Conference Travel Grant: Connecting Practioners and Scholars in Public Participation in STEM Research and in Community-Based Environmental Science to Enhance Informal STEM Learning

作为其整体战略的一部分，以加强在非正式环境中的学习，推进非正式STEM学习（AISL）计划旨在推进新的方法，并以证据为基础的理解，在非正式环境中的STEM学习的设计和开发。这包括提供多种途径，以扩大获得和参与STEM学习经验，推进非正式环境中STEM学习的创新研究和评估，以及发展参与者对深入学习的理解。这项旅行补助金的重点是扩大参与STEM学习和推进奖学金和实践相关的公众参与STEM研究（PPSR）。 在PPSR中，公众自愿参与科学过程，以可能包括制定研究问题，进行科学实验，收集和分析数据，解释结果，做出新发现，开发技术和应用以及解决复杂问题的方式解决现实世界的问题。目前，参与许多PPSR项目并不经常反映全国的全面多样性。公民科学协会（CSA）是一个旨在支持公民科学（PPSR的一种形式）在广泛的问题和社区中进行严格和合乎道德的实践的组织，每两年将PPSR实践者和学者聚集在一起。CSA会议将于2019年3月13日至17日在北卡罗来纳州的罗利举行，将建立网络和能力，以支持整个公民科学和不同人群的奖学金和实践。这笔旅费资助支持75名参与者，25名地方和50名国家，来自STEM代表性不足的团体，他们积极参与社区环境科学，以前没有参加过CSA会议。基于社区的环境科学项目通常发生在少数民族社区，越来越多地依赖PPSR方法，包括通过技术和数据素养的发展让公众参与STEM学习。通过这笔旅费补助，2019年CSA会议将汇集来自公民科学和社区环境科学项目的从业者和学者的专业知识和经验。会议将促进为期四天的互动和相互学习，并有大量时间进行反复思考和积极讨论，使会议与个人相关且有意义。这有意地允许识别公民科学和基于社区的环境科学项目之间的共同点和紧张领域，并有时间与同事一起研究各种方法和问题，以进行更多的学习。互动应允许对目标、理论、方法、招聘和保留以及项目的其他方面进行有意义的讨论，这些方面对项目的成功有影响。 会议的结构包括小组讨论、演讲、海报会议和讨论，以提高PPSR和基于社区的环境科学实践的质量和范围。该奖项反映了NSF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。

As part of its overall strategy to enhance learning in informal environments, 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. This includes providing multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM learning experiences, advancing innovative research on and assessment of STEM learning in informal environments, and developing understandings of deeper learning by participants. This travel grant focuses on broadening participation in STEM learning and advancing scholarship and practice related to Public Participation in STEM Research (PPSR). In PPSR, members of the public participate voluntarily in scientific processes, addressing real-world problems in ways that may include formulating research questions, conducting scientific experiments, collecting and analyzing data, interpreting results, making new discoveries, developing technologies and applications, and solving complex problems. Currently, participation in many PPSR projects does not often reflect the full range diversity in the nation. The Citizen Science Association (CSA), an organization that seeks to support the rigorous and ethical practice of citizen science--a form of PPSR--across a broad range of issues and communities, brings together PPSR practioners and scholars biennially. The CSA conference, to be held March 13-17, 2019, in Raleigh, North Carolina, will build networks and capacities to support scholarship and practice across the full range of citizen science and across diverse populations. This travel grant supports 75 participants, 25 local and 50 national, from groups underrepresented in STEM, who are actively engaged in community-based environmental science and have not previously attended a CSA conference. Community-based environmental science projects, which often occur in minority communities, are increasingly relying on PPSR approaches, including engaging public participants in STEM learning through technology and the development of data literacies. Through this travel grant, the 2019 CSA conference will bring together the expertise and experiences of practioners and scholars from citizen science and community-based environmental science projects. The conference will facilitate four days of interactions and mutual learning with significant time for iterative reflection and active discussion to make the sessions personally relevant and meaningful. This intentionally allows for identifying areas of both commonalities and tensions across citizen science and community-based environmental science projects, with time to work through various approaches and issues with colleagues for greater learning. The interactions should allow for meaningful discussion of goals, theory, methods, recruitment and retention and other aspects of projects that make a difference in the success of projects. The structure of the conference includes panels, presentations, poster sessions, and discussion to increase the quality and extent of PPSR and community-based environmental science practice.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.