Storybook STEM: Professional Convening for Cross-Sector Understanding of Children's Literature as a Tool for Supporting Informal STEM Learning

大量的研究强调了故事书对儿童学习的好处。在学前课堂的背景下，使用故事书吸引幼儿参与STEM是面向从业者的文章的常见主题。还有越来越多的非正式STEM教育（ISE）项目探索如何利用故事书吸引幼儿及其家庭参与不同的STEM内容领域。虽然人们普遍对ISE中故事书的潜力感到兴奋，但人们也认识到，迫切需要更多的跨项目共享，更多的研究，以及更多的努力来综合和分享发现。该奖项将催化新的研究和合作伙伴关系，以推进ISE背景下的努力，包括书籍在整体学习经验或计划中的作用，如何选择或设计书籍，以及教师和家庭如何促进阅读。参与者将是从事或研究学龄前儿童（3至5岁）家庭学习的教育工作者和研究人员，他们使用早期儿童小说书籍作为让家庭参与STEM主题和技能的工具。故事书STEM将分四个阶段实施：(1)召集前活动，以规划、综合现有资源，在召集与会者之外吸引更广泛的教育工作者和研究人员，并为召集与会者做好准备，使面对面讨论的价值最大化；(2)亲自召集，促进跨项目讨论，概述有前途的做法，并确定未来的问题和想法；(3)从参与者和项目指导委员会的角度评估会议的影响和价值；(4)向ISE领域内外的教育工作者和研究人员传播研究结果和建议。结果包括：(1)记录ISE和其他领域当前和过去的工作；(2)总结阅读、读写和儿童早期发展领域的关键建议和资源；(3)提出未来工作的发展方向。该奖项由推进非正式STEM学习（AISL）计划资助，该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，以扩大获得和参与STEM学习体验的机会。该项目的调查结果将提供关键资源，以帮助这些努力对全国各地的受众更有效和更具包容性。由这次会议推动的研究将解决故事书作为ISE项目工具的经验工作的缺乏，并推进ISE领域如何有效整合这些书籍的知识。由于故事书是一种易于获取且几乎普遍使用的家庭学习资源，因此会议的主题将与广泛的受众相关，并将帮助教育工作者为传统上服务不足和资源不足的社区扩大使用ISE的机会。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。

A large body of research highlights the benefits of storybooks for children's learning. In the context of preschool classrooms, the use of storybooks to engage young children in STEM is a frequent topic of practitioner-oriented articles. There is also an increasing number of informal STEM education (ISE) projects exploring how to leverage storybooks to engage young children and their families in different STEM content domains. While there is universal excitement for the potential of storybooks in ISE, there is an acknowledgment of a critical need for more cross-project sharing, more research, and more efforts to synthesize and share findings. This award will catalyze new research studies and partnerships to advance efforts in ISE contexts, including the role of books in the overall learning experience or program, how books are selected or designed, and how the reading is facilitated by teachers and families. Participants will be educators and researchers working with or studying family learning for preschool-age children (three to five years) using early childhood fiction books as a tool for engaging families in STEM topics and skills.Storybook STEM will be implemented in four phases: (1) pre-convening activities to plan, synthesize existing resources, engage a broader group of educators and researchers beyond convening attendees, and prepare convening participants to maximize the value of the in-person discussions; (2) in-person convening to catalyze cross-project discussions, outline promising practices, and identify questions and ideas for the future; (3) evaluation of the impact and value of the convening, from the perspective of participants and a project steering committee; and (4) dissemination of findings and recommendations to educators and researchers within and beyond the ISE field. Outcomes include: (1) documenting current and past work in ISE and other fields; (2) summarizing key recommendations and resources from the reading, literacy, and early childhood development fields; and (3) outlining promising directions for future work. This award is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which 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. The findings from this project will provide a critical resource to help these efforts be more effective and inclusive for audiences across the country. Research studies motivated by the convening will address the lack of empirical work on storybooks as a tool for ISE programs and advance the ISE field's knowledge of how to integrate these books effectively. Because storybooks are a highly accessible and almost universally used family learning resource, the topic of the convening will be relevant to a wide range of audiences and will help educators broaden access to ISE for traditionally underserved and under-resourced communities.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.