PFI-RP: Mobile Technology to Improve Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) College and Career Awareness for Underserved High School Students

PFI-RP：移动技术可提高服务不足的高中生的科学、技术、工程和数学 (STEM) 大学和职业意识

• 批准号: 2122681
• 负责人: Christel Rocha-Beverly
• 金额: $ 38.2万
• 依托单位: Michigan State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-09-01 至 2024-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2122681&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: PFI; RP; Mobile; Technology; Improve

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Partnerships for Innovation – Research Partnerships (PFI-RP) project lies in its ability to expose underserved students to postsecondary possibilities through mobile games and allows students to envision themselves in educational and occupational spaces. Low-income, minority, and first-generation (first-gen) students in the U.S. often have inadequate academic preparation and an unrealistic understanding of the education and career opportunities for their future lives. This lack of knowledge can have severe long-term consequences for job opportunities, wages, health and well-being in adulthood. While some educational technologies have been used to assist minority and low income students with navigating their college and career pathways, serious mobile gamification in this field is ripe for development and systematic evaluation. This project is unique in that it develops a mobile application that focuses exclusively on college and career planning to further personalize a student’s goals, timelines, and resources. Given the cost-effective nature of mobile app technology, this project has the potential to quickly disseminate information with instant feedback not readily available in formal classrooms, career counseling, or informal settings outside of school while keeping expenses to a minimum, making it a valuable resource for underserved students. The proposed project aims to develop a digital intervention for underserved low income and minority students that creates unique learning opportunities where students can build knowledge and skills related to education and career pathways as they play a series of mobile games designed for that purpose. This innovative educational resource has shown to facilitate synergistic, informational partnerships among schools, community organizations, local businesses, and postsecondary institutions to share and provide resources that advance students’ awareness and progress in STEM college and career pathways. Further empirical evaluation of the game will contribute to the growing body of research and practice to expand STEM career pathways for low income and minority students and allow the research team to iterate the game prototype. Data derived from this project will support the inclusion of application-based technology and strategic planning for high school programs that can enhance and improve participation in STEM while directly supporting efforts of business plan development, customer discovery, and commercialization services to bring the prototype to market.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.

这一创新-研究伙伴关系项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力在于它能够通过手机游戏使服务不足的学生接触到中学后的可能性，并使学生能够在教育和职业空间中想象自己。美国的低收入、少数族裔和第一代学生往往没有足够的学术准备，对未来生活的教育和职业机会的理解也不切实际。这种知识的缺乏可能对成年后的就业机会、工资、健康和福祉产生严重的长期后果。虽然一些教育技术已被用于帮助少数民族和低收入家庭的学生导航他们的大学和职业道路，严重的移动的游戏化在这一领域的发展和系统的评估已经成熟。这个项目的独特之处在于它开发了一个移动的应用程序，专门关注大学和职业规划，以进一步个性化学生的目标，时间表和资源。鉴于移动的应用程序技术具有成本效益的性质，该项目有可能快速传播信息，即时反馈在正式课堂，职业咨询或校外非正式环境中不容易获得，同时将费用降至最低，使其成为服务不足的学生的宝贵资源。拟议的项目旨在为服务不足的低收入和少数民族学生开发数字干预措施，创造独特的学习机会，让学生在玩一系列为此目的设计的手机游戏时建立与教育和职业道路相关的知识和技能。这种创新的教育资源已被证明有助于学校，社区组织，当地企业和中学后机构之间的协同，信息合作伙伴关系，以分享和提供资源，促进学生在STEM学院和职业道路上的认识和进步。对游戏的进一步实证评估将有助于不断增长的研究和实践，以扩大低收入和少数民族学生的STEM职业途径，并使研究团队能够验证游戏原型。从这个项目中获得的数据将支持纳入基于应用的技术和战略规划的高中课程，可以提高和改善参与STEM，同时直接支持商业计划开发，客户发现，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知识产权进行评估来支持优点和更广泛的影响审查标准。