Planning a Design-based Implementation Research Agenda to Investigate Digital Badges as Transformative Assessment in Informal Science Learning

规划基于设计的实施研究议程，以研究数字徽章作为非正式科学学习中的变革性评估

• 批准号: 1451303
• 负责人: James Diamond
• 金额: $ 11.5万
• 依托单位: Education Development Center
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2014-12-01 至 2016-03-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1451303&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Planning; Design; based; Implementation; Research

Young people's participation in informal STEM learning activities can contribute to their academic and career achievements, but these connections are infrequently explicitly recognized or cultivated. More systemic approaches to STEM education could allow for students' experiences of formal and informal STEM learning to be aligned, coordinated, and supported across learning contexts. As part of NSF's Advancing Informal STEM Learning program, Science Learning+ (SL+) is a partnership among US and UK foundations. SL+ funds projects that take transformational steps to inform, improve, and advance the knowledge bases, practices, and design of informal STEM learning experiences and environments. This specific planning project brings together stakeholders in two digital badge systems--one in the US and one in the UK--to plan for a study to identify the specific structural features of the systems that may allow for the alignment of learning objectives across institutions. Digital badge systems may offer an inventive solution to the challenge of connecting and building on youth's STEM-related experiences in multiple learning contexts. When part of a defined system, badges could be used to represent and communicate evidence of individual learning, as well as provide youth and educators with evidence-supported indicators for other activities in the system that might be interesting or valuable. Properly designed and supported badge systems could transmit critical information within a network of informal STEM programs and schools that (1) recognize context-dependent, interest-driven learning and (2) provide opportunities to explore those interests across multiple settings. This project advances the field of informal STEM learning in two ways. First, the project documents and analyzes the processes by which two small groups of informal science education organizations and schools negotiate the meaning and value of badges, as proxies for learning objectives, and how they decide to recognize badges awarded by other institutions. This process builds capacity within the target systems while also beginning to identify the institutional, cultural, and material capacity issues that facilitate or constrain the alignment process. Second, the project conducts a pilot study with a small number of youth in the US and UK to investigate factors associated with an individual youth's likelihood of: a) identifying badges of interest; b) connecting the activities of various badge systems to each other and to non-badging institutions, such as school or industry; c) determining which badges to pursue; and d) persisting in a particular badge pathway. Findings from this pilot study will help identify institution- and individual-level factors that might be associated with advancing student interest and progression in STEM fields. Deepening and validating the understanding of those factors and their relative impact on student experiences and outcomes will be the focus of investigations in future studies.

年轻人参与非正式的 STEM 学习活动有助于他们的学术和职业成就，但这些联系很少得到明确的认可或培养。更系统的 STEM 教育方法可以使学生的正式和非正式 STEM 学习体验在不同的学习环境中保持一致、协调和支持。作为 NSF 推进非正式 STEM 学习计划的一部分，科学学习+ (SL+) 是美国和英国基金会之间的合作伙伴关系。 SL+ 资助采取变革性步骤的项目，以告知、改进和推进非正式 STEM 学习体验和环境的知识库、实践和设计。 这个具体的规划项目汇集了两个数字徽章系统（一个在美国，一个在英国）的利益相关者，计划进行一项研究，以确定系统的具体结构特征，从而可以协调各机构的学习目标。数字徽章系统可以提供创造性的解决方案，以应对在多种学习环境中连接和建立青少年 STEM 相关经验的挑战。当徽章成为既定系统的一部分时，徽章可用于代表和传达个人学习的证据，并为青少年和教育工作者提供系统中其他可能有趣或有价值的活动的证据支持指标。正确设计和支持的徽章系统可以在非正式的 STEM 项目和学校网络中传输关键信息，这些信息 (1) 认识到情境相关、兴趣驱动的学习，以及 (2) 提供跨多种环境探索这些兴趣的机会。该项目通过两种方式推动非正式 STEM 学习领域的发展。首先，该项目记录并分析了由非正式科学教育组织和学校组成的两个小组就徽章的意义和价值（作为学习目标的代理）进行协商的过程，以及他们如何决定承认其他机构授予的徽章。这一过程在目标系统内建立能力，同时也开始确定促进或限制协调过程的制度、文化和物质能力问题。其次，该项目对美国和英国的少数青少年进行了一项试点研究，以调查与个别青少年以下可能性相关的因素：a) 识别感兴趣的徽章； b) 将各种徽章系统的活动相互连接并与非徽章机构（例如学校或行业）连接； c) 确定要申请哪些徽章； d) 坚持特定的徽章路径。这项试点研究的结果将有助于确定可能与提高学生在 STEM 领域的兴趣和进步相关的机构和个人层面的因素。加深和验证对这些因素及其对学生经历和结果的相对影响的理解将是未来研究的重点。