Developing STEM Skills through Play and Exhibit Design for Early Learners in Children’s Museums and Science Centers

通过儿童博物馆和科学中心的游戏和展览设计为早期学习者培养 STEM 技能

• 批准号: 2005944
• 负责人: Jennifer Rehkamp
• 金额: $ 139.13万
• 依托单位: Association of Children's Museums
• 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: 2020-08-01 至 2024-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2005944&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Developing; STEM; Skills; through; Play

The Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program seeks to advance new approaches to, and evidence-based understanding of, the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments. An ongoing challenge to the design of effective STEM learning exhibits for diverse young children is the absence of reliable and evidence-based resources that designers can apply to the design of STEM exhibits that draw upon play as a child’s primary pedagogy, while simultaneously engaging children with STEM content and processes that support development of STEM skills such as observation. To address these challenges, the project team will use a collaborative process in which learning researchers and informal STEM practitioners iteratively develop, design, and test the STEM for Play Framework that could then be applied to the design of STEM-focused exhibits that support play and STEM skill use among early learners. This Research in Service to Practice project will address these questions: 1) What is a framework for play in early STEM learning that is inclusive of children’s cultural influences?; 2) To what extent do interactions between early learners (ages 3-8) and caregivers or peers at exhibits influence the structure and effectiveness of play for supporting STEM skill development?; 3) How do practitioners link play to STEM skill development, and to what extent does a framework for play in early STEM learning assist in identifying types of play that supports early STEM skill development?; and 4) What do practitioners identify as best practices in exhibit design that support the development of STEM skills for early childhood audiences, and conversely, to what extent do practitioners perceive specific aspects of the design as influential to play? The project team will address these questions across four phases of study that will include (a) development of a critical research synthesis to inform the initial STEM for Play framework; (b) the use of surveys, focus groups, and interviews to solicit feedback from practitioners; (c) testing and revising the framework by conducting structured observations of STEM exhibits at multiple museums. The project team will use multiple analytic approaches including qualitative thematic analyses as well as inferential statistics. Results will be disseminated to children’s museums, science centers, and research communities.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.

推进非正式STEM学习（AISL）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。为不同的幼儿设计有效的STEM学习展览的一个持续挑战是缺乏可靠和基于证据的资源，设计师可以将其应用于STEM展览的设计，将游戏作为儿童的主要教学方法，同时让儿童参与STEM内容和支持STEM技能发展的过程，如观察。为了应对这些挑战，项目团队将使用一个协作过程，在这个过程中，学习研究人员和非正式的STEM从业者迭代地开发、设计和测试STEM for Play框架，然后将其应用于以STEM为重点的展览设计，以支持早期学习者的游戏和STEM技能使用。这个服务于实践的研究项目将解决这些问题：1）什么是早期STEM学习中的游戏框架，包括儿童的文化影响？2)早期学习者（3-8岁）与看护者或同伴在展览会上的互动在多大程度上影响了支持STEM技能发展的游戏的结构和有效性？3)从业者如何将游戏与STEM技能发展联系起来，早期STEM学习中的游戏框架在多大程度上有助于识别支持早期STEM技能发展的游戏类型？和4）从业者认为什么是支持幼儿观众STEM技能发展的展览设计的最佳实践，反过来说，从业者在多大程度上认为设计的特定方面具有影响力？项目团队将通过四个阶段的研究来解决这些问题，其中包括：（a）开发一个关键的研究综合，为最初的STEM for Play框架提供信息;（B）使用调查，焦点小组和访谈来征求从业者的反馈;（c）通过对多个博物馆的STEM展览进行结构化观察来测试和修订框架。项目小组将使用多种分析方法，包括定性专题分析和推理统计。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。