E-Communities: Investigating how a collaboration between STEM educators and engineers impact underserved youth's participation in engineering design

E-Communities是一个旨在通过“面向学生和教师的创新技术体验”（ITEST）项目，更好地理解和促进提高学生在科学、技术、工程或数学（STEM）领域追求职业的动机和能力的实践的项目。该项目正在研究将专业工程师的专业知识与STEM教育工作者的专业知识相结合，是否能使课堂数学和科学教师以影响学生对工程原理和职业的认识、兴趣和能力的方式，让学生参与到工程设计过程中。来自马里兰州乔治王子县的90名中学教师和9000多名学生将参与这项研究。为了准备实施电子社区，教师将参与面对面和虚拟专业发展，学习如何适应并将这种模式整合到他们现有的教学实践中。教师还将与STEM教育工作者合作，培训工程师在电子社区中的角色。他们还将与来自不同职业和种族背景的工程师和STEM教育工作者一起参加社交网络活动，以支持学生参与工程设计过程。E-Communities的总体使命是提高教师的能力，帮助学生在中学后充分参与STEM职业。该项目将采用混合方法设计，包括前后测量、调查和案例研究。该研究正在收集有关参与的中学领导、教师和学生之间合作的好处的数据；茎教育者;工程师;与工程外联办公室评估工程设计模式对教师和学生的影响。通过该项目开发的产品将包括工程师和学生之间的网络广播，教师开发的突出工程相关数学和科学实践的课程，以及有助于中学生参与工程设计过程的教学材料。对产品和其他信息的访问将通过在线资源、出版物和数学和科学教育会议的传播获得。

E-Communities is a project that will advance efforts to better understand and promote practices that increase students' motivations and capacities to pursue careers in fields of science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) through the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program. The project is investigating whether combining the expertise of professional engineers with that of STEM educators will enable classroom mathematics and science teachers to engage students in the engineering design process in ways that affect students' awareness, interest, and ability to identity with engineering principles and careers. Ninety (90) middle school teachers and more than 9000 students from Prince George's County, Maryland will participate in the study. To prepare for the implementation of E-Communities, teachers will engage in face-to-face and virtual professional development to learn how to adapt and integrate this model into their existing instructional practices. Teachers will also collaborate with STEM educators to train engineers for their roles in E-Communities. They will also participate in social network activities with engineers and STEM educators from diverse careers and ethnic backgrounds to support student engagement in the engineering design process. The overall mission of E-Communities is to increase teachers' ability to prepare students to participate fully in STEM careers at the post-secondary level.This project will use a mixed-method design that consists of pre/post measures, surveys, and a case study. The study is collecting data on the benefits of collaborations among participating middle school leaders, teachers, and students; STEM educators; engineers; and engineering outreach offices to assess the influence of the engineering design model on teachers and students. Products developed through this project will include web broadcasts between engineers and students, teacher-developed lessons that highlight engineering-related mathematics and science practices, and instructional materials useful in engaging middle school students in the engineering design process. Access to the products and other information will be available through online resources, publications, and dissemination at mathematics and science education conferences.