My STEM Story: Scaling STEM Motivation Through Digital Storytelling and Near Peer Relationships

该项目将推进“面向学生和教师的创新技术体验”（ITEST）项目的工作，通过开发和测试一种新的近同伴指导方法，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。高中生将用录像的方式来记录他们与本科生之间关于他们在学术上的挣扎和在科学上的成功的对话。目标是通过数字叙事视频，将来自代表性不足群体的学生在追求STEM领域职业生涯中的经历变为现实。该项目基于这样一个前提，即本科生和具有相似背景和社会经历的高中生之间的互动，有可能使处于近乎同伴指导关系的学生以及在教师指导下观看视频的其他高中生受益。数字讲故事的方法有望促进对科学的积极态度，对科学学科的兴趣，以及追求科学相关职业的教育途径的意图。特别是，预计该方法将有助于扩大历史上代表性不足的群体的学生在stem相关教育途径和职业领域的参与。该项目将研究计划中的创造性和反思性视频体验在多大程度上比传统的以学术为中心的方法更有效地激发人们对STEM职业道路的兴趣。据推测，数字故事视频突出核心主题，如克服个人斗争和制度障碍，从错误中吸取教训，消除对科学家和科学事业的误解，以及作为一个对科学感兴趣的有色人种的年轻人的现实，可以有效地促进对科学的积极态度和追求stem相关职业的意愿。本项目以四个研究问题为指导：(1)对于共同构建数字故事视频的高中学生，项目干预是否影响学生可能的未来自我以及(a)对科学的积极态度，(b)对科学的更大兴趣和(c)追求科学道路的更大意图的近端结果？(2)在更广泛的科学课堂高中生样本中，项目干预是否成功地影响了学生可能的未来自我和随后的近端结果？(3)在数字叙事视频中描绘的主题是什么——既包括预测的，也包括没有预料到的？学生觉得有意义或难忘的关键因素是什么？(4)干预效果是否随观众对数字故事视频的参与程度、视频中描绘的特定主题和/或个别学生水平特征而变化？(5)干预在学校是否可行和可用？它是否显示出可扩展的前景？该项目将从干预设计和招募学生和教师开始，然后使用混合方法进行可行性试点测试。然后将使用小规模随机分组设计进行效果现场测试，将学校随机分为三种情况之一：完全干预，不进行实时视频聊天的部分干预，部分干预使用信息视频而不是参与学生制作的数字讲故事视频。结果测量将在干预前、干预后和干预后6个月进行。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 a novel approach to near-peer mentoring. High school students will use videography to capture their conversations with undergraduate students about their academic struggles and successes in science. The goal is for the digital storytelling videos to bring to life the experiences students from underrepresented groups have in their pursuit of careers in STEM fields. The project is based on the premise that interactions between undergraduate students and high school proteges having similar backgrounds and social experiences have potential to benefit both students in the near peer mentoring relationship as well other high school students who view the videos within teacher-guided settings. The digital storytelling approach is expected to promote positive attitudes toward science, interests in science disciplines, and intentions to pursue education pathways to science-related careers. In particular, it is anticipated that the approach will contribute to broadening the participation of students from groups historically underrepresented in STEM-related education pathways and career domains. The project will examine the extent to which the planned creative and reflective video experiences generate interests in pathways to STEM careers more effectively than traditional, academically focused approaches. It is hypothesized that the digital storytelling videos highlighting core themes such as overcoming personal struggles and institutional barriers, learning from mistakes, dispelling misconceptions about scientists and science careers, and the reality of being a young person of color interested in science, can effectively promote positive attitudes toward science and intentions to pursue STEM-related careers.This project is guided by four research questions: (1) For high school proteges co-constructing digital storytelling videos, does the project intervention influence students' possible future selves as well as the proximal outcomes of: (a) Positive attitudes toward science, (b) Greater interest in science, and (c) Greater intentions to pursue science pathways? (2) In a broader sample of high school students in science classrooms, does the project intervention succeed in influencing students' possible future selves and subsequent proximal outcomes? (3) What are the themes-both predicted and unanticipated-that are portrayed in the digital storytelling videos? What are the key elements that students find personally meaningful or memorable? (4) Do the intervention effects vary as a function of level of viewer engagement with the digital storytelling videos, specific themes portrayed in the videos, and/or individual student-level characteristics? And (5) Is the intervention feasible and usable in schools? Does it show promise for scaling? The project will begin with intervention design and recruitment of students and teachers, followed by a feasibility pilot test using a mixed-methods case study. An efficacy field test will then be conducted using a small-scale group-randomized design, with schools randomized into one of three conditions: full intervention, partial intervention without live video-chat, and partial intervention with informational videos rather than digital storytelling videos produced by participating students. Outcome measures will be administered before the intervention, immediately after the intervention, and six months after the intervention.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.