Employing Peer Mentoring to Empower Youth to Become 21st Century Energy Leaders

城市和州、清洁能源企业、劳工组织和参与其中的公民正越来越多地通过探索如何向可再生能源过渡来应对气候变化。那些对气候变化影响最小的人往往最容易受到其影响，因此考虑这些人口的需求以支持向可再生能源的“公正过渡”是很重要的。因此，需要更广泛、更多样化的“STEM和公平知识劳动力”——了解STEM，拥有必要的思维技能，并致力于多样性、公平和包容。该项目建议利用现有的能源转型/气候变化模拟经验En-ROADS，然后是学生能源项目，以帮助学习者了解能源转型所涉及的问题及其对环境正义的影响。这一干预措施旨在提高气候素养、STEM效率、以解决方案为中心的心态和思维技能。该项目的创新之处在于将本科生与高中学生配对为近同伴导师，在招生时优先考虑少数民族学生。大学生近同伴导师将协助高中生进行模拟活动，并利用从模拟中获得的知识为他们的当地环境创建一个现实世界的能源转换项目。该项目是大学、当地气候变化组织和当地一家少数族裔拥有的清洁能源企业之间的合作伙伴关系，旨在将学习者与他们所在地区的真实挑战和职业道路联系起来。通过影响数百名学生，该项目旨在使明尼苏达州的STEM本科教育、STEM和能源/气候专业技术劳动力多样化，并通过增加有关能源系统、气候影响和政策影响的STEM知识来增强公民决策。研究问题询问了近同伴指导对学生成果（STEM效能、STEM知识、气候问题的希望和紧迫性、对STEM/ICT职业的知识和兴趣）、导师STEM/ICT职业抱负的影响，并探讨了项目组成部分对学生跨学习机会建立联系能力的协同影响。为了解决研究问题，我们将大学生提供近同伴指导的7个高中生-本科生团队与参加相同模拟和能源项目活动但没有近同伴指导的7个高中生-本科生团队进行比较。研究问题将通过前后调查数据以及焦点小组和访谈数据的扎根理论分析来解决。焦点小组和访谈也将用于探讨导师如何支持学习者。对该领域的贡献源于这样一个事实，即研究问题具体探讨了一种策略，即近同伴指导，如何增强基于模拟和基于项目的学习。该项目将增加我们对如何使用模拟来帮助学习者准备参与具有个人意义的现实世界项目的了解-换句话说，这是一个示范项目，展示如何将基于模拟的学习置于更大的现实世界的社区和职业参与中，而不是旨在单独传达STEM知识的独立活动。该项目将制作一系列指南（与标准一致的课程指南，学生主导的项目促进者指南，以及该州当地的能源/气候职业指南），这些指南将通过一些已建立的网络传播，以允许其他教育工作者效仿该计划。该项目由“面向学生和教师的创新技术体验”（ITEST）项目资助，该项目支持有助于提高学生对科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）以及信息和通信技术（ICT）职业的知识和兴趣的实践、项目要素、背景和过程的理解。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。

Cities and states, clean energy businesses, labor organizations and engaged citizens are increasingly addressing climate change by exploring how to transition to renewable energy. Those who do the least to cause climate change are often the most vulnerable to its impacts, so it is important to consider the needs of these populations to support a "just transition" to renewable energy. As a result, there is a need for a broader and more diverse "STEM- and equity-literate workforce" – knowledgeable about STEM, possessing requisite thinking skills, and committed to diversity, equity and inclusion. This project proposes to make use of an existing energy transition/climate change simulation experience, En-ROADS, followed by student energy projects to help learners come to understand the issues involved in energy transition and its environmental justice implications. This intervention is intended to advance climate literacy, STEM efficacy, a solutions-focused mindset, and thinking skills. The innovation of this project lies in pairing undergraduates with high school (HS) students as near-peer mentors, with preference given to minority students during recruitment. The undergraduate near-peer mentors will assist the high school students with the simulation activities and with using the knowledge gained from the simulation to create a real-world energy transition project for their local setting. The project is a partnership between universities, local climate change organizations, and a local minority-owned clean energy business, to connect the learners with authentic challenges and career paths in their area. By impacting hundreds of students, the project aims to diversify STEM undergraduate education and the STEM and energy/climate professional and technical workforces in Minnesota, as well as to enhance citizen decision-making by increasing STEM knowledge about energy systems, climate impacts and policy implications. The research questions interrogate the impact of near-peer mentoring on student outcomes (STEM efficacy, STEM knowledge, hope and urgency with regards to climate issues, knowledge and interest in STEM/ICT careers), on the mentors’ STEM/ICT career aspirations, and also explore the synergistic impact of project components on students’ ability to make connections across the learning opportunities. To address the research questions, 7 high school student-undergraduate teams where the university students provide near-peer mentoring will be compared to 7 high school student-undergraduate teams participating in the same simulation and energy project activities but without near-peer mentoring. The research questions will be addressed via pre/post survey data and via a Grounded Theory analysis of focus group and interview data. Focus groups and interviews will also be used to explore how mentors supported the learners. The contribution to the field arises from the fact that the research questions specifically probe how one strategy, near-peer mentoring, may enhance simulation-based and project-based learning. This project will increase our knowledge about how simulations can be used to prepare learners to engage in real-world projects of personal significance – in other words, it is a demonstration project to show how simulation-based learning can be situated within a larger real-world tapestry of community and career engagement, as opposed to a stand-alone activity intended to convey STEM knowledge alone. The project will produce a series of guides (a standards-aligned curriculum guide, student-led project facilitator guide, and an energy/climate career guide local to the state) that will be disseminated via a number of established networks to permit other educators to emulate the program. This 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.