Building More Inclusive Makerspaces to Support Informal Engineering Learning Experiences

作为加强非正式环境中学习的整体战略的一部分，推进非正式STEM学习（AISL）计划为各种环境中使用的创新资源提供资金。该项目将完善，研究和传播博物馆开发和测试的展品和活动，以支持早期工程技能的发展。该项目将使用纸板，一个熟悉的和灵活的材料，以支持活动。我们的目标是为整个博物馆领域的非正式教育工作者开发见解和资源，以了解如何有效地为参观者构建和促进开放式的创客教育体验，从而扩大博物馆和家庭的数量和种类。创客教育通常与科学，技术，工程和数学（STEM）学习相联系，并使用实践和协作方法来支持促进创造力，兴趣和技能发展的活动和项目。为了解决获得和参与正式和非正式学习机会不平等的模式，该项目将使来自代表性不足社区的家庭参与，并研究他们如何参与非正式工程活动和环境。该项目将为博物馆和其他伊势从业者提供一套资源，这些资源将通过在所有不同环境下的迭代测试开发。这些资源将通过一个开放的在线门户网站广泛提供。该项目将研究如何有效地利用纸板制作展览和活动吸引家庭，特别是来自代表性不足的群体的家庭，参与STEM和早期工程。该项目的理论框架结合了以下要素：（1）博物馆中家庭学习的学习科学理论;（2）作为学习过程的制作;（3）早期工程实践和处置;以及（4）博物馆和制造者运动中的公平。该研究将在明尼苏达州科学博物馆的大型纸板工程画廊的两个多月实施中进行，并在三个招募的合作伙伴博物馆网站的每个画廊进行为期两周的规模实施。项目设计将评价和研究目标交织在一起。配对观察和调查将用于研究该项目在不同地点的工作效率。这种研究和评估的整合将产生一个大的数据集，从中可以概括各种背景下的纸板制作。案例研究将用于确定可以补救的参与障碍，但它们将为理解家庭学习和制造工程提供丰富的数据集。研究成果和产品将发布在非正式科学教育中心的网站上，并提交给同行评审的期刊，如访问者研究，ASTC尺寸，大学预科工程教育研究杂志等。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得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的支持。

As part of its overall strategy to enhance learning in informal environments, the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program funds innovative resources for use in a variety of settings. The project will refine, research and disseminate making exhibits and events that the museum has developed and tested to support early engineering skill development. The project will use cardboard, a familiar and flexible material, to support the activities. The goal is to develop insights and resources for informal educators across the museum field and beyond into how to effectively structure and facilitate open-ended maker education experiences for visitors that expand the number and kinds of museums and families who can engage in these activities. Maker education is often linked to Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) learning and uses hands-on and collaborative approaches to support activities and projects that foster creativity, interest, and skill development. To address patterns of inequitable access to and participation in both formal and informal learning opportunities, the project will be designed to engage families from under-represented communities and research how they participate in informal engineering activities and environments. The project will make a suite of resources available for museums and other ISE practitioners that will be developed through iterative testing at all of the different settings. These resources will be made widely available via an open access online portal.The project will research how effectively the use of cardboard making exhibits and events engage families, particularly families from underrepresented groups, in STEM and early engineering. The project's theoretical framework combines elements of: (1) learning sciences theories of family learning in museums; (2) making as a learning process; (3) early engineering practices and dispositions, and (4) equity in museums and the maker movement. The research will be conducted within two multi-month implementations of a large-scale Cardboard Engineering gallery at the Science Museum of Minnesota and two-week scaled implementations of the gallery at each of three recruited partner museum sites. The project design interweaves evaluation and research aims. Paired observations and surveys will be used to research how effectively the project is working in different venues. This integration of research and evaluation will generate a large data set from which to generalize about cardboard making across contexts. Case studies will be used to identify barriers to engagement that can be remedied, but they will provide a rich data set for understanding family learning and engineering in making. Research findings and products will be posted on the Center for Informal Science Education website and submitted for publication in peer-reviewed journals such as Visitor Studies, ASTC Dimensions, the Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research and others.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.