SBIR Phase I: An Internet of Things Education System Designed to Increase the Participation of Women in STEM Careers

SBIR 第一阶段：旨在提高女性 STEM 职业参与度的物联网教育系统

• 批准号: 1746640
• 负责人: Stephanie Rowe
• 金额: $ 22.5万
• 依托单位: Joulez Inc
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2018
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2018-01-01 至 2019-03-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1746640&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SBIR; Phase; Internet; Things; Education

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is to ultimately increase the number of women in STEM careers, thus allowing women to secure higher paying jobs and to expand global innovation by increasing the number of women who are inventing future technologies. Research demonstrates a direct connection between play and academic pursuits, yet few STEM products appeal to the 10MM+ pre-adolescent U.S. girls. Our hypothesis is that by designing an Internet of Things (IoT) platform of interactive decor building kits with motion and lighting features, we can engage girls in hands-on STEM learning during a formative time in their emotional and intellectual development. The kits will offer educational and exploratory opportunities including spatial and sequential thinking, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, and programming. The user guides and on-line learning modules will be authored and designed to create and build a STEM identity in girls. Our theory is that this hands-on experience will create attitudinal and identity shifts in girls to motivate them to pursue additional STEM academic opportunities and further their exploration with other STEM activities.The proposed project is a method to provide an entrance to STEM experiences for a population typically not recognizing their strengths and abilities in the STEM areas. This is accomplished by leading them through an IoT modular product platform to build personalizable decor accessories as they pursue their interest in decorating and the arts. The proposed project?s objectives are: (1) design and build a hardware prototype; (2) design and build an app prototype; (3) design and conduct research to determine that interaction with the proposed IoT modular platform results in an attitudinal shift toward STEM. The project will employ research methods including a large scale learning styles survey (400 users); moderated and recorded user feedback sessions, and in-person studies (15 users) using questionnaires adapted from published research and academic assessments. Our success parameters are: (1) 50% of users can build and program the IoT product; (2) 20% of girls experience an increase in STEM areas; (3) 15% improvement in short-term recall of STEM skills and vocabulary; (4) 25% of users report an interest in trying another STEM experience; (5) 50% of users report they would display completed product in their room.

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是最终增加STEM职业中的女性数量，从而使女性能够获得更高收入的工作，并通过增加发明未来技术的女性数量来扩大全球创新。研究表明，游戏和学术追求之间存在直接联系，但很少有STEM产品吸引10 MM+青春期前的美国女孩。 我们的假设是，通过设计一个具有运动和照明功能的交互式装饰建筑套件的物联网（IoT）平台，我们可以让女孩在情感和智力发展的形成期参与动手STEM学习。这些工具包将提供教育和探索机会，包括空间和顺序思维，机械工程，电气工程和编程。用户指南和在线学习模块将被编写和设计，以创建和建立女孩的STEM身份。我们的理论是，这种实践经验将创造女孩的态度和身份转变，激励她们追求更多的STEM学术机会，并进一步探索其他STEM活动。拟议的项目是一种方法，为通常不认识自己在STEM领域的优势和能力的人群提供STEM体验的入口。这是通过引导他们通过物联网模块化产品平台来实现的，以构建个性化的装饰配件，因为他们追求他们对装饰和艺术的兴趣。 拟议的项目？的目标是：（1）设计和构建硬件原型;（2）设计和构建应用程序原型;（3）设计和进行研究，以确定与拟议的物联网模块化平台的交互会导致对STEM的态度转变。该项目将采用研究方法，包括大规模的学习方式调查（400名用户）;主持和记录用户反馈会议，以及使用根据已发表的研究和学术评估改编的问卷进行的面对面研究（15名用户）。 我们的成功参数是：（1）50%的用户可以构建和编程物联网产品;（2）20%的女孩在STEM领域的经验增加;（3）STEM技能和词汇的短期回忆提高了15%;（4）25%的用户报告有兴趣尝试另一种STEM体验;（5）50%的用户报告他们会在房间里展示完成的产品。