A Quantitative Meta-Analysis and Qualitative Synthesis on the Impacts of Informal STEM and ICT Programs on Cognitive and Socio-emotional Outcomes of Youth Participants

随着创新步伐的加快，对科学、技术、工程和数学(STEM)以及信息和通信技术(ICT)职业的技术丰富经验和途径的需求变得越来越重要。因此，教育工作者面临的一个关键挑战是制定战略，为青年提供高质量的STEM和ICT方案，并激励他们坚持STEM的发展轨迹。令人担忧的是，数据表明，随着年轻人从小学过渡到中学，再从中学过渡到高中，STEM的积极态度往往会下降，特别是在女性和历史上代表性较低的种族和民族成员中。有希望的是，非正式的STEM学习方案被认为是解决代表性不足、兴趣下降的问题以及促进持续参与STEM和ICT轨迹的重要工具。然而，非正式学习计划如何以及在多大程度上影响参与者对STEM和ICT专业和职业的认识、兴趣和参与程度，在很大程度上是未知的。为了解决这一知识差距，这一综合项目将调查非正式STEM和ICT计划对青年参与者的认知和社会情感结果的影响。重要的是，这项综合研究不同于许多其他定量分析和定性综合，因为本项目的主要目标之一是从展示严格研究设计和影响的示范证据的研究中提取程序设计原则、基于技术的创新、理论基础和最佳实践。该项目由学生和教师创新技术体验计划(ITEST)资助，该计划支持建立对实践、计划要素、背景和流程的理解的项目，有助于提高学生对STEM和ICT职业的知识和兴趣。这项综合研究的目标是对参加非正式STEM和ICT项目的青年参与者的研究进行定量的荟萃分析和定性的综合。该项目涉及两个主要研究问题：(1)非正式的校外STEM和ICT学习经历如何以及在多大程度上影响参与者对STEM专业和职业的认识、兴趣和参与？(2)经过严格设计的非正式、校外STEM和ICT项目的项目设计原则、基于技术的创新、理论基础和最佳实践是什么，这些项目展示了STEM实践者可以采用的影响的典范证据，以最大限度地影响和扩大代表不足群体的参与？为了解决两个主要的研究问题，首先，项目组将进行系统的文献回顾和量化的荟萃分析，以评估非正式的STEM和ICT学习经历如何以及在多大程度上影响参与者对STEM专业和职业的认识、兴趣和参与。其次，项目团队将使用两个经过验证的类比来确定那些展示研究设计质量和影响的典范证据的研究。从这些研究中，该团队将进行定性分析，以确定项目设计原则、基于技术的创新、理论基础和最佳实践，供STEM从业者采用，以最大限度地发挥影响并扩大代表不足群体的参与。通过将重点放在具有典型影响证据的项目上，这些项目专门针对女性、服务不足的人群以及历史上被边缘化的种族和民族群体的成员，从业者可以利用这些发现来为项目设计和实践提供信息，并最大限度地发挥代表不足的学生的影响。该项目的成果将包括同行评议的出版物、网络研讨会和会议报告，以确保这项研究的结果被传播给科学教育界。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

As the pace of innovation accelerates, the need for technology-rich experiences and pathways to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and information and communications technology (ICT) careers has become increasingly essential. Thus, a critical challenge faced by educators is to develop strategies that provide youth access to high quality STEM and ICT programs, and that motivate them to persist in STEM trajectories. Alarmingly, data suggest that positive STEM attitudes, especially among females and members of historically underrepresented racial and ethnic groups, tend to decline as youth transition from elementary to middle school and again from middle school to high school. Promisingly, informal STEM learning programs are thought to be important vehicles for addressing issues of underrepresentation, declining interest, and for facilitating sustained participation in STEM and ICT trajectories. However, it is largely unknown how and to what extent informal learning programs impact participants’ awareness, interest, and engagement in STEM and ICT majors and careers. To address this knowledge gap, this synthesis project will investigate the impact of informal STEM and ICT programs on the cognitive and social emotional outcomes of youth participants. Importantly, this synthesis study differs from many other quantitative analyses and qualitative syntheses because one of the major goals of this project is to extract program design principles, technology-based innovations, theoretical underpinnings, and best practices from studies that exhibit exemplary evidence of rigorous research design and impact. This project is funded by 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 STEM and ICT careers. The goal of this synthesis study is to perform a quantitative meta-analysis and qualitative synthesis of research on youth participants of informal STEM and ICT programs. The project addresses two major research questions: (1) How and to what extent do informal, out-of-school time STEM and ICT learning experiences impact participants’ awareness, interest and engagement in STEM majors and careers? (2) What are the program design principles, technology-based innovations, theoretical underpinnings, and best practices of rigorously designed informal, out-of-school time STEM and ICT programs that exhibit exemplary evidence of impact that can be adopted by STEM practitioners to maximize impact and broaden participation of underrepresented groups? To address the two main research questions, first, the project team will perform a systematic literature review and a quantitative meta-analysis to assess how and to what extent informal STEM and ICT learning experiences impact participants’ awareness, interest, and engagement in STEM majors and careers. Second, the project team will use two validated rubrics to identify studies that exhibit exemplary evidence of research design quality and impact. From these studies, the team will conduct qualitative analyses to identify program design principles, technology-based innovations, theoretical underpinnings, and best practices for adoption by STEM practitioners to maximize impact and broaden participation of underrepresented groups. By focusing on programs with exemplary evidence of impact that specifically target females, underserved populations, and members of historically marginalized racial and ethnic groups, the findings can be used by practitioners to inform program design and practice, and to maximize the impact of underrepresented students. The deliverables of this project will include peer-reviewed publications, webinars, and conference presentations to ensure that the results of this study are disseminated to the science education community.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.