Growing Computer Science Literacy via Informal Learning Communities among Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Men and Women

作为在非正式环境中加强学习的总体战略的一部分，推进非正式STEM学习(AISL)计划为各种环境中使用的创新研究、方法和资源提供资金。这个试点和可行性研究项目将在三个纽约州监狱以及纽约市和佛蒙特州本宁顿的尖端计算机科学学习空间为最近获释的男性和女性设计和研究计算机科学教育计划。这两个投资地点的设计和运营目标是将监狱内的非正规STEM教育与释放后的STEM教育联系起来。该项目旨在帮助被监禁和以前被监禁的男女在计算机科学方面获得实践经验和技术流利。该项目还将帮助人们建立有效的途径，将监狱中的培训和非正式学习社区与监狱后的职业和教育成功联系起来。研究将研究非正式STEM学习如何能够1)为被监禁和监禁后的人群提供进入计算机科学和技术专业的更有效的途径，以及2)帮助振兴与高监禁率和高成人率作斗争的社区。将通过现有网络、学术和新闻出版物以及会议在STEM学习界和监狱教育工作者之间分享成果。作为一项试点计划，该项目旨在开发一种全面、严格和可移植的模式，可用作其他监狱教育项目以及美国各地农村和城市社区的资源，寻求解决监禁后生活中的经济和教育不平等问题。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。

As part of its overall strategy to enhance learning in informal environments, the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program funds innovative research, approaches, and resources for use in a variety of settings. This Pilots and Feasibility Studies project will design and study computer science education programs in three New York State prisons and cutting-edge computer science learning spaces in New York City and Bennington, VT for recently released men and women. These two sites of investment will be designed and operated with the goals of bridging informal STEM education inside the prison and post-release. The project aims to help incarcerated and formerly incarcerated men and women gain hands-on experience and technical fluency in computer science. The project will also help people build effective pathways that link training and informal learning communities in prison to professional and educational success after prison.The research will examine how informal STEM learning can 1) provide incarcerated and post-incarceration populations more effective pathways into computer science and technology professions, and 2) help revitalize neighborhoods struggling with high rates of incarceration and high rates of adults under correctional supervision. Results will be shared among the STEM learning community and prison educators through existing networks, scholarly and journalistic publications, and conferences. As a pilot program, this project aims to develop a comprehensive, rigorous, and transferable model that may be used as a resource in other prison education programs as well as in rural and urban communities across the United States seeking to address economic and educational inequalities of post-incarceration life.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.