PLUM RX: Researching a new pathway for bringing active science exploration to urban families

利用PBS KIDS项目PLUM LANDING的吸引力，PLUM RX将研究和开发资源，帮助家庭和教育工作者将环境科学学习融入户外处方计划，同时确保它们适合在其他非正式环境中广泛使用。日益增长的户外处方运动旨在增加孩子们在大自然中度过的时间。方案的结构是，卫生保健提供者为儿童从事户外活动开出“处方”，非正式教育工作者通过促进青年和家庭参与户外活动来“填补”这些处方。有初步证据表明，这些项目正在让孩子们走出去，但将“走出去”项目转变为“走出去，了解环境”项目的最佳做法仍然没有确定。PLUM RX旨在建立这种知识，并创造资源，以满足讲英语和西班牙语的城市家庭的需求。 该项目将与非正规教育工作者和家庭合作，通过多个周期的实施和修订，测试和完善PLUM LANDING资源（动画，视频，游戏，实践科学活动以及非正规教育工作者和家庭的支持材料），目标是设计一个有效和可访问的PLUM RX工具包，供全国传播。 该项目由推进非正式STEM学习（AISL）计划资助，该计划旨在推进非正式环境中STEM（科学，技术，工程，数学）学习的设计和开发的新方法和基于证据的理解。 拟议的研究旨在确保PLUM RX工具包-资源和辅助材料-将满足在非专业化城市环境中工作的教育工作者的需要。教育发展中心（EDC）和WGBH开发人员将在三个为低收入家庭服务的城市户外处方项目中合作进行基于设计的研究：宾夕法尼亚州费城的费城自然Rx;马萨诸塞州波士顿的Outdoors Rx;和俄勒冈州波特兰的波特兰Rx Play。 通过实施，观察，分析和修改的周期移动，研究团队将与教育工作者，家庭和开发人员密切合作，以确定如何学习环境的程序和结构特征，教育工作者的行动，以及干预本身可以最有效地支持儿童和家庭在城市环境中的户外探索。工具包材料将包括针对儿童和家庭（包括西班牙语家庭）以及非正规教育工作者（包括那些与家庭和直接与校外儿童打交道的人）的资源。三个城市户外处方项目的负责人将为研究过程的每个阶段做出贡献，包括招募家庭和青年参加每周一次的活动。分析过程的首要重点将是系统地说明执行工作两个方面之间的相互作用：在试点执行期间发生了什么，以及制约或支持按计划执行的因素;以及所发生的事情的质量，将参照预期影响来界定。EDC将使用结构化的描述性编码过程来分析在设计和测试期间通过访谈和观察收集的定性证据。研究活动的成果将包括：向开发团队提交的一系列形成性备忘录;一份报告，反映了根据形成性投入对PLUM RX工具包材料所做的更改以及这些更改的预期影响;以及关于当地环境因素相互作用中各研究中心的共性和差异以及PLUM RX工具包实施成功的调查结果。 Concord评估小组（CEG）将对该项目进行独立的总结性评估。 通过这一过程，PLUM RX将建立更广泛的知识，了解如何设计教育资源，面向家庭和非正式教育工作者，以应对在城市环境中探索环境科学的独特挑战。

Capitalizing on the appeal of the PBS KIDS project PLUM LANDING, PLUM RX will research and develop resources to help families and educators infuse environmental science learning into outdoor prescription programs, while ensuring they are appropriate for broad use in other informal settings. The growing outdoor prescription movement is designed to increase the amount of time children spend outside in nature. Programs are structured so that health care providers write "prescriptions" for children to engage in outdoor activity, and informal educators "fill" these prescriptions by facilitating youth and family participation in outdoor activities. There is preliminary evidence that these programs are getting kids outside, but best practices for transitioning "get outside" programs to become "get outside and learn about the environment" programs remain unidentified. PLUM RX is designed to build this knowledge and create resources that are responsive to the needs of both English and Spanish-speaking urban families. The project will work with informal educators and families through multiple cycles of implementation and revision, testing and refining PLUM LANDING resources (animations, videos, games, hands-on science activities, and support materials for informal educators and families), with the goal of designing an effective and accessible PLUM RX Toolkit for national dissemination. 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 (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) learning in informal environments. The proposed research is designed to ensure that the PLUM RX Toolkit--the resources and support materials--will meet the needs of educators working in non-specialized urban settings. Education Development Center (EDC) and WGBH developers will collaborate on design-based research at three urban outdoor prescription programs serving low-income families: Philadelphia Nature Rx in Philadelphia, PA; Outdoors Rx in Boston, MA; and Portland Rx Play in Portland, OR. Moving through cycles of implementation, observation, analysis, and revision, the research team will work closely with educators, families, and developers to determine how the programmatic and structural features of the learning environment, the actions of the educators, and the intervention itself can most effectively support children and families' outdoor exploration in urban contexts. Toolkit materials will include resources for kids and families (including Spanish-speaking families) and informal educators (including those who work with families and directly with children in out-of-school settings). Directors from the three urban outdoor prescription programs will contribute to every phase of the research process, including recruiting families and youth who will participate in a weekly sequence of activities. The overarching focus of the analysis process will be on systematically describing the interaction between two dimensions of implementation: What happened during pilot implementations, and the factors that constrained or supported implementation as planned; and the quality of what happened, which will be defined with reference to the intended impacts. EDC will use a structured descriptive coding process to analyze the qualitative evidence gathered through interviews and observations during design and testing periods. Products of the research activities will include: a series of formative memos to the development team; a report mapping changes made to PLUM RX Toolkit materials in response to formative input and the intended impact of those changes; and findings regarding commonalities and differences across sites in the interaction of local contextual factors and the implementation success of the PLUM RX Toolkit. Concord Evaluation Group (CEG) will provide independent, summative evaluation of the project. Through this process, PLUM RX will build broader knowledge about how to design educational resources, geared for both families and informal educators, which respond to the unique challenges of exploring environmental science in urban environments.