S3: Science Symposium to engage STEM students

该项目名为Science Symposium to Engage STEM Students (S Cubed)，旨在通过两项主要的相关活动来扩大阿拉斯加农村和土著学生对科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）的兴趣和参与：参加非传统的非正式科学研讨会Sitka Whalefest，以及利用该研讨会提供的资源开设STEM学分课程。捕鲸节的特色是由国内和国际公认的科学家进行会谈，他们的演讲将他们的科学专业知识与当前的全球海洋科学问题交织在一起。大学学分课程将挑战学生分析这次测试在公民（包括他们自己）和杰出的海洋研究人员（包括把自己想象成这些角色）之间建立的联系的本质。该项目将使用策略将这种学习制度化到小型大学环境中，并衡量其扩展到大型大学的潜力。它将把科学带出课堂，以一种创新的方式让农村人口参与STEM。S Cubed项目将探索来自少数民族服务机构的本科生参加科学研讨会的潜在好处，特别是那些为阿拉斯加和华盛顿的农村人口服务的机构。它将向本科生介绍科学专题讨论会/科学节如何使科学具有相关性和可访问性。通过围绕科学研讨会开发和设置一门大学课程，这项努力希望能提高农村和服务不足的学生选择STEM专业的人数。S Cubed将利用已经宣布专业的学长导师，调查学生在会议期间与专业海洋科学家相处的时间如何转化为对STEM教育途径的参与。它还将衡量学生在会议期间对STEM学科的兴趣如何转化为对STEM专业的声明或促进对相关STEM职业追求的兴趣。这些调查将主要采用定性方法，以便深入理解认知和文化学习过程、当地和历史实践以及在社会环境中传播的教学设计的挑战。人种学观察、访谈和调查将在整个课程中进行——在扩大和完善阶段，与教师教师以及一小部分本科生在整个课程中进行。参与这项活动的学院包括半岛社区学院、伊利萨维克部落学院和阿拉斯加东南大学。该项目由生物基础设施司生物科学司和教育和人力资源司本科教育司联合资助，以支持应对《本科教育的愿景与变革：行动呼吁》http://visionandchange.org/finalreport/所提出的挑战。

This project, Science Symposium to Engage STEM Students (S Cubed), is designed to expand science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) interest and involvement of rural and Native Alaskan students through two principal linked activities: participation in the Sitka Whalefest, a non-traditional, informal science symposium, and a STEM credit course that capitalizes on the resources provided by the fest. The Whalefest features talks by nationally and internationally recognized scientists whose presentations interweave their scientific expertise with current global marine science issues. The college credit course will challenge students to analyze the nature of the links the fest creates between citizens (including themselves) and prominent marine researchers (including thinking of themselves in these roles). This project will use strategies to institutionalize this kind of learning into the small college setting and measure its potential for scaling up to larger universities. It will take science out of the classroom and engage a rural population in STEM in an innovative way. The S Cubed project will explore the potential benefits of science symposium attendance by undergraduates from minority serving institutions, particularly those serving rural populations in Alaska and Washington. It will introduce undergraduates to the way in which science symposia/festivals make science relevant, and accessible. By developing and instituting a college course around a science symposium, this effort hopes to improve the numbers of rural and underserved students who declare STEM majors. Using upperclassman mentors, who have already declared their majors, S Cubed will investigate how the amount of time students have with professional marine scientists during the conference translates into engagement in STEM educational pathways. It will also measure how student interest in STEM disciplines during a conference translates into a declaration of a STEM major or promotes interest in a related STEM career pursuit. Primarily qualitative methods will be employed for these investigations, so that the cognitive and cultural learning processes, local and historical practices, and challenges of pedagogical design spread across social settings can be deeply understood. Ethnographic observations, interviews, and surveys will be conducted throughout the course-scaling up and refinement phases with the faculty instructors, as well as with a small focal cohort of undergraduate students throughout their participation in the course. The colleges involved in this activity include Peninsula Community College, Ilisagvik Tribal College and the University of Alaska, Southeast. This project is funded jointly by the Directorate for Biological Sciences, Division of Biological Infrastructure and the Directorate for Education and Human Resources, Division of Undergraduate Education in support of efforts to address the challenges posed in Vision and Change in Undergraduate Education: A Call to Action http://visionandchange.org/finalreport/.