Supporting Secondary Students’ Earth Science Knowledge and Engineering Design Skills with Mobile Design Studios

今天的年轻人面临着充满挑战的未来，包括获得清洁水，生物多样性日益丧失和气候变化。这些挑战特别棘手，因为根本问题要么结构不良，要么可以以多种方式感知。解决这些棘手的地球科学挑战将需要创造性的解决方案，这就是为什么移动的设计工作室项目专注于整合科学和工程内容。在为期四年的项目中，研究团队将创建一个以计算机为媒介的设计环境，使7-10年级的学生能够合作探索，建立联系，生成和评估解决环境科学挑战的设计理念。该项目的一个独特之处在于它使用了一个依赖于设计启发式的人工智能（AI）设计导师，这是一种基于研究的创造力工具，可以引导学生探索想法，并从学生的设计过程中“学习”，以更好地帮助他们。该项目将考察学生对科学和工程的看法、他们整合学术和个人或社区知识的能力、他们从事工程的信心以及他们的设计思维。该项目将使用前端工程设计工作（即，（c）协助中学生学习地球科学、工程设计和社会科学学科的技能和内容。此外，研究地球和环境科学教师及其学生如何与人工智能设计导师互动，解决了教师对工程的熟悉程度低的持续挑战，并推动了人类技术前沿的研究。使用混合的方法，该团队将检查学生的设计思维，工程设计的自我效能，对科学和工程的看法和兴趣，以及他们对科学，工程和个人/社区知识的整合。数据源包括课堂观察、学生设计工件、平台中的学生动作（例如，编辑队友的设计概念）和前/后调查。分析方法包括归纳编码，学习分析，序列分析和数据可视化。项目评估将检查团队如何计划、交付和迭代地增强MODS平台（例如，人工智能导师，前端设计活动），课堂课程（由项目团队和教师创建），专业发展，以及其他项目支持材料。该项目的工作将通过工程教育和科学教育领域的会议和期刊进行分享。研究结果，教师和学校的反馈，以及项目的反思也将通过工程外展办公室的大学在布法罗的学院和通过两年一度的@康科德通讯，其中有46,000个用户网络与学校领导和教师分享。在最后一年，该团队将在国家和地方层面举办面向公众的小型研讨会，以创新技术教授工程设计。一个专门的网站将使所有的设计挑战，教学指南，教程视频，教师和学生的提示，免费提供。该项目由发现研究preK-12计划（DRK-12）资助，旨在通过研究和开发创新资源，模型和工具，显着提高preK-12学生和教师的科学，技术，工程和数学（STEM）的学习和教学。DRK-12项目中的项目建立在STEM教育的基础研究以及为拟议项目提供理论和经验依据的先前研究和开发工作的基础上。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。

Today’s youth face a future riddled with challenges, including access to clean water, increasing biodiversity loss, and climate change. These challenges are particularly thorny because the underlying problems are either ill-structured or can be perceived in multiple ways. Addressing these thorny Earth science challenges will require creative solutions, which is why the Mobile Design Studio project focuses on integrating science and engineering content. In the four-year project, the research team will create a computer-mediated design environment that enables students in grades 7-10 to collaboratively explore, make connections, generate, and evaluate design ideas that address environmental science challenges. A unique feature of the project is its use of an artificial intelligent (AI) design mentor that relies on Design Heuristics, a research-based creativity tool that guides students through exploration of ideas and “learns” from students’ design processes to better assist them. The project will examine students’ perceptions of science and engineering, their ability to integrate academic and personal or community knowledge, their confidence for engaging in engineering, and their design thinking. This project will use front-end engineering design work (i.e., engaging in problem definition and solution exploration) to support secondary students’ learning at the intersection of Earth science, engineering design, and socio-scientific disciplinary skills and content. Further, studying how Earth and environmental science teachers and their students engage with the AI design mentor addresses the ongoing challenge of low teacher familiarity with engineering and advances research at the human-technology frontier. Using mixed methods, the team will examine students’ design thinking, engineering design self-efficacy, perceptions of and interests in science and engineering and their integration of scientific, engineering, and personal/community knowledge. Data sources include classroom observation, student design artifacts, student actions in the platform (e.g., editing a teammate’s design concept) and pre/post surveys. Analytic methods include inductive coding, learning analytics, sequence analysis and data visualization. The project evaluation will examine how the team plans, delivers, and iteratively enhances the MODS platform (e.g., AI mentor, front-end design activities), class lessons (created by the project team and teachers), professional development, and other project support materials. The project’s work will be shared through conferences and journals in the engineering education and science education fields. Research findings, teacher and school feedback, and project reflections will also be shared with school leaders and teachers through the University at Buffalo’s College of Engineering Outreach Office and through the biannual @Concord newsletter, which has 46,000 subscriber network. In the final year, the team will hold public-facing, mini-workshops on teaching engineering design with innovative technology at the national and local levels. A dedicated website will make all design challenges, instructional guides, tutorial videos, and teacher and student tips, freely available. This project is funded by the Discovery Research preK-12 program (DRK-12), which seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) by preK-12 students and teachers, through research and development of innovative resources, models and tools. Projects in the DRK-12 program build on fundamental research in STEM education and prior research and development efforts that provide theoretical and empirical justification for proposed projects. 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.