Collaborative Research: A Multi-level Investigation of STEM Mentoring - Outcomes for Middle School Youth, their Mentors, and Partner Organizations

辅导是一种被广泛接受的战略，用于支持包括教育、劳动力发展和司法系统在内的各种部门的积极社会情感和认知发展。据估计，每年有250万名志愿者导师支持美国的青年发展。然而，人们普遍担心，实践的速度已经超过了经验测试，在关于指导关系的重要修饰者及其影响的研究文献中存在显著差距。这对于在STEM指导10-14岁的青年来说尤其如此。研究非常成功的项目可能是更好地理解指导和指导有效性的主持人的作用的一种方式。科学俱乐部是一个以社区为基础的STEM辅导计划，面向芝加哥地区的中年级青年，将提供多个地点进行研究，以审查推动STEM辅导理论和实践的三个重要问题。这些问题包括(1)理解STEM对中等年级青少年的辅导；(2)确定科学家导师更充分地参与辅导计划的结果和动机；以及(3)研究以中学为重点的STEM辅导合作模式。通过一系列三项研究，该团队将调查指导关系中的哪些元素与青年参与者表现出的STEM认同感获得有关。这项工作还将提供急需的数据，说明STEM导师关系对导师本身的影响。研究1旨在对项目校友(包括青年和导师)进行回顾研究，了解他们在科学俱乐部期间STEM身份转变的性质和程度。有目的的样本包括160名青年和100名导师校友。研究二是以研究一的数据和发现为基础，对三组活跃的科学俱乐部参与者进行的前瞻性研究。在研究二中，研究小组将设计和实施一种新的以身份为中心的导师观察工具，旨在从纵向上探索导师关系的性质和质量及其在科学认同发展中的作用。由40名青年和20名导师组成的三个独立队列将参与其中。研究3是回溯性的，考察参与的个人和组织如何感知并受到指导的影响。这三项研究采用了一种混合的方法，利用调查、观察、个人访谈和文件审查。这项建议将通过新颖的实证研究，填补有关形成时期中学时期的辅导文献中的关键空白。在现有文献和做法的基础上，这项工作的成果将为实践提供信息，并加强实地关于指导关系和大学-学校-OST伙伴关系的集体影响的知识建设。该项目由推进非正式STEM学习计划(AISL)资助，该计划旨在促进对非正式环境中STEM学习的设计和开发的新方法和基于证据的理解。这包括为扩大获得和参与STEM学习经验提供多种途径，在非正式环境中推进对STEM学习的创新研究和评估，以及加深参与者对更深层次学习的理解。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。

Mentoring is a widely accepted strategy for supporting positive socioemotional and cognitive development across a variety of sectors including education, workforce development, and the justice system. An estimated 2.5 million volunteer mentors support youth development in the United States each year. However, there is broad concern that practice has outpaced empirical testing, with significant gaps in the research literature on important modifiers of mentoring relationships and their impacts. This is especially true for mentoring youth ages 10-14 in STEM. Studying highly successful programs may be one way to better understand the role of mentoring and moderators of mentoring effectiveness. The Science Club, a community-based STEM mentoring program for middle-grade youth in the Chicago area, will provide multiple sites for a research study to examine three important issues for advancing theory and practice for STEM mentoring. These issues include (1) understanding STEM mentoring for youth in the middle grades, (2) identifying outcomes and motivations for scientist mentors to more fully participate in mentoring programs, and (3) examining a model of middle-school-focused STEM mentoring collaboration. Through a series of three studies, the team will investigate which elements of the mentoring relationships are associated with the demonstrated STEM identity gains in youth participants. The work will also contribute much-needed data on the impact of STEM mentoring relationships on the mentors themselves. Study 1 is designed as a retrospective study of program alumni, both youth and mentors, about the nature and extent of each their STEM identity shifts during their time in Science Club. A purposeful sample of 160+ youth and 100+ mentor alumni will participate. Study 2 is a prospective study of three consecutive cohorts of active Science Club participants, built on data and findings from Study 1. In Study 2, the team will design and implement a new Identity-Focused Mentoring Observation Instrument specifically aimed at exploring the nature and quality of mentoring relationships and their role in science identity development longitudinally. Three independent cohorts of 40 youth and 20 mentors each will participate. Study 3 is retrospective, examining how participating individuals and organizations perceive and are impacted by mentoring. The three studies employ a mixed methods approach utilizing surveys, observations, individual interviews, and document review. This proposal will fill critical gaps in the mentoring literature regarding the formative middle school years through novel, empirical research. Building on the current literature and practice, outcomes of the work will inform practice and enhance knowledge-building in the field on both mentoring relationships and the collective impact of university-school-OST partnerships. This project 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, advancing innovative research on and assessment of STEM learning in informal environments, and developing understandings of deeper learning by participants.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.