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

美国的博物馆每年接待大约5500万名学生以学校团体的形式参观。参观艺术博物馆的实地考察发现，对批判性思维技能、同理心和宽容有积极影响--对于来自农村或高度贫困地区的年轻人来说，这一增长可能更加显著。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度和响应性方法的任何研究了。考虑到投入到实地考察的资源，这项研究调查了博物馆体验和对年轻人的影响之间是否存在因果联系。科学与工业博物馆采用学习实验室的方式吸引参观者。这些“学习实验室”是一种辅助体验，大约运行一个小时。目前有12个实验主题。本研究以学习实验室之一的MedLab为研究背景。MEDLAB是为现场和在线体验而设计的，使用超复杂和高度通用的技术来应对对社区青少年面临的顶级医疗问题的研究。这项研究受到社会认知职业理论(SCCT)和种族和民族认同的研究和理论的启发。前者描述了许多人在广泛地考虑职业选择时遵循的一个过程。后者描述了人们如何通过他们在种族和/或民族群体中的成员身份来看待自己。这两个过程都可以共同影响STEM的职业选择。本研究遵循嵌入式混合方法设计。定量部分包括对教育者和他们的学生进行的实验、前/后/延迟后测试设计，主要使用以前发表的工具中的多种测量方法。定性部分包括MedLab会议的观察规则，以及在博物馆内外对工作人员、教育工作者、学生和家庭进行的采访和焦点小组。这是一项在现实世界中对中等规模的不同类型教师和学生群体进行的实验研究。它涉及到将参加MedLab的青年和教育工作者与不参加的青年和教育工作者进行比较。通过从每个社区独特经历的视角进行研究，研究将更加敏感和真实地衡量它们的影响，填补目前关于非正式科学、技术、工程或数学(STEM)职业教育(STEM)的文献中存在的不同学生之间的差距。这项研究由推进非正式STEM学习(AISL)计划和学生和教师创新技术体验(ITEST)计划资助。AISL项目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计划旨在更好地了解和促进实践，以增强学生追求STEM相关领域职业的动机和能力。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。

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.