Empowering Informal Educators to Prepare Future Generations in Wireless Radio Communications with Mobile Resources

帮助非正式教育工作者利用移动资源为下一代无线通信做好准备

• 批准号: 2005784
• 负责人: Sherry Hsi
• 金额: $ 298.46万
• 依托单位: Concord Consortium
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2020-10-01 至 2020-10-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2005784&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Empowering; Informal; Educators; Prepare; Future

Wireless radio communications, such as Wi-Fi, transmit public and private data from one device to another, including cell phones, computers, medical equipment, satellites, space rockets, and air traffic control. Despite their critical role and prevalence, many people are unfamiliar with radio waves, how they are generated and interact with their surroundings, and why they are the basis of modern communication and navigation. This topic is not only increasingly relevant to the technological lives of today’s youth and public, it is critical to the National Science Foundation’s Industries of the Future activities, particularly in advancing wireless education and workforce development. In this project, STEM professionals from academia, industry and informal education will join forces to design, evaluate, and launch digital apps, a craft-based toolkit, activity guides, and mobile online professional learning, all of which will be easily accessed and flexibly adapted by informal educators to engage youth and the public about radio frequency communications. Experiences will include embodied activities, such as physically linking arms to create and explore longitudinal and transverse waves; mobile experiences, such as augmented reality explorations of Wi-Fi signals or collaborative signal jamming simulations; and technological exploration, such as sending and receiving encrypted messages. The Concord Consortium, Georgia Tech, and the Children’s Creativity Museum (CCM) with National Informal STEM Education Network (NISE Net) museum partners will create pedagogical activity designs, digital apps, and a mobile online professional learning platform. The project features a rigorous and multipronged research and development approach that builds on prior learning sciences studies to advance a learning design framework for nimble, mobile informal education, while incorporating the best aspects of hands-on learning. This project is testing two related hypotheses: 1) a mobile strategy can be effective for supporting just-in-time informal education of a highly technical, scientific topic, and 2) a mobile suite of resources, including professional learning, can be used to teach informal educators, youth, and the general public about radio frequency communications. Data sources include pre- and post- surveys, interviews, and focus groups with a wide array of educators and learners. A front-end study will identify gaps in public understanding and perceptions specific to radio frequency communications, and serve as a baseline for components of the summative research. Iterative formative evaluation will incorporate participatory co-design processes with youth and informal educators. These processes will support materials that are age-appropriate and culturally responsive to not only youth, with an emphasis on Latinx youth, but also informal educators and the broader public. Summative evaluation will examine the impact of the mobile suite of resources on informal educators’ learning, facilitation confidence and intentions to continue to incorporate the project resources into their practice. The preparation of educators in supporting public understanding of highly technological STEM topics can be an effective way for supporting just-in-time public engagement and interests in related careers. Data from youth and museum visitors will examine changes to interest, science self-efficacy, content knowledge, and STEM-related career interest. If successful, this design approach may influence how mobile resources are designed and organized effectively to impact future informal education on similarly important technology-rich topics. All materials will be released under Creative Commons licenses allowing for widespread sharing and remixing; research and design findings will be published in academic, industry, and practitioner journals.This project is co-funded by two NSF programs: The Advancing Informal STEM Learning 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. The Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program, which supports projects that build understandings of practices, program elements, contexts and processes contributing to increasing students' knowledge and interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and information and communication technology (ICT) careers.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.

诸如Wi-Fi的无线电通信将公共和私人数据从一个设备传输到另一个设备，包括手机、计算机、医疗设备、卫星、航天火箭和空中交通管制。尽管无线电波发挥着重要作用，而且很普遍，但许多人对无线电波并不熟悉，不知道它们是如何产生的，也不知道它们是如何与周围环境相互作用的，以及为什么它们是现代通信和导航的基础。这一主题不仅与当今青年和公众的技术生活越来越相关，而且对美国国家科学基金会的未来产业活动至关重要，特别是在推进无线教育和劳动力发展方面。在这个项目中，来自学术界、工业界和非正规教育界的STEM专业人员将联手设计、评估和推出数字应用程序、基于工艺的工具包、活动指南和移动的在线专业学习，所有这些都将易于非正规教育工作者访问和灵活调整，以吸引青年和公众了解射频通信。体验将包括具体的活动，例如物理连接手臂以创建和探索纵向和横向波;移动的体验，例如Wi-Fi信号的增强现实探索或协作信号干扰模拟;以及技术探索，例如发送和接收加密消息。康科德财团，格鲁吉亚技术和儿童创造力博物馆（CCM）与国家非正式STEM教育网络（NISE Net）博物馆合作伙伴将创建教学活动设计，数字应用程序和移动的在线专业学习平台。该项目的特点是采用严格和多管齐下的研究和开发方法，以先前的学习科学研究为基础，推进灵活的移动的非正规教育的学习设计框架，同时结合动手学习的最佳方面。该项目正在测试两个相关的假设：1）一个移动的战略可以有效地支持一个高度技术性的科学主题的即时非正规教育，以及2）一套移动的资源，包括专业学习，可以用来教非正规教育工作者，青年和公众关于无线电频率通信。数据来源包括事前和事后的调查、访谈以及广泛的教育工作者和学习者的焦点小组。前端研究将确定公众对无线电频率通信的理解和看法方面的差距，并作为总结性研究组成部分的基线。迭代形成性评价将纳入与青年和非正规教育工作者共同参与的共同设计进程。这些进程将支持适合年龄和文化的材料，这些材料不仅对青年，特别是拉丁美洲青年，而且对非正规教育工作者和广大公众。总结性评价将审查移动的成套资源对非正规教育工作者的学习、促进信心和继续将项目资源纳入其实践的意图的影响。教育工作者在支持公众理解高科技STEM主题方面的准备可以是支持及时公众参与和相关职业兴趣的有效方式。来自青年和博物馆参观者的数据将研究兴趣，科学自我效能，内容知识和STEM相关职业兴趣的变化。如果成功，这种设计方法可能会影响如何有效地设计和组织移动的资源，以影响未来关于类似重要的技术丰富的主题的非正规教育。所有材料将在知识共享许可下发布，允许广泛共享和重新混合;研究和设计成果将在学术，行业和从业者期刊上发表。该项目由两个NSF项目共同资助：推进非正式STEM学习计划，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，以扩大获得和参与STEM学习经验，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入学习的理解。学生和教师的创新技术体验（ITEST）计划，该计划支持建立对实践，计划要素，背景和过程的理解的项目，有助于增加学生对科学，技术，工程，信息和通信技术（ICT）该奖项反映了NSF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。