LabVenture - Revealing Systemic Impacts of a 12-Year Statewide Science Field Trip Program

LabVenture - 揭示 12 年全州科学实地考察计划的系统影响

• 批准号: 1811452
• 负责人: Leigh Peake
• 金额: $ 179.29万
• 依托单位: Gulf of Maine Research Institute
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2018
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2018-09-01 至 2024-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1811452&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: LabVenture; Revealing; Systemic; Impacts; 12

This research in service to practice project will examine the impact of a 12-year statewide science field trip program called LabVenture. This hands-on program in discovery and inquiry brings middle school students and teachers across the State of Maine to the Gulf of Maine Research Institute (GMRI) in Portland, Maine to become fully immersed in explorations into the complexities of local marine science ecosystems. These intensive field trip experiences are led by informal educators and facilitated entirely within informal contexts at GMRI. Approximately 70% of all fifth and sixth grade students in Maine participate in the program each year and more than 120,000 students have attended since the program's inception in 2005. Unfortunately, little is known to date on how the program has influenced practice and learning ecosystems within formal, informal, and community contexts. As such, this research in service to practice project will employ an innovative research approach to understand and advance knowledge on the short and long-term impacts of the program within different contexts. If proven effective, the LabVenture program will elucidate the potential benefits of a large-scale field trip program implemented systemically across a community over time and serve as a reputable model for statewide adoption of similar programs seeking innovative strategies to connect formal and informal science learning to achieve notable positive shifts in their local, statewide, or regional STEM learning ecosystems. Over the four-year project duration, the project will reach all 16 counties in the State of Maine. The research design includes a multi-step, multi-method approach to gain insight on the primary research questions. The initial research will focus on extant data and retrospective data sources codified over the 12-year history of the program. The research will then be expanded to garner prospective data on current participating students, teachers, and informal educators. Finally, a community study will be conducted to understand the potential broader impacts of the program. Each phase of the research will consider the following overarching research questions are: (1) How do formal and informal practitioners perceive the value and purposes of the field trip program and field trip experiences more broadly (field trip ontology)? (2) To what degree do short-term field trip experiences in informal contexts effect cognitive and affective outcomes for students? (3) How are community characteristics (e.g., population, distance from GMRI, proximity to the coast) related to ongoing engagement with the field trip program? (4) What are aspects of the ongoing field trip program that might embed it as an integral element of community culture (e.g., community awareness of a shared social experience)? (5) To what degree does a field trip experience that is shared by schools across a state lead to a traceable change that can be measured for those who participated and across the broader community? and (6) In what ways, if at all, can a field trip experience that occurs in informal contexts have an influence on the larger learning ecosystem (e.g., the Maine education system)? Each phase of the research will be led by a team of researchers with the requisite expertise in the methodologies and contexts required to carry out that particular aspect of the research (i.e., retrospective study, prospective study, community study). In addition, evaluation and practitioner panels of experts will provide expertise and guidance on the research, evaluation, and project implementation. The project will culminate with a practitioner convening, to share project findings more broadly with formal and informal practitioners, and promote transfer from research to practice. Additional dissemination strategies include conferences, network meetings, and peer-reviewed publications.The potential insights this research could garner on intersectionality between formal and informal STEM learning are substantial. As a consequence, this project is co-funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) and Discovery Research K-12 (DRK-12) Programs. The Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program seeks to advance new approaches to, and evidence-based understanding of, the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments. Likewise, the Discovery Research-K12 Program seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) by preK-12 students and teachers, through research and development of innovative resources, models and tools.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.

这项服务于实践项目的研究将研究为期12年的全州科学实地考察计划的影响，称为实验室创业。在发现和调查这个动手程序带来了整个缅因州的缅因州研究所（GMRI）在波特兰，缅因州湾的中学生和教师成为完全沉浸在探索到当地海洋科学生态系统的复杂性。这些密集的实地考察经验是由非正式的教育工作者领导，并在GMRI的非正式环境中完全促进。缅因州每年大约有70%的五年级和六年级学生参加该项目，自2005年该项目成立以来，已有12万多名学生参加。不幸的是，很少有人知道到目前为止，该计划如何影响实践和学习生态系统内正式，非正式和社区环境。因此，这项服务于实践项目的研究将采用创新的研究方法，以了解和推进对该计划在不同背景下的短期和长期影响的认识。如果被证明是有效的，LabVenture计划将阐明随着时间的推移在整个社区系统实施的大规模实地考察计划的潜在好处，并作为全州采用类似计划的着名模式，寻求创新策略来连接正式和非正式的科学学习，以实现显着的积极转变，在当地，全州或区域STEM学习生态系统。在为期四年的项目期间，该项目将覆盖缅因州的所有16个县。研究设计包括一个多步骤，多方法的方法，以了解主要的研究问题。最初的研究将集中在现存的数据和回顾性数据源编纂超过12年的历史的计划。然后，研究将扩大到收集当前参与学生，教师和非正式教育工作者的前瞻性数据。最后，将进行社区研究，以了解该计划的潜在更广泛的影响。研究的每个阶段将考虑以下总体研究问题：（1）正式和非正式的从业人员如何更广泛地感知实地考察项目和实地考察经验的价值和目的（实地考察本体论）？(2)在非正式情境中的短期实地考察经历在多大程度上影响学生的认知和情感结果？(3)社区特征如何（例如，人口，距离GMRI，接近海岸）与正在进行的参与实地考察计划？(4)正在进行的实地考察计划的哪些方面可能使其成为社区文化的一个组成部分（例如，（一）共同的社会经验（？(5)在多大程度上，一个州的学校分享的实地考察经验会导致一个可追溯的变化，可以为那些参与者和更广泛的社区衡量？以及（6）在非正式环境中发生的实地考察经历（如果有的话）可以以何种方式对更大的学习生态系统产生影响（例如，缅因州教育系统）？研究的每个阶段都将由一个研究人员团队领导，该团队在开展研究的特定方面所需的方法和背景方面具有必要的专业知识（即，回顾性研究、前瞻性研究、社区研究）。此外，评价和执行专家小组将为研究、评价和项目执行提供专门知识和指导。项目最后将召开一次从业人员会议，与正式和非正式从业人员更广泛地分享项目成果，并促进从研究到实践的转变。其他传播策略包括会议、网络会议和同行评议的出版物。这项研究可以获得关于正式和非正式STEM学习之间交叉性的潜在见解。因此，该项目由推进非正式STEM学习（AISL）和发现研究K-12（DRK-12）计划共同资助。推进非正式STEM学习（AISL）计划旨在推进非正式环境中STEM学习的设计和开发的新方法和基于证据的理解。同样，发现研究-K12计划旨在通过研究和开发创新资源，模型和工具，显着提高K-12学生和教师的科学，技术，工程和数学（STEM）的学习和教学。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影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。