Youth Engaging in the Science of Resilience in Urban and Rural NC (YES-Resilience)

作为在非正式环境中加强学习的总体战略的一部分，推进非正式STEM学习(AISL)计划为各种环境中使用的创新研究、方法和资源提供资金。该项目的重点是环境健康素养，并将探讨在校外STEM强化计划中，不同的农村和城市青年在多大程度上表现出环境健康素养的增长，同时参与学习和教授其他人关于面对不断变化的气候的社区适应能力。科学中心和博物馆为年轻人提供了学习韧性的独特机会，因为它们将社区成员聚集在一起，研究当前科学如何影响地方决策。在这个项目中，参与的青年小组将通过四个学习单元取得进展，探讨气候变化对当地社区的影响、与这些变化相关的当地脆弱性和风险、可能的缓解和适应战略以及建设社区适应气候变化的能力。在完成这些单元后，参与的青年将开展一项以复原力为重点的行动项目。将鼓励参与者让同行、家庭、朋友和其他社区利益攸关方参与其项目的设计和实施，他们将在获取当地气候和天气数据以及通过相关门户网站分享他们的研究结果方面获得经验。参与者还将使用各种传感器和基于网络的工具来收集他们自己的数据。这项研究以三个研究问题为指导：1)年轻人通过参与博物馆主导的、以韧性为重点的规划，在多大程度上发展知识、技能和自我效能，以发展社区韧性(综合而言，在韧性背景下的环境健康素养)？2)哪些项目特征和环境促进了这些科学学习成果？3)农村和城市青年的环境健康素养有何不同，任何差异对项目复制意味着什么？在两年的时间里，该项目将分六个阶段进行：a)第一年的材料开发，b)招募和挑选青年参与者，c)暑期学院(6天)，d)暑期学院之后学年的讲习班和实地经验，e)与当地有关的行动项目，f)计划结束峰会(一天)。在寻求研究问题的答案时，将使用各种数据来源，包括青年焦点小组和教育工作者访谈的成绩单，每个焦点小组和访谈的简要研究人员反思，以及与复原力相关的知识调查。量化数据来源将包括人口统计调查和对青少年自我效能量表的答复。该项目将直接吸引32名青年，以及每名青年一名父母或监护人。这项研究将探索农村和城市高中生参与互动、并行编程的经验，以使项目组能够比较和对比农村和城市参与者在环境健康素养方面的变化。预计这项研究将促进不同青年在非正式学习环境中的参与如何影响对复原力的理解和环境健康素养的发展的知识，并将为研究型大学和非正式科学中心之间的伙伴关系在关注社区复原力方面所起的作用提供见解。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。

As part of its overall strategy to enhance learning in informal environments, the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program funds innovative research, approaches and resources for use in a variety of settings. This project focuses on environmental health literacy and will explore the extent to which diverse rural and urban youth in an out-of-school STEM enrichment program exhibit gains in environmental health literacy while engaged in learning and teaching others about community resilience in the face of changing climates. Science centers and museums provide unique opportunities for youth to learn about resilience, because they bring community members together to examine the ways that current science influences local decisions. In this project, teams of participating youth will progress through four learning modules that explore the impacts of changing climates on local communities, the local vulnerabilities and risks associated with those changes, possible mitigation and adaptation strategies, and building capacities for communities to become climate resilient. After completion of these modules, participating youth will conduct a resilience-focused action project. Participants will be encouraged to engage peers, families, friends, and other community stakeholders in the design and implementation of their projects, and they will gain experience in accessing local climate and weather data, and in sharing their findings through relevant web portals. Participants will also use various sensors and web-based tools to collect their own data.This study is guided by three research questions: 1) To what extent do youth develop knowledge, skills, and self-efficacy for developing community resilience (taken together, environmental health literacy in the context of resilience) through participation in museum-led, resilience-focused programming? 2) What program features and settings foster these science learning outcomes? And 3) How does environmental health literacy differ among rural and urban youth, and what do any differences imply for project replication? Over a two-year period, the project will proceed in six stages: a) Materials Development during the first year, b) Recruitment and selection of youth participants, c) Summer institute (six days), d) Workshops and field experiences during the school year following the summer institute, e) Locally relevant action projects, and f) End-of-program summit (one day). In pursuing answers to the research questions, a variety of data sources will be used, including transcripts from youth focus groups and educator interviews, brief researcher reflections of each focus group and interview, and a survey of resilience-related knowledge. Quantitative data sources will include a demographic survey and responses to a self-efficacy instrument for adolescents. The project will directly engage 32 youth, together with one parent or guardian per youth. The study will explore the experiences of rural and urban youth of high school age engaged in interactive, parallel programming to enable the project team to compare and contrast changes in environmental health literacy between rural and urban participants. It is anticipated that this research will advance knowledge of how engagement of diverse youth in informal learning environments influences understanding of resilience and development of environmental health literacy, and it will provide insights into the role of partnerships between research universities and informal science centers in focusing on community resilience.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.