Collaborative Research: Developing STEM self-efficacy and science identities through authentic astrophysics research in online and face-to-face environments (STEM-ID)

研究表明，随着年轻人进入高中，他们对科学的参与和兴趣开始下降。这也是科学变得更加复杂，对内容知识、数学能力以及计算机或计算知识的需求增加的时候。有证据表明，与没有这些经历的学生相比，参与原创科学研究的年轻人更有可能进入并保持科学职业生涯。我们知道年轻人对太空科学很感兴趣。该项目(STEM-ID)是从以前的工作中了解到的，在这些工作中，高中生被介绍到科学研究中，并为寻找脉冲星做出了贡献。学生们能够发展所需的科学和数学知识以及计算机技能，使他们能够成功参与。STEM-ID建立在这一先前工作的基础上，有两个主要目标：将本地项目复制到分布式项目模型中，以及调查真实的研究经验在多大程度上建立了强大的科学认同感和研究自我效能。更具体地说，该项目将支持：(A)在地域上大幅度扩展到人口不同的社区的机构，使服务不足的群体得以大量融入；(B)通过在线活动支持全国青年参与的在线学习和发现环境；(C)在研究界内更深入地参与研究和进步的机会。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理解。STEM-ID将在课后俱乐部为2000名高中青年和200名高中教师提供服务，并得到30名本科生和研究生以及10名学院/大学教职员工的支持。探索性教育研究将确定在线活动以及面对面和在线同行-导师-教师-科学家互动影响科学认同、自我效能、动机和职业意图的广泛机制，以及对影响参与模式的机制的重点理解。在大学的头两年，将对青少年进行纵向监测，以了解课外科学丰富计划对STEM职业决策的长期影响。这些研究将建立对通过在年轻人进入大学之前参与真实的STEM项目来提高STEM在大学中的持久性的最佳实践的理解。除了教育研究的好处外，该项目还可能带领参与者发现数十颗新的脉冲星。这些脉冲星将用于基本的进步，如测试广义相对论，约束中子星质量，或探测引力波。由此产生的调查还将对零星脉冲星和河外爆发等瞬变信号敏感。该项目为来自不同地理位置的年轻人提供了一个参与真实研究体验的潜在模型。对于提供商来说，它将提供一种成本更低的项目交付模式。调查结果将有助于更好地理解参与STEM的机制。这项工作由西弗吉尼亚大学和国家射电天文台领导。参与网站包括加州理工学院、康奈尔大学、埃尔帕索社区学院、霍华德大学、蒙大拿州立大学、宾夕法尼亚州立大学、德克萨斯理工大学、佛蒙特州大学、华盛顿大学和范德比尔特大学。

Research shows that participation and interest in science starts to drop as youth enter high school. This is also the point when science becomes more complex and there is increased need for content knowledge, mathematics capability, and computer or computational knowledge. Evidence suggests that youth who participate in original scientific research are more likely to enter and maintain a career in science as compared to students who do not have these experiences. We know young people get excited by space science. This project (STEM-ID) is informed by previous work in which high school students were introduced to scientific research and contributed to the search for pulsars. Students were able to develop the required science and math knowledge and computer skills that enabled them to successfully participate. STEM-ID builds on this previous work with two primary goals: the replication of the local program into a distributed program model and an investigation of the degree to which authentic research experiences build strong science identities and research self-efficacies. More specifically the project will support (a) significant geographic expansion to institutions situated in communities with diverse populations allowing substantial inclusion of under-served groups, (b) an online learning and discovery environment that will support the participation of youth throughout the country via online activities, and (c) opportunities for deeper participation in research and advancement within the research community. This project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program which seeks to advance new approaches to, and understanding of, the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments.STEM-ID will serve 2000 high school youth and 200 high school teachers in afterschool clubs with support from 30 undergraduate and graduate students and 10 college/university faculty. Exploratory educational research will determine the broad mechanisms by which online activities and in-person and online peer-mentor teacher-scientist interactions influence science identity, self-efficacy, motivation, and career intentions, as well as a focused understanding of the mechanisms that influence patterns of participation. Youth will be monitored longitudinally through the first two years of college to provide an understanding of the long-term effects of out-of-class science enrichment programs on STEM career decisions. These studies will build an understanding of the best practices for enhancing STEM persistence in college through engagement in authentic STEM programs before youth get to college. In addition to the benefits of the education research, this program may lead participants to discover dozens of new pulsars. These pulsars will be used for fundamental advances such as for testing of general relativity, constraining neutron star masses, or detecting gravitational waves. The resulting survey will also be sensitive to transient signals such as sporadic pulsars and extragalactic bursts.This project provides a potential model for youth from geographical disparate places to participate in authentic research experiences. For providers, it will offer a model for program delivery with lower costs. Findings will support greater understanding of the mechanisms for participation in STEM. This work is being led by West Virginia University and the National Radio Astronomy Observatory. Participating sites include California Institute of Technology, Cornell University, El Paso Community College, Howard University, Montana State University, Penn State University, Texas Tech University, University of Vermont, University of Washington, and Vanderbilt University.