STEM Ecologies of Learning for Families: Supporting Intergenerational Learning through University-Prison Partnerships

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。该项目将开发和研究如何利用创客教育活动来支持极端弱势群体的代际学习，例如父母被监禁的家庭。创客教育通常与STEM学习相关，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。 研究表明，创客教育活动支持STEM学习和创造力，STEM身份和性格的发展，并为STEM职业创造途径。该项目将开展一系列项目活动，包括将科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）学习专家带到妇女最低安全设施，进行研究讲座，并举办一系列研讨会，探讨为被监禁妇女及其子女开展的创客活动。通过研究父母被监禁的家庭的创伤知情制造商实践，该项目将开发与其他非正式STEM学习环境中支持这些实践相关的研究成果和实用资源。虽然有证据表明，制造商教学法可以有效地支持不同人群的STEM学习，但很少有人知道它如何支持被监禁妇女及其子女的STEM学习。该项目将调查：（1）被监禁妇女及其子女的日常STEM实践，以及如何通过创客活动支持和扩展这些实践;（2）被监禁妇女及其子女如何看待STEM，以及这些看法对发展STEM身份的影响;（3）通过项目研究，发展STEM学习的设计原则。将通过被监禁妇女、项目大学伙伴的大学研究人员、圣刘易斯大学监狱方案和联邦教养所-营地（格林维尔妇女最低安全设施）的合作，设计和研究方案活动和相关研究。 该项目将使用社会设计实验（Social Design Experimentation，缩写为SDSI）作为主要的研究方法，用于现场设计和研究教育干预措施。该项目的独特之处在于参与者、研究人员和其他利益相关者合作，以实现项目和相关研究的目标。 项目交付成果将广泛分发给研究人员和教育工作者，其中包括同行评审和教育工作者出版物中的文章、为极端弱势群体发展创客教育机会的战略和设计原则，该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过评估被认为值得支持使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准。

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 develop and research the ways in which maker education activities can be leveraged to support intergenerational learning in hyper-vulnerable populations, such as families with an incarcerated parent. Maker education is often linked to STEM learning and uses hands-on and collaborative approaches to support activities and projects that foster creativity, interest, and skill development. Research has shown that maker education activities support STEM learning and creativity, the development of STEM identities and dispositions, and create pathways towards STEM careers. The project will develop a series of project activities including bringing Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) learning experts to a women;s minimum-security facility for lectures on research and a set of workshops exploring maker activities for the incarcerated women and their children. By researching trauma-informed maker practices for families with an incarcerated parent, the project will develop research findings related to and practical resources for supporting these practices in other informal STEM learning contexts.While evidence shows that maker pedagogy can be effective in supporting STEM learning for diverse populations, little is known about how it might support STEM learning for incarcerated women and their children. The project will investigate: (1) the everyday STEM practices of incarcerated women and their children and how these practices can be supported and extended through maker activities; (2) how incarcerated women and their children are perceived with respect to STEM and the impact these perceptions have on developing STEM identities; and (3) what design principles for developing STEM learning emerge through the project research. Program activities and related research will be designed and researched through the collaboration of incarcerated women, university researchers from the project university partners, the Saint Louis University Prison Program, and the Federal Correctional Institution-Camp (Greenville Women's Minimum Security Facility). The project will use Social Design Experimentation (SDE) as the primary research method, which is used to design and study education interventions on site. SDE is unique in that participants, researchers and other stakeholders collaborate to meet the goals of the project and related research. Project deliverables, which will be widely disseminated to researchers and educators, will include articles in peer-reviewed and educator publications, strategies and design principles for developing maker education opportunities for hyper-vulnerable populations, and practical recommendations for a maker kit to facilitate STEM maker education activities and family interaction.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.