Collaborative Research: Building Unique Inventions to Launch Discoveries, Engagement and Reasoning in STEM

建立独特的发明以在STEM(构建者)中发起发现、参与和推理(Builders)项目将推动学生和教师创新技术体验(ITEST)计划的努力，以更好地理解和促进实践，提高学生在科学、技术、工程或数学(STEM)领域追求职业的动机和能力。建设者项目将开发和测试一种创新的方法，让STEM中代表性不足群体的高中生及其科学教师参与及时和相关的STEM内容、话语和设计应用，以创建技术解决方案，以解决其社区内与生态、农业、环境和人类健康相关的重要问题。这项工作以通过构建理论框架学习STEM为基础，提供了一个独特的机会，在非正式和正式环境下，在Maker环境中仔细研究基于社区的问题解决与学生动机、意识、自我效能感和职业抱负之间的关系。目前的Making研究几乎完全集中在课外时间环境下的学习上。Builders团队进行的这项研究将推进目前此类研究有限的领域的知识，并将调查跨越非正式(暑假、课外时间)和正式(学年，在校期间)学习环境的混合模式的潜在结果和影响，从而扩大NSF在这些领域的研究和开发投资。Builders项目将通过制定理论框架使高中科学教师和学生接触到学习STEM，并通过进行基于社区的协作解决问题来促进STEM的学习、兴趣和职业意识。Builders项目不是孤立地教授STEM概念，而是使用高度跨学科的Maker活动，每年夏天让50名高中生和8名教师沉浸在暑期学院，并在学年期间通过教师参与者的科学教室让另外200名学生沉浸其中，潜在学习人口超过700名高中生和近25名教师。这项研究将探讨几个关键问题：(A)沉浸在通过体验学习STEM是否能提高学生在STEM中的能力、动机和坚持性？(B)能力提高是否增强了学生的学业自我概念和自我效能感？(C)STEM自我效能感的提高是否有助于将STEM经历融入青少年新兴的职业认同？(D)将STEM纳入其中的新兴职业认同是否会导致学生成为做出学术选择以进一步加强其STEM认同的代理人？(E)在“通过创造学习STEM”的环境中教授STEM概念是否会影响教师自己作为学生榜样的STEM身份和感知能力？将使用混合方法在基线和整个干预过程中收集数据，使用对学生的调查、教师访谈、写作、日记条目和观察。将使用分层回归模型和NVivo等定量和定性分析工具来解释、分析和展示数据和调查结果。观察到的模式和趋势将被量化和报告。将采用迭代过程，允许对假设进行测试、接受、拒绝和或修改。此外，一名外部评估员将进行形成性和总结性评估。这项工作的研究和设计方面得到了实现重大更广泛影响的潜力的补充。在两个农村学区的STEM中，预计将有700多名来自代表性不足群体的高中生和教师直接接触到他们。数十万人将通过参与者创建的You-Tube视频、Capstone演示、当地STEM中心的原型展示，以及开放访问由教师参与者生成并发布到阿拉巴马州学习交流(Alex)的建造者课程，阿拉巴马州学区的在线资源。

The Building Unique Inventions to Launch Discoveries, Engagement and Reasoning in STEM (BUILDERS) project will advance efforts of the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program to better understand and promote practices that increase students' motivations and capacities to pursue careers in fields of science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM). The BUILDERS project will develop and test an innovative approach to engage high school students from underrepresented groups in STEM and their science teachers in timely and relevant STEM content, discourse and design applications to create technological solutions to address important ecological, agricultural, environmental and human health related issues within their communities. Grounded in a Learning STEM through Making theoretical framework, this endeavor presents a unique opportunity to closely examine the relationship between community-based problem solving and student motivation, awareness, self-efficacy, and career aspirations in STEM within Maker contexts in informal and formal settings. The current Making research has focused almost exclusively on learning in out-of-school time settings. The research conducted by the BUILDERS team will advance knowledge in a domain where such research is currently limited and will investigate the potential outcomes and impacts of a blended model that spans informal (summer, out-of-school time) and formal (academic year, during the school day) learning contexts, thereby extending NSF's investment in research and development in these areas.The BUILDERS project will expose high school science teachers and students to the Learning STEM through Making theoretical framework and promote STEM learning, interest, and career awareness through Making and collaborative community-based problem solving. Instead of teaching STEM concepts in isolation, the BUILDERS project will use highly interdisciplinary Maker activities to immerse 50 high school students and 8 teachers in its Summer Academy each summer and another 200 students through the teacher participants' science classrooms during the school year, for a potential study population of over 700 high school students and nearly 25 teachers. The research will explore several key questions: (a) Does immersion in a "Learning STEM by Making" experience increase students' competency, motivation, and persistence in STEM? (b) Does increased competency strengthen students' academic self-concept and perceived self-efficacy? (c) Does increased self-efficacy in STEM foster integration of STEM experiences into adolescents' emerging professional identity? (d) Does an emerging professional identity that incorporates STEM lead to students becoming agents that make academic choices to further strengthen their STEM identity? (e) Does teaching STEM concepts in a "Learning STEM by Making" environment affect teachers' own STEM identity and perceived capacity to serve as role models for their students? A mixed methods approach will be used to collect data at baseline and throughout the interventions, using surveys of students, and teacher interviews, writings, journal entries, and observations. Quantitative and qualitative analysis tools such as hierarchical regression models and NVIVO will be used to interpret, analyze, and present the data and findings. Observed patterns and trends will be quantified and reported. An iterative process will be employed that will permit hypotheses to be tested, accepted, rejected, and or revised. Further, an external evaluator will conduct formative and summative evaluations.The research and design aspects of this work are complemented by the potential to achieve significant broader impacts. The anticipated direct reach of over 700 high school students and teachers from underrepresented groups in STEM in two rural school districts is significant. Hundreds to thousands more will be reached through participant-created You-Tube videos, capstone presentations, prototype displays in a local STEM center, and open access to BUILDERS lessons generated and posted by teacher participants to the Alabama Learning Exchange (ALEX), an online statewide resource for Alabama school districts.