Influence of Industry-Informed STEM Pathways on Student Experiences and Outcomes in Non-Selective Urban School

该项目将推动学生和教师创新技术体验(ITEST)计划的努力，以更好地了解和促进提高学生在科学、技术、工程或数学(STEM)领域追求职业生涯的动机和能力的实践。这是一个针对STEM领域中有色人种和女性代表性不足的项目。它使用以学生为中心的方法来调查与以下相关的ITEST指导问题：追求STEM职业的动机和准备、教学和课程创新以及与企业和行业的伙伴关系。波士顿卓越计划将与教育发展中心和波士顿的STEM行业合作伙伴合作，为300名9-12年级的学生设计、开发、研究和迭代三条行业知情的STEM路径：电气工程、数字设计和计算机编程。该项目的意义和重要性是对校内职业学院和包容性STEM高中进行的大规模研究，这些研究表明，以学校为基础的职业道路可能是一种很有前途的战略，可以在代表性不足的群体中提高STEM职业兴趣和其他教育和生活成果。到目前为止，很少有干预措施试图在非选择性学校内建立这样的途径，以服务于以下学生群体：(A)主要包括低收入有色人种学生，其中许多人是英语学习者；(B)没有对STEM表示兴趣；(C)以前的STEM知识可能存在差距。因此，对于如何在更广泛的人群中实施职业道路，或各组成部分(如课程作业、实习)如何与学生追求STEM职业的兴趣和能力相关联，我们知之甚少。此外，很少有研究跟踪学生随着时间的推移，了解他们的STEM兴趣和能力是如何由各种途径元素塑造的。通过对以STEM为重点的高中、职业道路和社会认知职业理论的研究，该项目有可能促进有关学校如何发展和维持STEM兴趣和能力的知识，这些学生来自代表性不足的群体，他们可能在STEM和/或语言准备方面存在差距。电气工程、数字设计和计算机编程的每一条途径都将包括一系列技术丰富的基于项目的课程、实习、职业演讲、公司之旅和就业准备研讨会。使用设计研究方法，合作伙伴将检查：(A)职业道路设计，(B)学生的经历，(C)学生在波士顿一所非选择性、开放招生的城市公立STEM学校的STEM兴趣和能力之间的关系。通过使用路径方法组织学生体验，合作伙伴将开始回答以下问题：在一所非选择性的城市公立STEM学校中，成功的行业信息STEM职业道路的基本组成部分是什么，在这种成功的情况下，学生毕业时会有兴趣和能力来满足波士顿STEM驱动型经济中的劳动力需求？以社区为基础的迪尔伯恩STEM学院吸引了来自多切斯特和罗克斯伯里的大量佛得角人和移民。66%的学生是英语学习者，75%的学生来自低收入家庭。当地的STEM公司将帮助设计该项目，为学生创造基于行业的体验，并扩大女性、黑人、拉丁裔和/或来自低收入家庭的年轻人对STEM工作场所的参与。数据收集将包括每年对所有学生进行调查，以及对两个学生队列进行多年纵向数据收集(重点小组、观察、课堂评估)。分析将考察项目设计与学生STEM兴趣和能力之间的联系。第三年将进行一项探索性的定量研究。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project will advance efforts of the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program to better understand and promote practices that increase student motivations and capacities to pursue careers in fields of science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM). This Industry-Informed STEM Pathways for Students is a project concerned with underrepresentation of people of color and women in STEM fields. It uses a student-centered approach to investigate the ITEST guiding questions related to: motivation and preparedness to pursue STEM careers, instructional and curricular innovations, and partnerships with business and industry. The Boston Plan for Excellence, in collaboration with the Education Development Center and Boston-based STEM industry partners will design, develop, study, and iterate on three industry-informed STEM pathways for 300 students in grades 9-12: electrical engineering, digital design, and computer programming. The significance and importance of the project is large-scale studies of within-school career academies and inclusive STEM high schools that suggest that school-based career pathways may be a promising strategy for boosting STEM career interest and other educational and life outcomes among underrepresented groups. Few interventions to date have attempted to build such pathways within a non-selective school to serve a student population that: (a) includes mostly low-income students of color, many of whom are English learners, (b) has not expressed interest in STEM, and (c) might have gaps in prior STEM knowledge. Therefore, there is little knowledge about how career pathways might be implemented with a wider range of populations, or how components (e.g. coursework, internships) relate to students' interest in and capacity to pursue STEM careers. Moreover, few studies have tracked students over time to understand how their STEM interests and capacity have been shaped by various pathway elements. Informed by research on STEM-focused high schools, career pathways, and social cognitive career theory, this project has the potential to advance knowledge of how schools can develop and sustain STEM interest and capacity among students from underrepresented groups who may have gaps in STEM and/or language preparation. Each pathway in electrical engineering, digital design, and computer programming will include an aligned sequence of technology-rich, project-based courses, internships, career talks, company tours, and job readiness workshops. Using design research methodology, the partners will examine the relationships between: (a) career pathway design, (b) students' experiences, and (c) students' STEM interest and capacity within a non-selective, open-enrollment urban public STEM school in Boston. By focusing on the organization of student experiences using a pathway approach, the partners will begin to answer the question: What are the essential components of a successful industry-informed STEM career pathway in a non-selective, urban public STEM school, wherein success results in students graduating with the interest and capacity to fill workforce needs in Boston's STEM-driven economy? The neighborhood-based Dearborn STEM Academy draws a large Cape Verdean and immigrant population from Dorchester and Roxbury., 66% of students are English learners and 75% are from low-income families. Local STEM companies will help design the project, create industry-based experiences for students, and broaden participation in STEM workplaces by youth who are female, Black, Latino, and/or from low-income families. Data collection will include surveying all students each year, as well as multi-year longitudinal data collection (focus groups, observations, classroom assessments) for two student cohorts. Analyses will examine associations between program design and students' STEM interest and capacity. An exploratory quantitative study will be conducted in year three.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.