Investigating How Museum Experiences Inform Youths' STEM Career Awareness and Interest

美国的博物馆每年接待来自学校团体的学生约5500万人次的参观。人们发现，实地参观艺术博物馆对批判性思维技能、同理心和容忍度有积极影响——对农村或高度贫困地区的年轻人来说，这种影响更为显著。虽然实地考察很受欢迎，尤其是在科学博物馆，但还没有关于它们对STEM职业选择和兴趣的影响的实验研究，更不用说使用文化敏感和反应性方法了。鉴于投入实地考察的资源，本研究探讨博物馆体验与对青少年的影响之间是否存在因果关系。科学与工业博物馆采用学习实验室的方式来吸引参观者。这些“学习实验室”提供大约一个小时的便利体验。目前有12个实验课题。本研究以MedLab（其中一个学习型实验室）为研究背景。MedLab专为现场和在线体验而设计，使用超复杂和高度通用的技术来研究社区青少年面临的顶级医疗保健问题。本研究以社会认知职业理论（SCCT）和种族与民族认同的研究和理论为基础。广义而言，前者描述了许多人在考虑职业选择时遵循的过程。后者描述了人们如何通过其种族和/或民族群体的成员身份来看待自己在世界上的地位。这两个过程可以共同影响STEM的职业选择。本研究采用嵌入式混合方法设计。定量部分包括对教育工作者和他们的学生进行实验、测试前/测试后/延迟测试后的设计，使用多种测量方法，主要来自先前发表的工具。定性部分包括MedLab会议的观察规则，以及在博物馆内外与工作人员、教育工作者、学生和家庭进行的访谈和焦点小组。这是一项中等规模的实验研究，在现实世界中，教师和学生群体都是异质的。它包括比较参加MedLab的青年和教育工作者与不参加MedLab的青年和教育工作者。通过对每个社区的独特经历进行研究，该研究将更敏感、更真实地衡量其影响，解决当前文献中关于非正式科学、技术、工程或数学（STEM）职业教育与不同学生的差距。本研究由推进非正式STEM学习（AISL）计划和学生和教师创新技术体验（ITEST）计划资助。AISL计划旨在推进非正式环境中STEM学习的设计和开发的新方法和基于证据的理解。ITEST项目旨在更好地理解和促进实践，提高学生追求stem相关领域职业的动机和能力。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。

Museums in the US receive approximately 55 million visits each year from students in school groups. Field trip visits to an art museum have been found to positively impact critical thinking skills, empathy and tolerance - an increase that can be even more significant for youth from rural or high-poverty regions. While field trips are popular, especially at science museums, there have been no experimental studies about their impact on STEM career choices and interests, much less any which used a culturally sensitive and responsive approach. Given the resources put into field trips, this study investigates if causal links can be drawn between museum experiences and impact on youth. The Museum of Science & Industry uses a Learning Labs approach for engaging its visitors. These "Learning Labs" are facilitated experiences that run roughly an hour. Currently there are 12 lab topics. This study focuses on MedLab--one of the learning labs--as the setting for the research. MedLab is designed for on-site and online experience using ultra-sophisticated and highly versatile technology in challenges taken from research on the top healthcare issues that face adolescents in their communities.This study is informed by research and theory on Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT) and Racial and Ethnic Identity. The former describes a process many follow when thinking about career options, broadly. The latter describes how people see themselves in the world through their membership with a racial and/or ethnic group. Both processes can collectively influence STEM career choices. This study follows an embedded mixed-method design. The quantitative portion includes an experimental, pre/post/delayed post-test design of both educators and their students using multiple measures taken mostly from previously published instruments. The qualitative portion includes observation rubrics of MedLab sessions along with interviews and focus groups with staff, educators, students and families that take place both within and outside of the museum. This is an experimental study of moderate size of both heterogeneous teacher and student populations in real world settings. It involves comparing youth and educators that participate in MedLab with those who do not. By conducting research that looks at each community through the lens of their unique experiences, the research will measure their impact more sensitively and authentically, addressing a gap in current literature on informal science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) career education with diverse students.This study is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program and the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program. The AISL program seeks to advance new approaches to, and evidence-based understanding of, the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments. The ITEST program seeks to better understand and promote practices that increase student motivations and capacities to pursue careers STEM-related fields.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.