Sustaining the Engagement of Highly Diverse Communities of High School Students in an Out-of-School Engineering Residency Program: An Exploratory, Capacity-Building Study

这个为期一年的项目研究了纽约科学馆（New York Hall of Science）一个课后工程项目中八名高中生的经历，这是一个位于皇后区科罗娜（Corona）高度多元化社区的科学中心。在2016-2017学年，这些年轻人将与来访的驻馆设计师一起学习更多关于工程设计的知识，并为博物馆游客设计、开发和实施新的动手工程设计活动和项目。本研究的目标是确定具体的活动和合作方式，邀请参与者利用他们不同的背景为他们的共同工作做出贡献，并鼓励参与者参与到工程专业独特的观点和思维方式、工作、教学和学习中。许多针对代表性不足的年轻人的工程项目的评估表明，这些项目可以对结果和教育轨迹产生有意义的影响。但是，很少有研究详细调查特定的规划结构、政策或实践有助于创造一个环境，让来自不同背景的年轻人选择坚持和追求他们对工程的参与，并培养他们作为工程师的身份。本研究将使用参与式行动研究来捕捉项目参与者的观点和经验，并借鉴有关K-12工程教育状况的文献，以及在本科工程项目中代表性不足的年轻人的经验，为其设计和重点提供信息。非主导青年在工程教育中遇到的困难得到了广泛的承认，但除非项目设计师和教育工作者更好地了解这些青年如何在他们自己的兴趣和身份之间建立强大的、有意义的联系，以及他们作为工程学生的新身份的潜在诱导，否则无法有效地解决这些困难。这项研究的结果将为NYSCI、博物馆教育社区以及教育工作者和研究人员的项目决策和进一步研究提供信息，这些教育工作者和研究人员寻求支持那些希望探索工程设计并为自己在本科教育项目中取得成功做好准备的代表性不足的高中生。

This one-year project studies the experiences of eight high school-aged youth in an after-school engineering program at the New York Hall of Science, a science center in the highly diverse neighborhood of Corona, Queens. During the 2016-2017 school year, these young people will work with visiting Designers in Residence to learn more about engineering design, and to design, develop and implement new hands-on engineering design activities and programs for museum visitors. The goal of this research is to identify the specific activities and ways of working together that invite participants to draw on their diverse backgrounds to contribute to their shared work, and that encourage participants to engage with the perspectives and ways of thinking, working, teaching and learning that are distinctive to the engineering professions. Evaluations of many engineering programs targeting under-represented youth have shown that such programs can have a meaningful impact on outcomes and educational trajectories. But there is little research that investigates in any detail what particular programmatic structures, policies or practices contribute to creating an environment in which youth from diverse backgrounds choose to persist in and pursue their engagement with engineering and cultivation of an identity as an engineer. This study will use participatory action research to capture the perspectives and experiences of the program participants, and draws on literature on the state of K-12 engineering education, and on the experiences of underrepresented youth in undergraduate engineering programs, to inform its design and focus. The difficulties encountered by non-dominant youth in engineering education are broadly acknowledged, but cannot be addressed effectively until program designers and educators have better insight into how these youth negotiate the process of building strong, meaningful connections between their own interests and identity and their potential induction into a new identity as a student of engineering. The results of the study will inform programmatic decisions and further research at NYSCI, in the museum-based education community, and among educators and researchers seeking to support underrepresented high school students who wish to explore engineering design and prepare themselves for success in undergraduate education programs.