Expanding a Model for Interactive Social Science Exhibits Presented in Outdoor Public Spaces

公共户外空间提供了社交体验和学习的机会。这一更广泛的实施项目将扩展和评估一种模式，将城市公共空间转变为户外公共空间中可接近和吸引人的学习社会科学的环境。该模型结合了社会科学探究展品、地点制作和户外公共区域学习体验的人类促进。项目展品使用促进的社交互动作为体验的内容和媒介。该项目将对现有展品进行改造，并增加新的展品和便利技术，用于在三个不同的城市环境中进行测试。项目研究将与每个地点的民间伙伴合作，探索这些适应和经修订的促进技术在不同环境中的效力。该项目将通过探索博物馆网站和面向研究人员、开发人员和教育工作者的出版物广泛分享模型和研究成果。该团队之前的研究表明，辅导者利用当前的展品改善了多种学习结果。参观者获得了新的社会观察技能，反思了自己的经历、感知和行为，并增加了如何科学研究社会行为、认知和情感的意识。在先前研究的基础上，该项目将安装展览，并在三个不同的城市环境中测试其效果，并探索与不同公民合作伙伴的不同环境所需的适应。该项目将利用基于设计的研究来开发一个新的理论模型，以支持户外公共空间的科学学习。对于评估，该项目将使用混合方法，包括观察、访谈、调查和文件审查。评价将评估以下方面的成功：吸引和吸引游客；传达社会科学概念；促使对判断和行动进行自我反思；以及促进不同社会身份的人产生同理心。该项目将评估参与者，特别是来自边缘化社区的参与者体验归属感和包容性的程度。该项目将在三个地点展示，这三个地点代表了旧金山显著的多样性、收入水平和城市环境。促进战略正在与城市炼金术共同制定，这是一个在旧金山陷入困境的城市社区工作的组织。项目现场合作伙伴和合作者包括旧金山公共图书馆、旧金山港和旧金山市公园和康乐部。该项目还将通过调查和访谈来衡量伙伴关系的成果，以考察该项目整合共同创造模式的程度和方式，并发展真正的、互利的、可持续的伙伴关系。该项目将与当地社区团体合作，在各种免费的户外STEM学习空间中产生和传播关于将非正式科学学习、铺设场地和促进相结合所带来的普遍知识。该项目还将促进公众对社会和行为科学的理解。本研究项目由推进非正式STEM学习(AISL)项目资助，旨在：(A)促进对非正式环境中STEM学习的设计和开发的新方法和基于证据的理解；(B)为扩大获得和参与STEM学习经验提供多种途径；(C)促进对非正式环境中STEM学习的创新研究和评估；以及(D)让所有年龄段的公众在非正式环境中学习STEM。该奖项反映了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。

Public outdoor spaces present opportunities for social experiences and learning. This Broader Implementration project will expand and evaluate a model that transforms urban public spaces into accessible and engaging environments for learning social science in outdoor public spaces. The model combines social science inquiry exhibits, place making and human facilitation of learning experiences in outdoor public areas. Project exhibits use the facilitated social interactions as both the content of and medium for the experiences. This project will adapt the existing exhibits and add new exhibits and facilitation techniques for testing in three different urban environments. Project research will explore the efficacy of these adaptations and revised facilitation techniques for the different settings in collaboration with civic partners at each site. The project will share the model and research findings widely through the Exploratorium website and publications for researchers, developers, and educators.The team’s prior research showed that facilitators improved multiple learning outcomes with the current exhibits. Visitors acquired new social observation skills, reflected on their own experiences, perceptions, and actions, and increased their awareness for how social behavior, cognition, and emotion can be studied scientifically. Building on the prior research, the project will install the exhibition and test its efficacy in three different urban environments and explore the adaptations that are required for different settings with different civic partners. The project will use design-based research to develop a new theoretical model of facilitation strategies for supporting science learning in outdoor public spaces. For evaluation, the project will use mixed methods, including observations, interviews, surveys, and document review. Evaluation will assess success in attracting and engaging visitors; conveying social science concepts; prompting self-reflection of judgments and actions; and fostering empathy among those with different social identities. The project will assess the extent to which participants, particularly those from marginalized communities, experience feelings of belonging and inclusion. The project will be presented in three sites which represent the significant diversity, income levels, and urban environments of San Francisco. Facilitation strategies are being co-developed with Urban Alchemy, an organization that works within distressed urban communities in San Francisco. Project site partners and collaborators include the San Francisco Public Library, the Port of San Francisco, and the San Francisco Department of Parks and Recreation. The project will also measure partnership outcomes, through surveys and interviews, to look at the extent and ways the project integrates a co-creation model and develops an authentic, mutually beneficial, sustainable partnership. The project will generate and disseminate generalizable knowledge about the affordances of combining informal science learning, placemaking, and facilitation in a variety of free, outdoor STEM learning spaces in collaboration with local community groups. The project will also advance public understanding of the social and behavioral sciences.This research project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which seeks to (a) advance new approaches to and evidence-based understanding of the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments; (b) provide multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM learning experiences; (c) advance innovative research on and sssessment of STEM learning in informal environments; and (d) engage the public of all ages in learning STEM in informal environments.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.