Fostering Aptitudes, Attitudes and Aspirations of Girls in STEM Through 4D Printing of Robotic Materials

为了支持国家对未来工作的需求，学校和非正式学习机构将机器人和编程等STEM主题纳入课程。然而，目前吸引女孩的STEM活动有限。妇女在STEM领域的代表性仍然不足，如计算机科学，工程和物理科学。通过培养年轻女孩对STEM领域的兴趣，该项目旨在教学和参与，从而促进她们对STEM相关职业和成为领导者的愿望。该项目通过涉及尖端4D打印机器人材料技术的活动，为女孩带来动手，兴趣驱动的学习。4D打印是一个涉及动态形式的数字制造的研究领域，例如在热或其他物理刺激触发时产生能够自折叠成3D形状的平面物体的打印过程。在这种情况下，机器人材料是指具有动态行为的物质，可以感知，响应和行动。该项目将开发和研究一种新的计算设计环境，以机器人材料的4D打印为中心，通过跨学科的设计领域，包括变形食品，动态时尚和自折叠装饰，培养女孩的好奇心和信心。要建模的材料的例子包括面食烹饪和夹克折叠。该项目将通过与年轻女性在社区中心和社会经济多样化的社区开展教育和有趣的工作，开发新的机器人材料设计工具。该研究利用技术创新，通过动手，跨学科制作，为STEM教育的包容性和公平性工作，对教育研究，计算设计和机器人材料的开发产生影响。它将通过4D机器人材料设计环境和相关课程的情境化开发，努力推进女孩的包容性STEM教育。迭代设计将通过在非正式学习环境中举办讲习班进行研究。该项目将让初中和高中女生参与创意游戏和结构化任务的结合，使用4D机器人变形材料，调查三个研究问题。(1)如何支持他们学习STEM概念和技能？(2)如何挑战他们对自己在STEM方面能力的先入为主的态度，缩小性别之间预先存在的知识差距，并减少刻板印象的威胁？(3)如何帮助女孩获得新的信心和STEM职业抱负？调查将结合联合收割机建构学习通过做与设计为基础的方法，人种学行动研究，开放的投资组合，和基于人工制品的interviews.This奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过评估使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准的支持。

To support national needs for the future of work, schools and informal learning institutions integrate STEM topics, such as robotics and programming, into curricula. However, current STEM activities that appeal to girls are limited. Women remain underrepresented in STEM fields, such as computer science, engineering, and the physical sciences. By fostering interests of young girls in STEM areas, this project seeks to teach and engage, and so promote their aspiration towards STEM-related careers and becoming leaders. This project brings hands-on, interest-driven learning to girls through activities involving cutting edge 4D printed robotic material technologies. 4D printing is a research area involving digital fabrication of dynamic forms, such as printing processes that produce flat objects capable of self-folding into 3D shapes when triggered by heat or other physical stimuli. Robotic materials, in this context, refer to substances, which have dynamic behaviors, and can sense, respond and act. This project will develop and study a new computational design environment centered on 4D printing of robotic materials to foster curiosity and confidence among girls through interdisciplinary design areas, including shape-changing food, dynamic fashion, and self-folding decor. Examples of materials to be modeled include pasta cooking and a jacket folding. The project will develop the new robotic materials design tool through educational and fun work with young women, in community centers, in socioeconomically diverse neighborhoods.This research uses technology innovation to work for inclusiveness and equity in STEM education through hands-on, interdisciplinary making, with implications for educational research, computational design, and the development of robotic materials. It will work to advance inclusive STEM education for girls through contextualized development of a 4D robotic materials design environment and associated curriculum. Iterative design will be performed through studies conducted via workshops in informal learning environments. The project will engage middle and high school girls in a combination of creative play and structured tasks, with 4D robotic morphing materials, to investigate three research questions. (1) How to support their learning STEM concepts and skills? (2) How to challenge their preconceived attitudes about their own abilities in STEM, narrow the pre-existing knowledge gap between genders, and decrease stereotype threats? (3) How to contribute to girls gaining new confidence and STEM career aspirations? The investigation will combine constructivist learning through doing with design-based approaches of ethnographic action research, open portfolio, and artifact-based interviews.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.