Youth Participatory Science to Address Urban Heavy Metal Contamination

探索研究K-12计划(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K-12学龄前学生和教师在科学、技术、工程和数学(STEM)方面的学习和教学。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，这些研究和开发工作为拟议的项目提供了理论和经验上的证明。本项目的重点是教师的工作和学习，因为他们邀请代表不足的群体的年轻人学习化学，将其作为与他们所在社区的重金属污染相关的学科。该项目是由芝加哥公立学校的教师、来自伊利诺伊大学芝加哥分校、西北大学、洛约拉大学的科学教育家、化学家和环境科学家以及芝加哥环境正义网络的成员合作完成的。该项目意义重大，因为它利用了现有的伙伴关系，并建立在试点项目的基础上，这些试点项目将由教师学习和实践的相应研究周期提供信息。该项目将把芝加哥的教师和学生定位为变革的创造者，他们能够解决科学教育中的不平等和环境污染的危机，这些危机对他们来说非常重要，同时促进他们自己的理解和专业知识。该项目将研究影响教师让未被充分代表的学生参与创新的城市公民科学项目的可塑性因素，重点是教师、学生、科学家和社区成员在解决复杂的社会科学问题时发生的协同学习。其目标是为从事定制课程以应对城市环境问题的高中化学教师提供智力和分析支持网络。该项目将使用一年一度的暑期学院，在那里，合作者将制定收集土壤和水样的课程和程序。在该项目中，老师和学生将与大学科学家合作分析这些样本中的重金属，学生将在社区环境中分享他们的结果。研究设计将是多个案例，用于研究参与教师在开发这些真实项目时所学到的内容和动员的知识。该项目包括明确关注高中科学教师的专业发展，同时也旨在为STEM领域中代表性不足的高中生创造丰富的学习机会。学生日常经验或社会科学问题中的背景科学概念可能会对学生的动机和学习结果产生积极影响，但城市学生的经验不太可能在课程中得到反映，有效的中学科学教师在这些背景下的做法没有得到充分审查。

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 focused on the work and learning of teachers as they engage youth from underrepresented groups in studying chemistry as a subject relevant to heavy metal contamination in their neighborhoods. The project is a collaboration of teachers in the Chicago Public Schools, science educators, chemists, and environmental scientists from the University of Illinois at Chicago, Northwestern University, Loyola University, and members of the Chicago Environmental Justice Network. The project is significant because it leverages existing partnerships and builds on pilot projects which will be informed by a corresponding cycle of research on teachers' learning and practice. The project will position Chicago teachers and students as Change Makers who are capable of addressing the crises of inequity in science education and environmental contamination that matter deeply to them, while simultaneously advancing their own understanding and expertise. The project will examine the malleable factors affecting the ability of teachers to engage underrepresented students in innovative urban citizen science projects with a focus on the synergistic learning that occurs as teachers, students, scientists, and community members work together on addressing complex socio-scientific issues. The goal is to provide a network of intellectual and analytical support to high school chemistry teachers engaged in customizing curricula in response to urban environmental concerns. The project will use an annual summer institute where collaborators will develop curriculum and procedures for collecting soil and water samples. In the project, the teachers and students will work with university scientists to analyze these samples for heavy metals, and students will share their results in community settings. The study design will be multiple case and be used to study the content knowledge learned and mobilized by participating teachers as they develop these authentic projects. The project includes explicit focus on the professional development of high school science teachers while it also aims to create rich learning opportunities for underrepresented high school students in STEM fields. The contextualized science concepts within students' everyday experiences or socio-scientific issues will likely have a positive impact on student motivation and learning outcomes, but the experiences of urban students are less likely to be reflected by the curriculum, and the practices of effective secondary science teachers in these contexts are under-examined.