Collaboration in the 21st Century (C2C): Measuring Essential Skills for the STEM Workforce

C2C奖项通过实施严格的四阶段流程来制定新的评估，解决了缺乏有效工具来衡量初中生在课外时间(OST)环境下的团队合作和合作的问题。阶段1侧重于定义团队合作和协作技能的结构，使其与研究文献保持一致，并与各种STEM OST计划的结果相关。构造图是在第二阶段开发的，用于指导项目开发。这些工具在第三阶段通过有声思考访谈和调查管理对不同的青年和方案进行试验。通过迭代过程，根据条目的心理测量学属性对条目进行修改或删除。最后阶段是一项全国性的现场测试，其中包括STEM OST项目的横截面。C2C的智力优势在于它有潜力促进人们对如何衡量STEM OST项目中的团队合作和协作技能的理解。全国都在呼吁采取更多措施来评估21世纪的技能。C2C创建的工具来衡量STEM OST项目中的团队合作和协作技能，有助于弥补这一差距。C2C的工作通过创建工具来了解STEM OST计划在让我国年轻人为STEM劳动力做好准备方面所起的作用，从而解决了更广泛的影响并造福社会。C2C将创建专门针对这一多样化人群进行验证的工具，使项目能够了解它们在重要的社会STEM劳动力准备成果中所起的作用。C2C还通过将STEM OST计划内的团队合作和协作的构建概念化，并开发有效的工具来了解这些计划对青年的影响，从而使非正式科学教育领域受益。

The C2C award addresses the lack of validated instruments to measure teamwork and collaboration in middle and high school students in out of school time (OST) settings by implementing a rigorous four-phase process to develop new assessments. Phase 1 focuses on defining the construct of teamwork and collaboration skills so it aligns with the research literature and is relevant to outcomes in a variety of STEM OST programs. Construct maps are developed during Phase 2 to guide item development. The instruments are piloted in Phase 3 through think-aloud interviews and survey administration with a diverse set of youth and programs. Through an iterative process, items are revised or removed based on their psychometric properties. The final phase is a national field test with a cross-section of STEM OST programs.C2C's intellectual merit is its potential to advance understanding of how to measure teamwork and collaboration skills in STEM OST programs. There is a national call for more measures to evaluate 21st century skills. C2C's creation of instruments to measure teamwork and collaboration skills in STEM OST programs helps to address this gap. The work of C2C addresses broader impacts and benefit society by creating tools to understand the role STEM OST programs play in readying our nation's youth for the STEM workforce. C2C will create instruments validated specifically for this diverse population, allowing programs to understand the role they play in important societal STEM workforce readiness outcomes. C2C also benefits the informal science education field by conceptualizing the construct of teamwork and collaboration within STEM OST programs and developing validated instruments to understand the impact of these programs on youth.