Rural Gateways: Fostering the Development of Rural Librarians as Informal Science Facilitators

农村门户：促进农村图书馆员作为非正式科学促进者的发展

• 批准号: 1515241
• 负责人: Daniel Rockmore
• 金额: $ 299.87万
• 依托单位: Dartmouth College
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2015-10-01 至 2023-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1515241&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Rural; Gateways; Fostering; Development; Librarians

Due to geographical isolation, rural communities are often underserved by the informal STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) education system. As part of its overall strategy to enhance learning in informal environments, the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program funds innovative resources for use in a variety of settings including rural communities. Thus, this project will help to develop rural libraries and librarians into STEM learning centers and facilitators who will use community assets providing new horizons for youth on career choices and adults on an enhanced STEM knowledge base. Through online professional development exercises, the library staff will enhance their knowledge, enabling them to develop and support new STEM learning mechanisms in their communities.In this project, 110 rural libraries will be chosen from applicants to obtain advanced knowledge of how to facilitate STEM learning. It is anticipated that the staff will change from being resource persons to facilitators of STEM knowledge transfer. The project is a collaboration between Dartmouth College, Dominican University, the Institute of Learning Innovation, Dawson, Media Group, and the Califa Group. The research questions address: a quantitative assessment of rural librarian's STEM efficacy and professional identity, and a determination of the efficacy and impact of multiple forms of professional development and learning tools on rural librarians' ability to participate in and facilitate informal STEM learning.

由于地理上的隔离，农村社区往往得不到非正式的STEM（科学、技术、工程和数学）教育系统的服务。 作为其加强非正式环境中学习的整体战略的一部分，推进非正式STEM学习（AISL）计划为包括农村社区在内的各种环境中使用的创新资源提供资金。因此，该项目将有助于将农村图书馆和图书馆员发展成为STEM学习中心和促进者，他们将利用社区资产为青年提供职业选择的新视野，并为成年人提供增强的STEM知识基础。通过在线专业发展练习，图书馆工作人员将提高他们的知识，使他们能够在社区中开发和支持新的STEM学习机制。在这个项目中，将从申请者中选择110个乡村图书馆，以获得如何促进STEM学习的先进知识。预计工作人员将从顾问转变为STEM知识转移的促进者。该项目是达特茅斯学院、多米尼加大学、学习创新研究所、道森、媒体集团和哈里发集团之间的合作。研究问题涉及：定量评估农村图书馆员的STEM效能和职业认同，并确定多种形式的专业发展和学习工具对农村图书馆员参与和促进非正式STEM学习能力的效能和影响。