Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility) Girls in a Robotics Leadership Project

该奖项的全部或部分资金来自《2021年美国救援计划法案》(公法117-2)。研究表明，黑人女孩和妇女，无论她们的学术成就和STEM兴趣如何，经常遇到学业准备不足、社会孤立、被排斥和种族性别歧视，这些都对她们在STEM的持续参与和保持产生了不利影响。该项目将为初中和高中的黑人女孩提供创新的、与文化相关的学习环境，以应对这些负面趋势。通过实践编码和机器人技术活动，项目参与者将培养对科学、技术、工程和数学(STEM)的积极态度。该项目强调同伴辅导，为黑人女子高中(助理教练)和黑人大学生(教练)提供机会，担任参与者的顾问和导师。此外，来自STEM行业的工程师、科学家和高管将担任导师，分享他们的经验，以拓宽参与者的STEM职业抱负。该项目是加州大学戴维斯C-STEM中心、团结项目社区教育基金会以及加州66所附属社区学院、行业合作伙伴和加州学区之间为期三年的合作努力。在三年的时间里，将有近2000名女性参与该项目。由其他黑人女孩和妇女领导的黑人女孩和妇女的学习环境被称为“台面空间”，在这里，她们可以自由地以重视自己身份的方式参与STEM，同时促进STEM的参与、兴趣和职业抱负。该项目的课程将遵循以研究为基础、与文化相关的多层次指导方法。该课程旨在通过使用动手编码和机器人技术与现实生活中的应用程序建立有意义的联系，培养学员的STEM内容知识、批判性思维和逻辑推理能力。一项混合方法的纵向研究将考察对参与者STEM结果的影响，强调提供关于多层次、与文化相关的指导的可行性的新知识，以增加非正式STEM学习(ISL)的公平性。该计划的有效性将通过对数学标准、计算机科学和机器人概念知识、逻辑思维和批判性思维技能、STEM学校成绩、对STEM科目的兴趣和态度、高级STEM课程学习、参与其他ISL机会以及所在学校/大学和社区的STEM领导力的纵向评估来评估。该项目将与其他K-12和大学合作伙伴主办的项目一起测试基于当地的非正式学习模式。这个发展中的创新项目由推进非正式STEM学习(AISL)计划资助，该计划旨在：(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。

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2). Research shows that Black girls and women, regardless of their academic achievements and STEM interests, often encounter academic under-preparation, social isolation, exclusion, and race-gender discrimination that negatively impacts their ongoing engagement and retention in STEM. This project will provide innovative, culturally relevant learning environments to middle and high school Black girls to counter these negative trends. Using hands-on coding and robotics activities, project participants will develop positive attitudes toward science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). The project emphasizes peer-mentoring by providing opportunities for Black female high school (assistant coaches) and Black college students (coaches) to serve as counselors and mentors to participants. Additionally, engineers, scientists, and executives from STEM industries will serve as mentors and share their experiences to broaden participants’ STEM career aspirations. The project is a three-year collaborative effort between the University of California Davis C-STEM Center, the Umoja Community Education Foundation, and the 66 affiliated California community colleges, industry partners, and school districts in California. Over three years, nearly 2,000 females will participate in the project. Learning environments for Black girls and women led by other Black girls and women are referred to as “counterspaces” where they are free to engage in STEM in ways that value their identities while promoting STEM engagement, interests, and career aspirations. The project’s curriculum will follow a research-based, culturally relevant multi-tiered mentoring approach. The curriculum is designed to develop participants’ STEM content knowledge, critical thinking, and logical reasoning capabilities through meaningful connections to real-life applications using hands-on coding and robotics. A mixed-method longitudinal study will examine the impact on participants’ STEM outcomes, emphasizing contributing new knowledge on the viability of multi-tiered, culturally relevant mentoring for increasing equity in informal STEM learning (ISL). The program's effectiveness will be evaluated using longitudinal assessments of mathematics standards, computer science and robotics conceptual knowledge, logical and critical thinking skills, STEM school achievements, interests and attitudes toward STEM subjects, advanced STEM course-taking, involvement in other ISL opportunities, and leadership in STEM in one’s school/university and community. The project will test a locally based informal learning model with projects hosted by other K-12 and college partners.This Innovations in Development 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 assessment 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.