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

作为加强非正式环境中学习的总体战略的一部分，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。这包括提供多种途径，扩大STEM学习经验的获取和参与，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度学习的理解。这项旅行补助金的重点是扩大STEM学习的参与，并推进与公众参与STEM研究（PPSR）相关的奖学金和实践。在PPSR中，公众自愿参与科学过程，以各种方式解决现实问题，包括提出研究问题、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。目前，参与许多PPSR项目往往不能反映国家的全面多样性。公民科学协会（CSA）是一个组织，旨在支持公民科学（PPSR的一种形式）在广泛的问题和社区中的严格和道德实践，每两年将PPSR从业者和学者聚集在一起。CSA会议将于2019年3月13日至17日在北卡罗来纳州罗利举行，会议将建立网络和能力，以支持公民科学的全方位和不同人群的学术和实践。这项旅行补助金支持75名参与者，其中25名是当地的，50名是全国的，他们来自STEM中代表性不足的群体，他们积极参与社区环境科学，以前没有参加过CSA会议。以社区为基础的环境科学项目通常发生在少数民族社区，它们越来越依赖于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。通过这笔旅行资助，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。会议将促进四天的互动和相互学习，有大量的时间进行迭代反思和积极讨论，使会议与个人相关和有意义。这有意允许在公民科学和以社区为基础的环境科学项目中识别共性和紧张关系的领域，并有时间与同事一起通过各种方法和问题进行更多的学习。相互作用应允许对目标、理论、方法、征聘和保留以及对项目成功有影响的项目的其他方面进行有意义的讨论。会议的结构包括小组讨论、演讲、海报会议和讨论，以提高PPSR和社区环境科学实践的质量和范围。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。

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.