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

公共户外空间为社会体验和学习提供了机会。这个更广泛的实施项目将扩展和评估一种模式，该模式将城市公共空间转变为户外公共空间中学习社会科学的无障碍和吸引人的环境。该模式结合了社会科学探究展览、场所制作和户外公共区域学习体验的人性化促进。项目展示使用便利的社会互动作为体验的内容和媒介。该项目将调整现有的展品，并增加新的展品和促进技术，以在三种不同的城市环境中进行测试。项目研究将与每个站点的公民伙伴合作，探索这些适应和修订的促进技术在不同环境下的功效。该项目将通过Exploratorium网站和出版物广泛分享模型和研究成果，供研究人员、开发人员和教育工作者使用。该团队之前的研究表明，辅导员通过当前的展品改善了多种学习成果。参观者获得了新的社会观察技能，反思自己的经历、感知和行动，提高了他们对如何科学地研究社会行为、认知和情感的认识。在先前研究的基础上，该项目将在三种不同的城市环境中安装展览并测试其效果，并探索与不同的公民合作伙伴进行不同设置所需的适应性。该项目将利用基于设计的研究来开发一种新的促进策略理论模型，以支持户外公共空间的科学学习。对于评估，项目将使用混合方法，包括观察、访谈、调查和文件审查。评估将评估能否成功吸引和吸引访客；传达社会科学理念；促使对判断和行为的自我反省；培养具有不同社会身份的人之间的同理心。该项目将评估参与者，特别是那些来自边缘社区的参与者，体验归属感和包容性的程度。该项目将在三个代表旧金山显著多样性、收入水平和城市环境的地点进行展示。促进策略是与Urban Alchemy共同制定的，Urban Alchemy是一个在旧金山贫困城市社区工作的组织。项目场地的合作伙伴和合作者包括旧金山公共图书馆、旧金山港和旧金山公园和娱乐部门。该项目还将通过调查和访谈来衡量伙伴关系的成果，以了解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，产生和传播有关将非正式科学学习、场所营造和促进结合起来的推广知识。该项目还将促进公众对社会科学和行为科学的理解。该研究项目由推进非正式STEM学习（AISL）计划资助，该计划旨在(a)推进非正式环境中STEM学习的设计和开发的新方法和基于证据的理解；(b)提供多种途径，以扩大获得和参与STEM学习经验的机会；(c)推进非正式环境中STEM学习的创新研究和评估；(d)让所有年龄段的公众在非正式环境中学习STEM。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值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.