resources (EHR), and the Linguistics program in the Division of Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences (BCS) in Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences (SBE). This project addresses the issue of how to help those whose mother tongue is a language that does not include scientific and technological terminology to nonetheless learn STEM content and practices well. While research in linguistics and on how people learn suggests that learning in one's native language will promote deeper learning than learning in another language, no research has specifically been done around this question when the native language does not include scientific and technological terminology.The focus of this project is on the creation and innovative uses of Open Education Resources (OER) for STEM learning at the post-secondary level with Haitian Creole (Kreyol) as the language of instruction. As part of their work, the PI and his team are creating a set of Haitian Creole-based, technology-enabled active-learning resources for STEM higher education in Haiti. Haitian public policy is to teach in French, a distinct disadvantage for the Kreyol-speaking public. In addition, there are few materials, and almost no on-line materials, available in Kreyol that can serve as resources. Interactive materials and resources created at MIT (STAR; Software Tools for Academics and Researchers) are being translated into Kreyol and embedded within the active-learning framework for learning science and engineering created by and used successfully in large classes at MIT (TEAL; Technology-Enabled Active Learning). Professional development materials for TEAL are being translated into Kreyol as part of the project, and Haitian teachers are learning to use an active-learning approach. A variety of fundamental research questions are being addressed, pertaining to (i) the effects, impacts, and challenges of creating opportunities to learn in one's mother tongue, especially when it does not already contain relevant vocabulary (ii) the creation and diffusion of scientific and technical vocabulary in languages without technical words, called "language engineering", (iii) technical and socio-technical issues in adapting and incorporating learning technologies into the learning environments of underserved populations.The proposed project crosses goals of NSF programs in linguistics, education, and cyberlearning but does not fit directly into any existing NSF programs. With respect to linguistics, the project makes systematic use of Kreyol in the production of materials and includes substantial language engineering. As such, it is a translational linguistics project, putting knowledge about language structure to work in ways that may raise fundamental new questions for linguistics research. With respect to STEM education, the proposed project promotes large-scale adoptions of proven educational innovations, and its approach (systematic use of the language of discourse of a community) is quite different from other scale-up and dissemination projects. With respect to cyberlearning, the proposed work aims to study impacts of available educational software and other resources on learning and extend the reach of existing well-designed learning technologies. The infrastructure that will be set up may very well provide other researchers opportunities to learn more about personalizing learning for specialized populations. This project aims to bring together what is known across disciplines for positive societal change. In Haiti and other parts of the "Global South," education is offered only in the language of previous colonial powers rather than in the native language of the population. Because the colonial language is not the mother tongue of either teachers or students, most of the population are at a huge disadvantage with respect to STEM learning. This, in turn, contributes to perpetuating the poverty and lack of economic development in these countries. Two hypotheses form the foundation for this project: (1) Better science, technology, engineering, and math education in under-developed countries will lead to better economic development. (2) Education in the language of the community will qualitatively and transformationally improve learning. The investigators are therefore bringing together what is known across the fields of linguistics, education, and learning technologies to develop effective educational materials in the mother tongue of Haitian students and to help teachers learn up-to-date active-learning methodologies for teaching STEM subjects. They are studying the effects of these materials and approaches and learning how to design and integrate such materials into the learning environment and broader cultural environment of the learners. The project is being carried out across a variety of post-secondary institutions. Potential broader and transformational impacts include improved economic development in countries in the "Global South" and perhaps a paradigm shift in thinking about the role of local languages in STEM education. Such a paradigm shift could lead to improved access to education for all, both in countries where the spoken language is not a language with scientific and technical vocabularies and in developed countries where some of the population (e.g., refugees and new immigrants) do not yet speak the language of the country well.