Collaborative Research: A Multi-level Investigation of STEM Mentoring - Outcomes for Middle School Youth, their Mentors, and Partner Organizations

指导是一种被广泛接受的策略，用于支持包括教育、劳动力发展和司法系统在内的各个部门的积极的社会情感和认知发展。据估计，美国每年有250万名志愿导师支持青年发展。然而，人们普遍担心实践已经超过了经验检验，在指导关系的重要修饰因素及其影响的研究文献中存在显著差距。在STEM领域指导10-14岁的青少年尤其如此。研究非常成功的项目可能是更好地理解指导的作用和指导效果的调节者的一种方法。科学俱乐部（Science Club）是芝加哥地区面向中年级青年的基于社区的STEM指导项目，它将为一项研究提供多个地点，以研究推进STEM指导理论和实践的三个重要问题。这些问题包括：(1)理解STEM指导对中年级青年的影响；(2)确定科学家导师更充分参与指导计划的结果和动机；(3)检验以中学为中心的STEM指导合作模式。通过一系列三项研究，该团队将调查师徒关系中的哪些因素与青年参与者所表现出的STEM身份增益有关。这项工作还将提供有关STEM师徒关系对导师本身影响的急需数据。研究1旨在对项目校友（包括青年和导师）进行回顾性研究，了解他们在科学俱乐部期间STEM身份转变的性质和程度。有目的的160+青年样本和100+导师校友将参加。研究2是一项前瞻性研究，基于研究1的数据和发现，对三个连续的科学俱乐部活跃参与者进行了研究。在研究2中，研究小组将设计并实施一个新的以认同为中心的师徒关系观察工具，专门用于纵向探索师徒关系的性质和质量及其在科学认同发展中的作用。由40名青年和20名导师组成的三个独立小组将参加。研究3是回顾性的，检查参与的个人和组织如何感知和受到指导的影响。这三项研究采用了调查、观察、个人访谈和文献回顾的混合方法。本建议将透过新颖的实证研究，填补有关成长期中学阶段辅导文献的重要空白。在现有文献和实践的基础上，工作成果将为实践提供信息，并加强该领域关于师徒关系和大学-学校-科技合作伙伴关系集体影响的知识建设。该项目由推进非正式STEM学习（AISL）计划资助，该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。这包括提供多种途径，扩大STEM学习经验的获取和参与，推进非正式环境中STEM学习的创新研究和评估，以及发展参与者对深度学习的理解。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。

Mentoring is a widely accepted strategy for supporting positive socioemotional and cognitive development across a variety of sectors including education, workforce development, and the justice system. An estimated 2.5 million volunteer mentors support youth development in the United States each year. However, there is broad concern that practice has outpaced empirical testing, with significant gaps in the research literature on important modifiers of mentoring relationships and their impacts. This is especially true for mentoring youth ages 10-14 in STEM. Studying highly successful programs may be one way to better understand the role of mentoring and moderators of mentoring effectiveness. The Science Club, a community-based STEM mentoring program for middle-grade youth in the Chicago area, will provide multiple sites for a research study to examine three important issues for advancing theory and practice for STEM mentoring. These issues include (1) understanding STEM mentoring for youth in the middle grades, (2) identifying outcomes and motivations for scientist mentors to more fully participate in mentoring programs, and (3) examining a model of middle-school-focused STEM mentoring collaboration. Through a series of three studies, the team will investigate which elements of the mentoring relationships are associated with the demonstrated STEM identity gains in youth participants. The work will also contribute much-needed data on the impact of STEM mentoring relationships on the mentors themselves. Study 1 is designed as a retrospective study of program alumni, both youth and mentors, about the nature and extent of each their STEM identity shifts during their time in Science Club. A purposeful sample of 160+ youth and 100+ mentor alumni will participate. Study 2 is a prospective study of three consecutive cohorts of active Science Club participants, built on data and findings from Study 1. In Study 2, the team will design and implement a new Identity-Focused Mentoring Observation Instrument specifically aimed at exploring the nature and quality of mentoring relationships and their role in science identity development longitudinally. Three independent cohorts of 40 youth and 20 mentors each will participate. Study 3 is retrospective, examining how participating individuals and organizations perceive and are impacted by mentoring. The three studies employ a mixed methods approach utilizing surveys, observations, individual interviews, and document review. This proposal will fill critical gaps in the mentoring literature regarding the formative middle school years through novel, empirical research. Building on the current literature and practice, outcomes of the work will inform practice and enhance knowledge-building in the field on both mentoring relationships and the collective impact of university-school-OST partnerships. This project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which seeks to advance new approaches to, and evidence-based understanding of, the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments. This includes providing multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM learning experiences, advancing innovative research on and assessment of STEM learning in informal environments, and developing understandings of deeper learning by participants.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.