Schoolyard Scientists: An Investigation of Impacts Associated with Urban Youth Engagement in Participatory Scientific Research Activities

探索研究K-12项目（DRK-12）旨在通过研究和开发创新资源、模型和工具（rmt），显著提高pre -12学生和教师对科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）的学习和教学。DRK-12计划中的项目建立在STEM教育的基础研究和先前的研究和开发工作的基础上，为拟议的项目提供了理论和实证依据。这个项目意义重大，因为它通过一种称为公民科学或参与式科学研究（PSR）的方法，利用社区来学习环境科学。该项目将针对城市和多元化的东旧金山湾区中代表性不足的初高中学生的学习成果。将研究的基本问题涉及当地的颗粒物（PM）。该项目将产生有助于更好地理解包含PSR活动的科学课程对科学学习的影响的信息。该项目将为总共10个不同的初中和高中的学生提供机会，让他们参与广泛的活动，在这些活动中，学生们将收集、分析和传播当地城市社区产生的数据。还将编制附带的课程，其中包括新的和以前经过测试的技能发展活动，并用于帮助学生将PSR活动与相互关联的主题联系起来，例如：能源的产生和使用、全球气候、环境退化和社区卫生（特别是哮喘）。该项目将完善学习理论，使科学实践、身份、价值和相关性之间的联系更加明确。该项目将为未来城市地区有效学习环境的发展提供有用的信息，提供积极的科学教育经验，挑战学生以前的科学观念和与科学相关的方式。学生将学习如何通过对科学实践有更深的理解来认同科学。他们将学习如何分析和解释数据；构造解释;根据证据进行辩论；获取、评估和交流信息。学生们将收集空气样本，并用电子显微镜对其进行分析。在进行研究时，学生将使用低成本，高精度的AirBeam颗粒监测器和平板设备来测量和参考PM浓度水平，因为他们在学校和周围社区内旅行。然后，这些测量将用于评估学校建筑物内的通风条件，并与不同的运输路线和运输系统相关联，试图评估与特定地区不同运输方式相关的暴露模式。其结果将是增加对科学在日常生活中的相关性和价值的理解。该项目还将产生高质量的颗粒物数据，这些数据将有助于当地的环境工作以及公共卫生和大气科学家。

The Discovery Research K-12 program (DRK-12) seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) by preK-12 students and teachers, through research and development of innovative resources, models and tools (RMTs). Projects in the DRK-12 program build on fundamental research in STEM education and prior research and development efforts that provide theoretical and empirical justification for proposed projects. This project is significant because it uses the community for learning science of the environment, in an approach called Citizen Science or Participatory Science Research (PSR). The project will target learning outcomes for underrepresented middle and high school students in the urban and diverse East San Francisco Bay Area. The fundamental issues that will be studied deal with particulate matter (PM) in the local area. The project will generate information that contributes to better understanding the impact of a science curriculum with PSR activities on science learning. The project will provide opportunities for students at a total of 10 different middle and high school sites to engage in a broad range of activities where the students will collect, analyze, and disseminate data generated in local urban communities. An accompanying curriculum that includes new and previously tested skills development activities also will be produced and used to aid students in connecting PSR activities to inter-related topics such as: energy generation and use, global climate, environmental degradation, and community health (asthma, in particular). The project will refine a theory of learning that makes more explicit the connections between science practices, identity, and value and relevance. The project will yield information useful in the future development of effective learning environments in urban areas, providing positive science education experiences to challenge students' previous notions and ways of relating to science. The students will learn how to identify with science by gaining a deeper understanding of science practices. They will learn how to analyze and interpret data; construct explanations; engage in argument from evidence; and obtain, evaluate and communicate information. The students will be collecting air samples which will be analyzed using an electron microscope. In conducting their research, students will use low cost, highly accurate AirBeam particle monitors and tablet devices to measure and georeference PM concentration levels as they travel within their schools and surrounding communities. These measurements will then be used to assess ventilation conditions within school buildings, and correlated with different transit routes and transportation systems in an attempt to assess exposure patterns associated with different modes of transit in a given area. The result will be an increase in the understanding of the relevance and the value of science in everyday life. The project will also yield high quality particulate matter data that will be useful for local environmental efforts as well as to public health and atmospheric scientists.