The STEM Ambassador Program: A Scientist-Driven Public Engagement Model

该项目的跨学科团队将开展研究和培训，以确定如何让科学、技术、工程和数学(STEM)专业人员与目前缺乏社区联系、资源、时间或知识的公众受众接触，以获得科学教育和科学家的机会。该项目将为科学家创建真实的在线材料，将他们自己研究的兴奋、内容和相关性传达给与该研究主题相关的价值观、职业或审美和文化背景的公众团体。该项目还将促进科学家理解公众可以为科学提供宝贵意见的方式。将对这一创新的公众参与模式--STEM大使计划(STEMAP)的发展进行研究和评估，以深入了解STEMAP模式的有效性和可扩展性。这一方法整合了科学参与的三个以前没有联系在一起的现有要素：设计思维、博物馆工作中的非正式科学教育交流技能，以及将科学家的研究与特定社区群体的现有价值观联系起来。强有力的评估将提高面对面和在线培训的有效性；研究将为公众受众和科学家提供关于如何整合和加强不同科学学习模式的理解。该项目由推进非正式STEM学习计划(AISL)资助，该计划旨在促进对非正式环境中STEM学习的设计和开发的新方法和基于证据的理解。这包括为扩大获得和参与STEM学习经验提供多种途径，推进对非正式环境中STEM学习的创新研究和评估，以及增进参与者对更深层次学习的理解。科学和社会需要创新和变革性的方式来协同互动。鉴于STEM专业人员对其研究的深厚知识和富有感染力的热情，他们可以带来独特的资产，直接与公众受众接触，尤其是传统上服务不足的公共群体。反过来，公众有潜力提供新的想法、数据和见解来支持研究人员。该项目的探索性研究将有助于理解STEM专业人员如何通过自己以与学术回报一致的方式让未参与的公众参与到科学和科学知识的兴奋中来扩大参与。该项目团队将整合三个现有的由NSF资助的模式：a)研究大使计划，b)公众门户，c)设计思维。一批教职员工和研究生将接受“STEM大使”研讨会的培训，在研讨会上，社会科学家和社区团体代表将帮助STEM大使确定与这位科学家的研究有关的兴趣所在的公共团体。参与活动将在社区场所举行，如教堂、工厂和日托中心等。案例研究和评估工具回答了以下研究问题：同理心在身份形成和改变中的作用；公众受众、参与模式和身份转变之间的关系；以及STEM大使和公众受众的激励驱动因素。智力方面的优点是培训和评估50名STEM大使(通过100次外展活动，涉及来自社区团体的约5000人)；鼓励STEM专业人员与代表性不足的公众接触的战略；以及对如何整合多种教育模式的见解。该方案将通过该方案的网站传播其调查结果和新的资源。此外，将通过以下方式扩大传播工作：与国家科学基金会资助的POPNet扩展项目和科学和数学教育中心合作；在国家科学专业组织，如美国科学促进会，以及通过CAISE Wiki和国家更广泛影响联盟(NABI)进行介绍。STEMAP将为其他NSF PI创建一个过程，以生成、评估和阐明他们的研究及其对远离学术界的公共团体的应用。

This project's interdisciplinary team will carry out research and training that will identify ways for professionals in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) to engage with public audiences that currently lack the community connections, resources, time, or know-how to gain access to science education and to scientists. The project will create real and on-line materials for scientists to convey the excitement, content, and relevance of their own research to public groups whose values, professions, or aesthetic and cultural backgrounds are connected to that research topic. The project will also foster ways for scientists to understand that members of the public can provide valuable input to science. Research and evaluation on the development of this innovative public engagement model "the STEM Ambassador Program (STEMAP)" will be conducted to provide insights into the effectiveness and extensibility of the STEMAP model. This approach integrates three existing elements of science engagement that have previously not been linked: design thinking, informal science education communication skills from museum work, and connecting scientists' research with the existing values of particular community groups. Robust evaluation will enhance effectiveness of in-person and online trainings; research will provide understanding of how different science learning models can be integrated and enhanced for public audiences and for scientists. This project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which seeks to advance new approaches to, and evidence-based understanding of, the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments. This includes providing multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM learning experiences, advancing innovative research on and assessment of STEM learning in informal environments, and developing understandings of deeper learning by participants.Science and society need innovative and transformative ways to interact synergistically. Given the deep knowledge and contagious passion for their research, STEM professionals can bring unique assets to directly engage public audiences, especially important the traditionally underserved public groups. Members of the public in turn have the potential to provide novel ideas, data, and insights to support researchers. The project's exploratory research will help understand how STEM professionals can broaden participation by themselves engaging unengaged publics with the excitement of science and science knowledge in ways that are congruent with academic rewards. The project team will integrate three existing NSF-funded models: a) Research Ambassador Program, b) Portal to the Public, and c) Design Thinking. A cadre of faculty and graduate students will be trained in "STEM Ambassadors" workshops, in which social scientists and community group representatives will help STEM Ambassadors identify public groups with interests that connect to the scientist's research. Engagement events will occur in community venues, e.g., churches, factories, and day care centers, etc. Case studies and evaluation instruments answer research questions about: the role of empathy in the formation and change of identity; relationships between public audiences, mode of engagement, and identity shifts; and motivational drivers for STEM Ambassadors and public audiences. The intellectual merit is the training and evaluating of 50 STEM Ambassadors (via 100 outreach events involving approximately 5000 individuals from community groups); strategies that encourage STEM professionals to engage with underrepresented publics; and insights on how to integrate multiple education models. STEMAP will disseminate its findings and new resources through the STEMAP website. In addition, the dissemination efforts will be extended through: collaboration with the NSF-funded PoPNet Expansion Project and the Centers for Science and Mathematics Education (CSMEs); presentations at national science professional organizations, such as the AAAS, as well as through the CAISE Wiki and the National Alliance for Broader Impacts (NABI). STEMAP will create a process for other NSF PIs to generate, evaluate, and articulate their research and its applications to public groups that lie far outside academia.