YouthAstroNet: Research on the scale-up of innovative technology experiences in astronomy and science imaging

YouthAstroNet：天文学和科学成像创新技术经验扩展研究

• 批准号: 2049012
• 负责人: Mary Dussault
• 金额: $ 281.11万
• 依托单位: Smithsonian Institution Astrophysical Observatory
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-07-01 至 2026-06-30
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2049012&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: YouthAstroNet; Research; scale; up; innovative

The Youth Astronomy Network (YouthAstroNet) project will support and research the scaling-up, broadening of participation, and sustainable implementation of an innovative online platform for learners ages 11-14. It features customized access to robotic telescopes, support for authentic engagement with scientific and computational analysis tools and practices, opportunities to pursue space science-related activities and investigations of personal interest. It also includes live and asynchronous interaction with peers, educators, and diverse adult volunteers from related STEM and information and communications technology (ICT) fields who serve as online role models and mentors. YouthAstroNet’s in-school and out-of-school activities engage learners to plan and request remote observations from robotic digital imaging telescopes, to analyze and enhance telescopic images, and to create and share reports on their astronomical findings. The project draws on a growing collection of educator-contributed resources that support culturally-relevant adaptations of the program for different communities. Prior research has demonstrated that these learning experiences and other specific program factors promote gains in important skills and content knowledge along with science affinity, STEM career interest, computer affinity and science identity, especially for youth from groups historically underrepresented in STEM. The insights generated by this project will help educational stakeholders and the developers of learning innovations understand how promising interventions can be effectively scaled up in ways that sustain impact on learners while providing both equity of access and equitable participation. Over the course of the project, YouthAstroNet will expand its reach to 500 educators in both school and community settings, and up to 15,000 students ages 11-14, particularly underrepresented minority students in under-resourced schools and communities.The project begins with a leadership cadre of experienced YouthAstroNet educators, teen advisors, and the project’s advisory board to optimize the intervention and its online professional development (PD) model for broadened participation, sustainable adoption, and spread. Over the following three years, the project team will then strategically recruit 150-200 new educators each year into the program from a variety of institutional contexts -- teachers of Earth and Space Science in grades 5-9, and out-of-school educators from afterschool programs, libraries, museums, and community centers -- focusing especially on the recruitment of participants from groups underrepresented in STEM. Recruited educators will be randomly assigned to one of four different conditions of initial PD training, implementation coaching by peer leaders, and access to STEM expertise, with decreasing involvement of the project team. This tests how different strategies for educator PD promote (or inhibit) the successful adoption and integration of a technology-rich learning innovation into different settings, and to examine the conditions under which YouthAstroNet is most impactful on student and educator outcomes. The project aims to answer the following research questions: 1) Does a focused version of the YouthAstroNet intervention, optimized for scale-up, produce equal or better results (as measured by student and teacher outcomes) than the original project? 2) How do student experiences, teacher practices, and student and teacher outcomes differ between the YouthAstroNet program and other STEM programs of similar duration? 3) How do student experiences, teacher practices, and student and teacher outcomes differ between novice educators and those who have previously participated in the program? 4) Under which conditions of PD support is the intervention most successful in producing gains in STEM interest, identity and career interest – especially for female and underrepresented minority students? Research instruments include previously validated pre- and post-surveys for students that measure STEM knowledge, interest, affinity, and identity, along with online participation analytics. Educators will complete pre- and post-PD, and post-implementation surveys, using a concerns-based adoption model to measure their progress in readiness to integrate the project into their program and to gather relevant data on classroom, organizational, and community contextual factors. Studying the broad implementation of YouthAstroNet will produce generalizable findings of how innovative technology experiences that promote STEM and ICT career interest can be adopted and adapted in sustainable ways on a large scale. 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.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.

青年天文学网络（YouthAstroNet）项目将支持和研究为11-14岁的学习者提供的创新在线平台的规模扩大、参与范围的扩大和可持续实施。它的特点是定制使用机器人望远镜的机会，支持真正参与科学和计算分析工具和做法，有机会从事与空间科学有关的活动和个人感兴趣的调查。它还包括与同龄人，教育工作者以及来自相关STEM和信息通信技术（ICT）领域的各种成人志愿者进行实时和异步互动，他们担任在线榜样和导师。YouthAstroNet的校内和校外活动让学习者计划和请求使用机器人数字成像望远镜进行远程观测，分析和增强望远镜图像，并创建和分享关于其天文发现的报告。该项目利用了越来越多的教育者贡献的资源，这些资源支持该项目针对不同社区进行文化相关的调整。先前的研究表明，这些学习经验和其他特定的计划因素促进了重要技能和内容知识的获得，沿着科学亲和力，STEM职业兴趣，计算机亲和力和科学身份，特别是对于来自STEM历史上代表性不足的群体的青年。该项目产生的见解将帮助教育利益攸关方和学习创新的开发者了解如何有效地扩大有前途的干预措施，以维持对学习者的影响，同时提供公平的机会和公平的参与。在该项目的实施过程中，YouthAstroNet将扩大其覆盖面，包括学校和社区的500名教育工作者，以及多达15，000名11-14岁的学生，特别是在资源不足的学校和社区中代表性不足的少数民族学生。和该项目的咨询委员会，以优化干预及其在线专业发展（PD）模型，以扩大参与，可持续采用和传播。在接下来的三年里，该项目团队将每年从各种机构环境中战略性地招募150-200名新教育工作者-5-9年级的地球和空间科学教师，以及来自课后计划，图书馆，博物馆和社区中心的校外教育工作者-特别关注从STEM中代表性不足的群体中招募参与者。被招募的教育工作者将被随机分配到四个不同的条件之一，即最初的PD培训，同行领导者的实施指导，以及获得STEM专业知识，项目团队的参与程度越来越低。这测试如何不同的策略，教育工作者PD促进（或抑制）的成功采用和技术丰富的学习创新整合到不同的设置，并检查条件下，YouthAstroNet是最有影响力的学生和教育工作者的成果。该项目旨在回答以下研究问题：1）针对扩大规模进行优化的YouthAstroNet干预措施的重点版本是否产生与原始项目相同或更好的结果（以学生和教师的成果衡量）？2)如何做学生的经验，教师的做法，学生和教师的成果之间的YouthAstroNet程序和其他类似的持续时间STEM程序的不同？3)学生的经验，教师的做法，以及学生和教师的成果之间的新手教育工作者和那些谁以前参加了该计划有何不同？4)在哪些PD支持条件下，干预措施在STEM兴趣，身份和职业兴趣方面最成功-特别是对于女性和代表性不足的少数民族学生？研究工具包括之前经过验证的学生前后调查，这些调查测量STEM知识，兴趣，亲和力和身份，沿着在线参与分析。教育工作者将完成PD前后和实施后的调查，使用基于关注的采用模型来衡量他们准备将项目整合到他们的计划中的进度，并收集有关课堂，组织和社区环境因素的相关数据。研究YouthAstroNet的广泛实施将产生可推广的结果，说明如何以可持续的方式大规模采用和调整促进STEM和ICT职业兴趣的创新技术经验。该项目由学生和教师创新技术体验（ITEST）计划资助，该计划支持建立对实践，计划元素，该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查进行评估来支持的搜索.