Cultivating Creativity to Integrate Computation and Science Problem Solving in Informal Learning

作为一个国家，我们未来面临的挑战，如优化农业产出和管理极端天气条件的需求日益增长，将需要一支富有想象力的科学家和工程师大军，他们对科学和计算知识的融合方式有深刻的理解，以加强问题的解决。这些未来的科学家和工程师中，有许多人目前都是孩子。这个项目的目标是调查最好的方法，让年轻人为面对未来的科学和工程问题做好准备。一个由教育研究人员、科学教师和科学家组成的团队将调查教育数字环境的设计，以促进对计算和科学的参与、兴趣和学习。中学生将被呈现给受现实世界挑战启发的科学问题，这些挑战很难解决，特别适合具有创造性思维能力的计算解决方案。学员将沉浸在鼓励实验、创造力和协作的“沙盒”虚拟环境中。通过以新颖的方式挑战学习者，该项目试图让学习者一窥自然世界的复杂性，以及在科学、技术、工程和数学(STEM)方面的创新机会。这个项目是由STEM+计算(STEM+C)项目资助的，该项目支持研究和开发，以了解计算和计算思维在STEM教与学中的整合，为当前和未来的工作做好准备。在两年的过程中，研究人员将调查虚拟场景的设计及其有效性：(1)支持和促进科学和计算思维的同步学习；(2)激发对STEM的兴趣；(3)在解决相关和未来问题时鼓励创新和创造力。研究将在三个主要地点的课后和夏令营环境中进行：香槟-厄巴纳-法布实验室、伊利诺伊大学厄巴纳-香槟教育学院和西部中心学院(WCA)，这是一所位于加利福尼亚州赫梅特的创新型STEM学校，服务于6-12年级的儿童。场景将来自STEM的一系列不同领域，包括生物学、生态学、农业和土木工程。每个场景将首先与一小群学习者一起经历两次迭代，然后在项目结束时进行更大规模的评估，重点是整个场景集及其之间的相互联系。WCA的科学和计算机科学教师以及项目科学顾问将在所有阶段提供指导和投入，重点放在场景的关键方面，包括基本模拟模型的保真度和微调正确的难度水平。为了评估计算思维能力、相关科学知识和兴趣，将采用混合方法方法。具体地说，学员将完成短期调查、知识评估，并在干预期间和之后接受采访。来自模拟的日志文件数据将使研究人员能够调查相关的学习者行为，例如学习者对他们的解决方案进行了哪些修改，以及他们试验不同技术的频率。为了评估创造力，研究人员将确定解决方案的新方面，该项目的科学顾问将评估不同的解决方案的创新潜力。参与者将被邀请创建展示并捕获他们的解决方案的视频，以便与朋友、家人和公众分享。通过衡量在整个体验过程中知识、兴趣和使用各种技术的变化，研究将揭示情景是否以及在多大程度上吸引了学习者，并准确地确定了最具影响力的特定情景属性和特征。这些成果将有助于提高非正式学习最佳做法的知识水平。他们还将为未来的教育模拟设计提供信息，这些设计将促进STEM学习，并使学习者更好地为应对摆在美国面前的关键挑战做好准备。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。

Future challenges that we face as a nation such as the growing need to optimize agricultural output and management of extreme weather conditions will demand armies of imaginative scientists and engineers, equipped with a robust understanding of the ways in which scientific and computational knowledge converge to enhance problem solving. Many of these future scientists and engineers are currently children. The goal of this project is to investigate best ways to prepare the youth to confront future science and engineering problems. A team of educational researchers, science teachers, and scientists will investigate the design of educational digital environments to promote engagement, interest, and learning in computation and science. Middle school aged learners will be presented with science problems inspired by real-world challenges that are hard to solve and particularly suited to computational solutions with creative thinking skills. Learners will be immersed in a "sandbox" virtual environment that encourages experimentation, creativity, and collaboration. By challenging learners in novel ways, the project seeks to provide learners a glimpse of the complexities of the natural world and the opportunities that lie ahead for creativity in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM). This project is funded by the STEM + Computing (STEM+C) program that supports research and development to understand the integration of computing and computational thinking in STEM teaching and learning to prepare the current and future workforce.Over the course of two years, researchers will investigate the design of virtual scenarios and their efficacy for (1) enabling and promoting the simultaneous learning of science and computational thinking, (2) triggering interest in STEM, and (3) encouraging innovation and creativity in solving relevant and futuristic problems. Research will be conducted in afterschool and summer camp settings at three principle locations: the Champaign-Urbana Fab Lab, College of Education at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and Western Center Academy (WCA), an innovative STEM school serving children in 6th-12th grade in Hemet, CA. Scenarios will draw from a range of different areas of STEM, including biology, ecology, agriculture, and civil engineering. Each scenario will first undergo two iterations with small groups of learners, followed by a larger scale evaluation at the end of the project focusing on the entire set of scenarios and interconnections between them. Science and computer science teachers at WCA as well as project scientific advisors will provide guidance and input at all stages focusing on key aspects of the scenarios, including fidelity of the underlying simulation models and fine-tuning the right level of difficulty. To assess computational thinking skills, relevant scientific knowledge, and interest, a mixed methods approach will be adopted. Specifically, learners will complete short surveys, knowledge assessments, and be interviewed during and after the intervention. Log file data from the simulation will allow researchers to investigate relevant learner behaviors such as what revisions learners make to their solutions and how often they experiment with different techniques. To assess creativity, researchers will identify novel aspects of solutions and scientific advisors on the project will rate different solutions for innovative potential. Participants will be invited to create showcases and capture video of their solutions for sharing with friends, family, and the public. By measuring changes in knowledge, interest, and use of a wide range of techniques throughout the experiences, research will reveal whether and to what extent the scenarios engage learners and pinpoint specific scenario properties and features that are most influential. These outcomes will lead to advancement in knowledge in best practices for informal learning. They will also inform future designs of educational simulations that foster STEM learning and better prepare learners to address critical challenges that lie ahead for the United States.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.