Conference: Exploratory Tensegrity

瓦萨学院正在举办一个为期2.5天的会议，以及会议前后的活动，召集了一个多学科，多机构（美国和国际）的团队，概念化和规划非正式学习中的各种研究，教育和推广活动，重点关注张拉整体结构的开创性概念及其在许多科学和数学领域的应用。张拉整体是稳定的三维结构的特征属性，由连续受拉的构件和非连续受压的构件组成。会议将汇集非正式学习的研究人员和实践者，以及包括张拉整体（数学、工程、生物、建筑和艺术）在内的各个学科的研究人员，探讨张拉整体在非正式环境中吸引公众的潜力，特别是通过直接参与创建这样的结构。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。到目前为止，还没有围绕张拉整体主题的持续的非正式教育项目和研究。然而，有相当多的相关工作是通过“制作和修补”来学习，参与者将适应和扩展。预期的会议成果是产生活动的原型、研究议程和发展路线，并有可能吸引更广泛的公众。这次聚会的一个关键优先事项是在张拉整体系统的研究人员和创造者与非正式学习专业人员之间建立新的伙伴关系。长期项目假设是儿童和成人可以通过修补材料和熟悉越来越多的基本结构及其应用来参与张拉整体。这些活动将包括对会议的评价和对结果的合作进行社会网络分析。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。

Vassar College is conducting a 2.5-day conference, as well as pre- and post-conference activities, that convenes a multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional (USA and international) team to conceptualize and plan various research, education and outreach activities in informal learning, focusing on the seminal concept of tensegrity and its applications in many fields of science and mathematics. Tensegrity is the characteristic property of a stable three-dimensional structure consisting of members under tension that are contiguous and members under compression that are not. The conference will bring together researchers and practitioners in informal learning and researchers in the various disciplines that embrace tensegrity (mathematics, engineering, biology, architecture, and art) to explore the potential that tensegrity has to engage the public in informal settings, especially through direct engagement in creating such structures. 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.To date there have been no sustained informal educational projects and research around the topic of tensegrity. However, there is considerable related work on learning through "making and tinkering" upon which the participants will adapt and expand. The intended conference outcomes are to produce prototypes of activities, a research agenda, and lines of development with the potential to engage the wider public. A key priority of the gathering is the development of new partnerships between researchers and creators of tensegrity systems and the informal learning professionals. The long-term project hypothesis is that children and adults can engage with tensegrity through tinkering with materials and becoming familiar with a growing set of basic structures and their applications. The activities will include evaluation of the conference and a social network analysis of the collaborations that result.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.