Roads Taken - Long-term Impacts of STEM Youth Programs: Conference

作为加强非正式环境中学习的整体战略的一部分，推进非正式STEM学习（AISL）计划为各种环境中使用的创新资源提供资金。本次会议提案代表了一个更大的三阶段参与式研究项目的第一阶段，该项目将利用利益群体作为解决设计以青年为基础的STEM项目的共同关注问题的工具。它将为未来10-25年的研究奠定基础，研究各种青年项目对STEM学习和职业抱负的长期影响。通过虚拟形式，科学技术中心协会将汇集来自十个长期青年项目的两名代表，校外青年方案领域的专家和研究人员，共同开发一个用于衡量青年方案影响的方案简介模板。计划简介模板将有助于确定具体特征，这些特征将捕捉青年计划对他们参与校外STEM活动的影响。该计划简介模板将是会议的主要成果。它将作为设计长期影响研究的基础，以支持有兴趣改善非正式环境中青年方案的方案工作人员的需求。它还将使项目工作人员和研究人员能够记录和共享知识资本，比较各项目的目标和特点，并支持全球非正式机构之间的网络努力。项目简介模板将通过informalscience.org、科学技术中心协会的实践网络社区以及其他课外国家组织在线共享。

As part of its overall strategy to enhance learning in informal environments, the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program funds innovative resources for use in a variety of settings. This conference proposal represents the first phase of a larger three-phase participatory research project that will use communities of interest as a vehicle for solving problems of common concern about designing youth-based STEM programs. It will set the stage for research over the next 10-25 years about the long-term impact of a variety of youth programs on STEM learning and career aspirations. Through a virtual format, the Association of Science-Technology Centers will bring together two representatives from ten long-standing youth programs, experts in the field of out-of-school time youth programming, and researchers to collaboratively develop a program profile template for measuring the impact of youth programming. The program profile template will help identify specific characteristics that will capture the influence of youth programs on their participation in out-of-school STEM activities. The program profile template will be the main outcome from the conference. It will serve as the foundation for designing long-term impact studies that support the needs of program staff interested in improving youth programming in informal environments. It will also allow program staff and researchers to document and share intellectual capital, compare goals and features across programs, and support network efforts among informal agencies worldwide. The program profile template will be shared online through informalscience.org, the Association of Science-Technology Centers' communities of practice networks, and through other out-of-school-time national organizations.