Riverside Air Monitoring Project

该项目将推进“面向学生和教师的创新技术体验”（ITEST）项目的努力，通过开发和测试创新的、与当地相关的高中生空气质量课程，更好地理解和促进提高学生在科学、技术、工程或数学（STEM）领域追求职业的动机和能力的实践。一个公立学区、一所州立大学、一所工程学院和一个环境研究与技术中心的代表将合作设计、实施和检查课程对学生了解空气质量、与空气质量下降有关的健康风险以及进入空气质量监测和管理职业的途径的影响。项目所在地区的空气质量是一个重要的环境问题，在那里，学生有机会获得与空气质量监测和减轻环境影响相关的新兴技术的直接经验。在两年的时间里，该项目将在现有的高中科学课程中实施由教师开发的18个新的空气质量课程。该项目还将通过暑期和学年期间的每周会议，让参与的教师参与相关的专业学习机会，重点关注研究和文化响应教学。该项目将由一个咨询委员会指导，该委员会包括当地学术机构、行业合作伙伴和政府机构的代表。该项目的目的是：(a)通过纳入以空气质量监测为重点的新开发课程来加强高中科学课程；(b)评价新课程和相关教师专业学习机会在促进学生了解空气质量对其日常生活的影响方面的有效性；(c)确定对新空气质量课程干预有效性的个人内部、个人之间和文化影响；(d)提高学生对当地和全球环境工业可能提供的职业机会的认识。该项目开发的18门新课程将通过随机对照研究设计进行测试，该设计将涉及一个大型大都市学区的5所综合高中的至少30名科学教师。大约2100名10年级和11年级的学生将参与这项研究的课堂，其中15名教师和1050名学生分为实验组和对照组。实验组的教师将参加一个夏季研究体验，在那里他们将学习使用与空气质量监测相关的技术和程序，在接下来的学年中，他们将开发空气质量监测课程，这些课程将纳入他们的标准课程。比较组的教师将照常开展业务并实施常规科学课程。研究的指导性问题是：(a)新兴技术的经验如何有效地使不同的学生群体熟悉相关的能力，哪些因素可能影响学习经验？(b)哪些因素和关键经验可以有效地提高对STEM职业的认识，追求STEM职业的动机，以及坚持接受通往这些职业的教育途径？（三）教师使用哪些符合文化的教学和课程实践和模式可以提高学生对STEM职业的理解和兴趣？(d)企业/行业劳动力成员如何激励来自不同代表性不足人群的学生意识到、感兴趣并为STEM劳动力的职业生涯做好准备——他们如何支持教师提高STEM劳动力的意识和兴趣？该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值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) by developing and testing an innovative and locally-relevant air quality curriculum for high school students. Representatives of a public school district, a state university, a college of engineering, and a center for environmental research and technology will collaborate in designing, implementing, and examining the impacts of the curriculum on student understanding of air quality, health risks associated with reduced air quality, and pathways to careers in air quality monitoring and management. The project is located in an area where air quality is a significant environmental concern, and where there are opportunities for students to gain direct experiences with emerging technologies associated with air quality monitoring and mitigating environmental impacts. Over a two-year period, the project will implement 18 new air-quality lessons developed by teachers within existing high school science courses. The project will also engage participating teachers in related professional learning opportunities focusing on research and culturally responsive teaching during summers and through weekly meetings during the academic year. The project will be guided by an Advisory Board that includes representatives of local academic institutions, industry partners, and government agencies.The aims of this project are to: (a) Enhance a high school science curriculum by incorporating newly developed lessons focusing on air-quality monitoring, (b) Evaluate the effectiveness of the new curriculum and associated teacher professional learning opportunities in promoting student understanding of the impacts of air quality on their everyday lives, (c) Identify intra-personal, inter-personal, and cultural influences on the effectiveness of the new air quality curriculum intervention, and (d) Raise awareness among students of possible career opportunities with environmental industries locally and globally. The 18 new lessons being developed by the project will be tested through a randomized control research design involving a minimum of 30 science teachers across five comprehensive high schools of a large metropolitan school district. Approximately 2,100 students in grades 10 and 11 will be engaged in the classrooms of the study, with 15 teachers and 1050 students involved in the treatment groups, and in the comparison groups. Teachers in the treatment groups will participate in a summer research experience where they learn to use the technologies and procedures associated with air quality monitoring, and during the subsequent school year they will develop lessons on air quality monitoring that will be incorporated within their standard classes. Teachers in the comparison group will conduct business as usual and implement the regular science curriculum. The guiding questions for research are: (a) How can experiences with emerging technologies effectively enable diverse populations of students to gain familiarity with relevant competencies and what factors might influence learning experiences? (b) What factors and key experiences may effectively promote awareness of STEM careers, motivation to pursue a STEM career, and persistence in undertaking education pathways to those careers? (c) What culturally responsive instructional and curricular practices and models used by teachers can enhance student understanding of and interest in STEM occupations? And (d) In what ways do business/industry workforce members motivate students from diverse underrepresented populations to become aware of, interested in, and prepared for careers in the STEM workforce-how do they support teachers in promoting STEM workforce awareness and interest?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.