Making in The Colonias: Motivating STEM Participation through a Making as Micro-Manufacturing Model

科洛尼亚斯的制造：通过制造作为微制造模型激励 STEM 参与

• 批准号: 1623543
• 负责人: Francis Quek
• 金额: $ 28.5万
• 依托单位: Texas A&M University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2016-09-01 至 2020-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1623543&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Making; Colonias; Motivating; STEM; Participation

As part of an overall strategy to enhance learning within maker contexts in formal and informal environments, the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) and Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) programs partnered to support innovative models in Making poised to catalyze new approaches in STEM learning and innovation. Employing a novel design and development approach, this Early Concept Grant for Exploratory Research (EAGER) will test the feasibility of integrating Making concepts with real world micro-manufacturing engineering principles within the context of intense, multi-year team apprenticeship experiences for high school students. The apprenticeship model is particularly novel, as current Making research and experiences predominately take place in afterschool and summer programs for up to 25 youth. The proposed apprenticeships will require a two year commitment by a small cohort of Texas high school students, which will provide an opportunity to examine the feasibility and impact of the effort longitudinally. The cohort will learn to think critically, solve problems, and work together as a Making Production Team (MPT) in a customized makerspace in their high school, constructing engineering-based science kits for implementation in a local elementary school. Not only will the students enhance their content knowledge while developing design and development skills but the students will also receive stipends which will address two very practical needs for the targeted high need population - employment and workforce development. Few, if any, efforts currently serve the targeted population through the contextualization of Making within a supply chain management and micro-manufacturing framework that extends the Making experience by integrating the student designed products into elementary classrooms. As such, this project will contribute to essentially unexplored areas of Making research and development. Six high school students from high poverty, underserved Texas communities along the Texas-Mexico border (colonias) will be selected for the Making Production Team (MPT). In Years 1 and 2, the students will meet regularly during the academic school year and over the summer with Texas A & M University undergraduates, graduate students, and the project team to learn key aspects of Making and manufacturing (i.e., ideation, prototyping, design, acquisition, personnel, and production) through hands-on making activities and direct instruction. Concurrently, a research study will be conducted to explore: (a) the actualization of the model in an underserved community, (b) the effectiveness of problem-based learning to train students in the model, and (c) STEM knowledge and self-concept. Data will be collected from multiple sources. An adapted version of the Academic Self-Description Questionnaire will be administered to the students to assess their STEM technical knowledge and skills as well as their self-concept in relation to STEM domains. Remote and in person interviews will be conducted with the students to track the evolution of the primary dependent variables, STEM learning and self-concept, over time. Program facilitators and partners will be interviewed to examine the feasibility of the making experience within the given context and for the targeted students. Finally, the students' diary reflections, products, and video recordings of their work sessions will also be examined. Time-series quantitative tests and in-depth qualitative methods will be used to analyze the data.

作为在正式和非正式环境中加强Maker环境下学习的总体战略的一部分，学生和教师创新技术体验(ITEST)和推进非正式STEM学习(AISL)方案合作支持创新模式，使STEM学习和创新成为可能，并将促进STEM学习和创新的新方法。采用一种新颖的设计和开发方法，这项探索性研究早期概念助学金(AGER)将在高中生紧张的多年团队学徒经历的背景下，测试将制造概念与现实世界微型制造工程原理相结合的可行性。学徒模式特别新颖，因为目前的制作研究和经验主要发生在课外和暑期项目中，最多可容纳25名年轻人。拟议的学徒制将需要德克萨斯州一小部分高中生承诺两年的时间，这将提供一个机会，从纵向上审查这一努力的可行性和影响。这些学生将学习批判性思维，解决问题，并在高中的定制制作空间中作为制作团队(MPT)共同工作，构建基于工程的科学工具包，供当地一所小学实施。学生不仅将在发展设计和开发技能的同时增强他们的学科知识，而且还将获得津贴，这将满足目标高需求人口的两个非常实际的需求-就业和劳动力发展。目前，通过将学生设计的产品整合到小学课堂来扩展制造体验的供应链管理和微制造框架内的制造环境，服务于目标人群的努力很少(如果有的话)。因此，该项目将对基本上未被探索的研究和开发领域做出贡献。来自德克萨斯州-墨西哥边境(殖民地)沿线高度贫困、服务不足的德克萨斯州社区的六名高中生将被选入制作制作团队(MPT)。在第一学年和第二学年，学生们将在学年和暑假期间定期与德克萨斯农工大学的本科生、研究生和项目团队会面，通过实践活动和直接指导学习制造和制造的关键方面(即构思、原型、设计、采购、人员和生产)。同时，将进行一项研究性研究，以探索：(A)该模式在服务不足的社区中的实施情况；(B)以问题为基础的学习在该模式中培训学生的有效性；以及(C)STEM知识和自我概念。数据将从多个来源收集。修改后的学术自我描述问卷将被应用于学生，以评估他们的STEM技术知识和技能以及他们与STEM领域相关的自我概念。将与学生进行远程和面对面的访谈，以跟踪主要因变量--STEM学习和自我概念--随时间的演变。项目协调人和合作伙伴将接受采访，以检查在给定背景下针对目标学生进行制作体验的可行性。最后，还将检查学生的日记反思、产品和他们工作过程的视频记录。将采用时间序列定量检验和深度定性方法对数据进行分析。