Building More Inclusive Makerspaces to Support Informal Engineering Learning Experiences

作为加强非正式环境学习总体战略的一部分，推进非正式STEM学习（AISL）项目为各种环境中使用的创新资源提供资金。该项目将改进、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，一种熟悉而灵活的材料，来支持活动。我们的目标是为博物馆内外的非正式教育者提供见解和资源，让他们了解如何有效地为游客构建和促进开放式的创客教育体验，从而扩大可以参与这些活动的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）学习有关，并采用动手和协作的方法来支持培养创造力、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的不公平模式，该项目将旨在吸引来自代表性不足的社区的家庭，并研究他们如何参与非正式的工程活动和环境。该项目将为博物馆和其他ISE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来开发。这些资源将通过一个开放获取的在线门户广泛提供。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群体的家庭，参与STEM和早期工程。本项目的理论框架结合了以下要素：(1)博物馆家庭学习的学习科学理论；(2)将制作作为一种学习过程；(3)早期的工程实践和配置，以及(4)博物馆和创客运动中的权益。该研究将在明尼苏达州科学博物馆的大型纸板工程画廊进行两个多月的实施，并在三个招募的合作博物馆的每个博物馆进行为期两周的规模实施。项目设计将评估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，从中可以概括各种情况下的纸板制作。案例研究将用于确定可以纠正的参与障碍，但它们将为理解家庭学习和制作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，如访客研究、ASTC维度、大学预科工程教育研究杂志等。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 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.