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

家庭在孩子走向STEM职业的道路上发挥着至关重要的作用，但人们对这种影响如何发挥作用知之甚少。该项目通过开发，实施和完善一个将制造和工程设计实践融入资源不足社区家庭家庭环境的计划来解决这一知识差距。研究人员假设，一项专注于让服务不足的青少年及其照顾者参与在家中实施制造/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)调查干预的功能，最好的支持参与和实施的制造/工程设计实践在家庭环境中。 (2)调查每个年轻人的STEM身份的变化，与他们家中的照顾者一起参与制作/工程设计实践。 (3)检查父母的变化：（a）对工程的看法，（B）支持他们的孩子参与工程设计实践，以及（c）对工程作为他们孩子可行的学位/职业选择的信念。该项目的独特之处在于，它采取了一个罕见的过程看看学生和家庭如何参与以家庭为基础的STEM活动。它同时评估家庭是否准备好支持STEM职业意识和儿童参与家庭STEM活动。目标受众是在印第安纳州布卢明顿和纽约布鲁姆县的一级学校就读的3-6年级儿童的家庭。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，即“家庭之夜”。在家里，家庭将记录他们的设计活动，因为他们展开。通过录像和半结构化访谈的刺激回忆，研究团队将有助于了解家庭对活动期间发生的事情的想法。使用对照组可以让团队比较与“受过训练”和“未经训练”的家庭支持相关的行为和结果。基于社会认知职业理论和兴趣研究，该项目对身份发展的关注有可能为社会学习理论提供信息。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，以更好地理解和促进提高学生在科学，技术，工程，数学（STEM）该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的评估被认为值得支持。影响审查标准。

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.