Using drone technology, communal motivation, and strength-based approaches to engage middle school female students from rural areas in STEM

利用无人机技术、集体动机和基于力量的方法让农村地区的中学生参与 STEM

• 批准号: 2146613
• 负责人: Amanda Bastoni
• 金额: $ 150万
• 依托单位: CAST, Inc.
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-08-01 至 2026-07-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2146613&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Using; drone; technology; communal; motivation

The project uses drones in middle school science and career and technical education classrooms as a mechanism to increase female students’ awareness of STEM occupations, knowledge and skills in multiple STEM disciplines, and motivation to pursue STEM careers. This project confronts society’s messaging and students’ own perceptions of “who can be, should be, and is good at STEM” which is often reinforced by the notion of there being a single path into STEM. The project will encourage female students from rural areas in New Hampshire and Maine to develop their own STEM career goals by establishing a clear link between communal goals (those that are collaborative or altruistic) and success in STEM. The project adds to knowledge about drone-based projects by explicitly linking STEM and Career and Technical Education in middle school classes and by studying the alignment between the multidisciplinary and communal characteristics of drones and female students’ strengths and interests. It also advances knowledge about how to optimize motivation through an intervention that both increases the approach of STEM goals by highlighting their communal nature and decreases the avoidance of STEM goals due to stereotype threat by applying the Universal Design for Learning framework to the design of the curriculum materials and classroom activities.The project will develop and research a model that uses strength-based strategies and communal motivation to reduce stereotype threat and increase motivation to pursue STEM goals. The project is guided by the following research questions: (1) To what extent will female middle-school students in intervention classrooms increase their motivation to pursue STEM goals compared to their peers in comparison classrooms? (1)(a) Will female middle-school students in intervention classrooms reduce their susceptibility to stereotype threat for pursuing STEM goals compared to their peers in comparison classrooms? (1)(b) To what extent are decreases in stereotype threat associated with increases in the motivation of female students to pursue STEM goals? (1)(c) To what extent is the relationship between program participation and increased motivation of female students to pursue STEM goals mediated by susceptibility to stereotype threat? (1)(d) Will middle-school students in intervention classrooms increase their awareness of communal (collaborative or altruistic) goals in STEM fields compared to their peers in comparison classrooms? (1)(e) To what extent are increases in the awareness of communal STEM goals associated with increases in the motivation of female students to pursue STEM goals? (1)(f) To what extent is the relationship between program participation and increased motivation of female students to pursue STEM goals mediated by increases in their awareness of communal STEM goals? (2) To what extent do increases in the motivation of female students in intervention classrooms to pursue STEM goals predict increases in their choice of elective STEM classes in high school? (3) To what extent will middle-school students in intervention classrooms increase their knowledge and skills in multiple STEM disciplines compared to their peers in comparison classrooms? (4) To what extent do increases in students’ knowledge and skills in multiple STEM disciplines predict increases in their choice of elective STEM classes in high school? The plan for carrying out research activities includes pilot testing, the use of impact instruments based on established sources, and triangulation with qualitative data from the external evaluator. In Phase 1, the curriculum will be co-developed with 4 teachers, and impact instruments will be adapted. In Phase 2, the team will conduct a pilot test with 7 teachers and 175 students and develop the professional development program and fidelity of implementation measure. Phase 3 will comprise a quasi-experimental field test with 50 teachers and 1250 students (625 girls), plus follow up with pilot study students on their 10th grade STEM enrollment. Deliverables include a Playbook (curriculum, professional development program, recruitment strategies, and videos), constituting a scalable model. This research adds critical insights and much-needed research into effective strategies for supporting career exploration in middle school and is one of the first R&D projects to explicitly study the combination of approach and avoidance motivational pathways in the context of broadening STEM participation. The 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 science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and information and communication technology (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.

该项目在中学科学和职业技术教育课堂上使用无人机，作为一种机制，以提高女学生对STEM职业、多个STEM学科的知识和技能以及追求STEM职业的动机的认识。这个项目面对社会的信息和学生自己的看法“谁可以，应该是，并擅长干”，这往往是由有一个单一的路径进入干的概念加强。该项目将鼓励来自新罕布什尔州和缅因州农村地区的女学生通过在社区目标（合作或利他的目标）和STEM成功之间建立明确的联系来制定自己的STEM职业目标。该项目通过在中学课堂上明确地将STEM与职业和技术教育联系起来，并通过研究无人机的多学科和社区特征与女学生的优势和兴趣之间的一致性，增加了关于基于无人机的项目的知识。该项目还通过一种干预措施来提高学习动机，这种干预措施既通过突出STEM目标的公共性来增加STEM目标的实现，又通过将通用学习设计框架应用于课程材料和课堂活动的设计来减少由于刻板印象威胁而对STEM目标的回避。基于战略和社区动机，以减少刻板印象的威胁，并增加追求STEM目标的动力。本研究以以下问题为指导：（1）与对照组相比，干预组的女中学生在多大程度上提高了追求STEM目标的动机？（1）（a）与对照教室的同龄人相比，干预教室的女中学生是否会降低她们对追求STEM目标的刻板印象威胁的敏感性？（1）（B）刻板印象威胁的减少在多大程度上与女学生追求STEM目标的动机增加相关？（1）（c）在何种程度上，项目参与和女学生追求STEM目标的动机增加之间的关系是由刻板印象威胁的易感性介导的？（1）（d）与比较教室中的同龄人相比，干预教室中的中学生是否会提高他们对STEM领域的社区（协作或利他）目标的认识？（1）（e）在多大程度上提高了对社区STEM目标的认识，这与女学生追求STEM目标的动机增加有关？（1）（f）在多大程度上是计划参与和女学生追求STEM目标的动机增加之间的关系，通过增加他们对共同STEM目标的认识来调节？(2)在多大程度上增加干预教室的女学生追求STEM目标的动机预测增加他们在高中选修STEM课程的选择？(3)在多大程度上将干预教室中学生增加他们的知识和技能在多个STEM学科相比，他们的同龄人在比较教室？(4)学生在多个STEM学科的知识和技能的增加在多大程度上预示着他们在高中选修STEM课程的增加？开展研究活动的计划包括试点测试，使用基于既定来源的影响工具，以及与外部评估人员提供的定性数据进行三角测量。在第一阶段，课程将与4名教师共同开发，并将调整影响工具。在第二阶段，该团队将与7名教师和175名学生进行试点测试，并制定专业发展计划和实施措施的保真度。第三阶段将包括一个准实验性的实地测试，有50名教师和1250名学生（625名女生），再加上后续的试点研究学生对他们的10年级STEM入学。可供选择的内容包括一本剧本（课程、专业发展计划、招聘战略和视频），构成了一个可扩展的模型。这项研究为支持中学职业探索的有效策略增加了重要的见解和急需的研究，并且是第一个明确研究在扩大STEM参与的背景下结合方法和避免动机途径的研发项目之一。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，背景和过程的理解的项目，有助于增加学生对科学，技术，工程，信息和通信技术（ICT）该奖项反映了NSF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。