NSF INCLUDES Planning Grant: Broadening Participation of Rural K-12 Girls in Mathematics Intensive STEM Fields

这项NSF包括计划拨款是由NSF在全国范围内纳入代表不足的工程和科学发现者的学习社区(NSF Includes)资助的，这是一项综合性的全国性倡议，旨在通过关注多样性、包容性和扩大对STEM的参与来加强美国在发现和创新方面的领导地位。这笔规划赠款的目标是将关键利益攸关方聚集在研究实践伙伴关系(RPP)中，以扩大农村K-12女孩在数学密集STEM领域的参与。在过去的20年里，已经进行了大量的研究，确定了年轻女性进入STEM职业生涯的障碍和潜在途径，但仅针对一般人群或特定亚群。该项目关注的是在STEM教育研究中没有引起注意和代表性不足的人群--来自美国农村地区的年轻女性。通过将缅因州数学与科学联盟(MMSA)和国家女童合作项目(NGCP)的力量与农村教育工作者、全国年轻女性、100Kin10合作伙伴以及Roux Institute等关键STEM组织相结合，规划赠款将为建立从零开始的大规模伙伴关系和网络奠定基础。这项研究的RPP方法将扩大农村年轻妇女的声音和经验，她们所在的社区，她们可以在STEM商业部门工作，以及与她们合作的教育工作者，以建立持久的伙伴关系，前进的道路，有重点的研究问题，以及解决这一总体议程的战略计划。这笔规划拨款将为在全国推广知识和包容实践奠定坚实的基础，建立一个更具包容性的环境，并帮助缩小农村年轻女性在数学密集型STEM领域日益扩大的性别差距。此外，利用区域合作伙伴关系在农村社区推进这项研究提供了一种独特的模式，可以推广和推广，与农村社区成员合作解决更多的研究问题。以期望值理论为框架，私人投资机构最初将集中精力探索农村地区年轻女性在整个K-12连续体中的动机信念。通过组建一个由研究人员、从业者和年轻女性组成的多样化和充满激情的团队，研究团队将超越对问题结构的理解，找到解决问题的方法。RPP活动将制定共同的改革愿景，以便通过以下方式扩大农村青年妇女在数学密集型职业道路上的参与：1)拆解和发展对问题的共同认识，包括确定构成阻碍青年妇女选择数学密集型STEM领域的具体实践问题；2)为这些实践问题设计循证解决方案，为共同目标和衡量标准提供信息；3)产生与支持农村地区青年妇女在数学密集型职业中寻求机会有关的研究问题；以及4)设计协调的战略计划，增加网络的技术、方案和研究基础设施，以解决实践问题。该项目将创建以证据为基础的解决方案，大大增加农村年轻妇女对数学密集型STEM职业的参与，这是一个严重不足的群体。制定以两性平等为重点的这种规模的农村区域合作伙伴关系，将为建立基于代表不足人口的资产和经验的包容性联盟提供一个模式。通过这项计划拨款获得的经验教训将通过设计为农村年轻女性建立包容性环境的倡议来解决数学密集型STEM职业中的性别不平等问题。这一奖项反映了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。

This NSF INCLUDES planning grant is funded by NSF Inclusion across the Nation of Communities of Learners of Underrepresented Discoverers in Engineering and Science (NSF INCLUDES), a comprehensive national initiative to enhance U.S. leadership in discoveries and innovations by focusing on diversity, inclusion, and broadening participation in STEM at scale. The goal of this planning grant is to bring together key stakeholders in a Research-to-Practice Partnership (RPP) to broaden participation of rural K-12 girls in mathematics intensive STEM fields. Over the past 20 years, there has been a great deal of research identifying the barriers and potential pathways to STEM careers experienced by young women, but only for the general population or specific subpopulations. This project focuses on a population that has gone unnoticed and underrepresented in STEM education research - young women from rural areas of the United States. The planning grant will lay the groundwork to build a large-scale partnership and network from the ground up by combining the forces of the Maine Mathematics and Science Alliance (MMSA) and the National Girls Collaborative Project (NGCP) with rural educators, young women across the Nation, 100kin10 partners, and key STEM organizations such as the Roux Institute. The RPP approach to this research will amplify the voices and experiences of rural young women, the communities they live in, the STEM business sectors they could work in, and the educators they work with, to build lasting partnerships, pathways forward, focused research questions, and a strategic plan to address this overall agenda. This planning grant will build the solid foundation needed to advance knowledge and inclusion practices across the Nation, to build a more inclusive environment, and help close the ever-widening gender gap for rural young women in mathematics intensive STEM fields. Additionally, the use of an RPP to advance this research with rural communities provides a unique model that could be scaled and replicated to address additional research questions in partnership with members of rural communities. Utilizing Expectancy-Value Theory as a framework, the PIs will initially focus their efforts on exploring the motivational beliefs of young women from rural areas across the K-12 continuum. By assembling a diverse and passionate team of researchers, practitioners, and young women, the research team will push beyond understanding the structure of the problem to identifying ways to solve the problem. The RPP activities will develop a shared vision of reform to broaden participation of rural young women in mathematics intensive career paths by collaboratively: 1) Unpacking and developing a common understanding of the problem, including identifying the specific problems of practice that construct barriers that keep young women from choosing a mathematics intensive STEM field; 2) Designing evidence-based solutions to those problems of practice that inform common goals and metrics; 3) Generating research questions related to supporting young women from rural regions in pursuing opportunities in mathematics intensive careers; and 4) Designing a coordinated strategic plan that increases the networks’ technical, programmatic, and research infrastructure to address the problems of practice. This project will create evidence-based solutions that will significantly increase rural young women’s participation in mathematics intensive STEM careers, a critically underrepresented group. The development of a rural RPP of this scale focused on gender equity will offer a model for building inclusive coalitions that are based on the assets and experiences of underrepresented populations. The lessons learned through this planning grant will address the gender inequities in mathematics intensive STEM careers by designing initiatives that build inclusive environments for rural young women.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.