Collaborative Research: Engineering a Community-Family Partnership: Developing a Program Aimed at Making and Design Practices in Home Environments

家庭在孩子们通向STEM职业生涯的道路上发挥着至关重要的作用，但人们对这种影响是如何发挥作用的知之甚少。该项目通过制定、实施和完善一项计划，将制造和工程设计实践整合到资源不足社区的家庭环境中，以解决这一知识差距。研究人员假设，与不参与STEM职业的人相比，专注于让服务不足的年轻人及其照顾者了解如何在他们的家中实施制造/工程设计实践的干预措施将增强他们对STEM职业的认识和亲和力。该项目有三个具体目标。(1)调查最能支持在家庭环境中参与和实施制造/工程设计实践的干预措施的特征。(2)调查每个青少年的STEM身份在与其家中的照顾者一起从事制造/工程设计实践方面的变化。(3)调查父母在以下方面的转变：(A)对工程学的看法，(B)对孩子参与工程设计实践的支持，以及(C)将工程学作为孩子可行的学位/职业选择的信念。该项目的独特之处在于，它采用了一个罕见的过程来了解学生和家庭如何参与家庭STEM活动。它同时评估家庭支持STEM职业意识和儿童参与家庭STEM活动的准备情况。目标受众是印第安纳州布鲁明顿和纽约布鲁姆县有3-6年级孩子的家庭。项目合作伙伴包括这些社区的男孩和女孩俱乐部，他们协助招募和提供干预措施--家庭创造之夜。在家里，家庭将记录他们的设计活动，因为他们展开了。通过视频和半结构化访谈刺激回忆，研究团队将帮助研究团队了解家庭对活动期间发生的事情的想法。通过使用对比小组，研究小组可以比较“受过训练的”和“未受过训练的”家庭支持的行为和结果。基于社会认知职业理论和对兴趣的研究，该项目对身份发展的关注有可能为社会学习理论提供参考。因此，该项目将推进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。该奖项反映了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。

Families play a vital role in children's paths toward STEM careers yet little is knowns about how this influence works. This project addresses this knowledge gap by developing, implementing, and refining a program for integrating Making and engineering design practices into the home environments of families from under-resourced communities. The researchers hypothesize that an intervention focused on engaging underserved youth and their caregivers about ways to implement Making/engineering design practices in their home will enhance their awareness of and affinity for STEM careers relative to those who do not participate. The project has 3 specific aims. (1) Investigate features of the intervention that best support participation and implementation of Making/engineering design practices in home environments. (2) Investigate changes in each youth's STEM identity in relation to engaging in Making/engineering design practices with caregivers in their home. (3) Examine shifts in parental: (a) views of engineering, (b) support for their child's engagement in engineering design practices, and (c) beliefs about engineering as a viable degree/career option for their child. The project is unique in that it takes a rare process look at how students and families engage in home-based STEM activities. It concurrently assesses families' readiness to support STEM career awareness and children's engagement in home-based STEM activities. The target audience is families with children in grades 3-6 enrolled in Title I schools in Bloomington, Indiana and Broome County, New York. Project partners include the Boys and Girls Clubs in these communities who assist with recruitment and with the delivery of the intervention, Family Making Nights. At home, families will document their design activities as they unfold. Stimulated recall with video and semi-structured interviews will help the research team understand families' thinking about what occurred during the activities. The use of a comparison group allows the team to compare the behaviors and outcomes associated with "trained" and "untrained" family supports. Grounded in social cognitive career theory and research on interest, the project's focus on identity development has potential to inform theories of social learning. As such, the project will advance the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program's efforts 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 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.