STEM Tales: Investigating the effect of media read-alouds on young children's STEM and literacy learning and interest in STEM careers

激发幼儿对科学、技术、工程和数学(STEM)的兴趣是吸引更多学生从事STEM课程和STEM职业的重要途径。该项目将使用各种工具让四至八岁的儿童及其家庭参与进来。首先，该项目将为公共广播系统制作一部五集的STEM媒体系列节目。该系列将包括不同的STEM专业人员，包括宇航员和工程师，阅读来自太空、地球和海洋的STEM图画书。图画书将得到相关媒体的补充，这些媒体展示了不同的儿童在他们的家里和社区参与STEM活动。接下来，将创建10个适合家庭的、低成本的STEM活动套件，它们与PBS系列保持一致。为了继续在家学习STEM，这些工具包将与服务于不同低收入社区的全国图书馆网络共享。为了支持STEM在当地图书馆的学习，图书馆员将从事专业发展。数字媒体和图书馆作为STEM学习和共享回家工具包的枢纽的创新组合，预计将支持幼儿对STEM的兴趣、他们追求STEM兴趣的信心和他们的早期识字技能。该项目是双城公共电视台、T2科学和数学教育、美国大学教育学院和空间科学研究所的合作伙伴。为儿童朗读提高他们的读写能力。反过来，识字技能与STEM的成功密切相关。然而，关于朗读的文献在很大程度上是基于亲自阅读。关于数字媒体朗读如何支持儿童的STEM和识字学习，人们知之甚少。这个为期30个月的开发和测试创新项目将探索数字媒体朗读对儿童STEM内容学习、与STEM一致的识字技能以及儿童对STEM职业的兴趣和认识的影响程度。它的目标是增加数字STEM媒体读物的数量和质量，并为儿童、有色人种家庭和低收入社区提供STEM图书馆方案。所有的媒体和动手STEM活动都将通过：1)建立课程框架，包括下一代科学标准和英语语言艺术、扫盲和数学的共同核心国家标准；2)建立多样化的项目团队和咨询委员会；3)对有效的朗读策略、儿童媒体制作的最佳做法和STEM活动的使用进行循证研究；4)进行评估，包括家长和图书馆管理员来自该项目所服务社区的声音。混合方法项目将使用量化数据，形式是围绕儿童STEM和识字技能、知识和兴趣的前后调查，以评估随着时间的推移而发生的变化。访谈和观察形式的定性数据将调查儿童使用STEM和识字技能以及对STEM职业的兴趣。围绕这些结构的主题将通过不断比较访谈数据和三角测量来展开。通过对目标年龄范围内的儿童进行简单随机抽样，将在图书馆一级进行数据收集抽样。家长和图书馆员的形成性评估将提供对新媒体和协调活动的反馈。一项独立的评估将检查图书馆员的职业发展和项目实施，试图了解图书馆教育工作者如何围绕STEM主题和职业道路吸引和激励儿童和父母/照顾者。该项目涉及全国8个研究地点和21个外联地点，目标是让42名图书管理员与200多名儿童和400多名父母/照顾者一起工作。更广泛地说，STEM Tales媒体将出现在多个国家PBS数字平台上，在七年的权利期内，它将达到约200万观众(包括儿童、图书馆管理员、教育工作者和家长)。该项目由学生和教师创新技术体验计划(ITEST)资助，该计划支持建立对实践、计划要素、背景和过程的理解的项目，这些项目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。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。

Exciting young children's interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) is an essential way to attract more students to STEM course work and STEM careers. This project will use a variety of tools to engage four- to eight-year-old children and their families. First, the project will create a five-episode STEM media series for the Public Broadcasting System. The series will include diverse STEM professionals, including astronauts and engineers, reading STEM picture books from space, Earth and sea. The picture books will be complemented by related media that shows diverse children engaging in STEM activities in their homes and communities. Next, 10 family-friendly, low-cost STEM activity kits that are aligned to the PBS series will be created. To continue STEM learning at home, these kits will be shared with a national network of libraries that serve diverse, low-income communities. To support STEM learning in their local library, librarians will engage in professional development. The innovative combination of digital media and libraries as hubs for STEM learning and sharing take-home kits is expected to support young children’s interest in STEM, their confidence for pursuing their STEM interests and their early literacy skills. The project is a partnership among Twin Cities Public Television, T2 Science and Math Education, American University’s School of Education, and the Space Science Institute.Reading aloud to children increases their literacy. In turn, literacy skills are strongly linked to STEM success. However, the literature on read-alouds is based largely on reading in person. Less is known about how digital media read-alouds support children’s STEM and literacy learning. This 30-month Developing and Testing Innovations project will explore the extent to which digital media read-alouds impact children’s STEM content learning, STEM-aligned literacy skills and children’s interest in and awareness of STEM careers. It aims to increase the quantity and quality of digital STEM media read-alouds and STEM library programs for children and families of color and from low-income communities. All media and hands-on STEM activities will be shaped by: 1) Established curriculum frameworks, including the Next Generation Science Standards and Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts and Literacy and Mathematics; 2) A diverse project team and advisory board; 3) Evidence-based research on the use of effective read-aloud strategies, best practices in children’s media production, and STEM activities; and 4) Evaluation that includes parents and librarians’ voices from the communities this project will serve. The mixed-methods project will use quantitative data, in the form of pre- and post-surveys around children’s STEM and literacy skills, knowledge and interest to assess change over time. Qualitative data in the form of interviews and observations will investigate children’s use of STEM and literacy skills and interest in STEM careers. Themes around these constructs will be developed through constant comparison of interview data and triangulation. Data collection sampling will occur at the library level through a simple randomized sampling of children within the targeted age range. Formative evaluation with parents and librarians will provide feedback on the new media and aligned activities. An independent evaluation will examine librarians’ professional development and program implementation, seeking to understand how library educators engage and motivate children and parents/caregivers around STEM topics and career pathways. The project involves eight research sites and 21 outreach sites across the country with the goal of engaging 42 librarians working with over 200 children and over 400 parents/caregivers. More broadly, the STEM Tales media will appear across multiple national PBS digital platforms where it will reach an estimated two million viewers (including children, librarians, educators, and parents) over a seven-year rights period. 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.