STEM Pathways for Rural Youth: Developing STEM Identity Through the Outdoors

对于一些农村社区来说，户外休闲生态系统是STEM学习生态系统的一个组成部分，它将农村青年与STEM和STEM职业道路联系起来。土地所有者和森林管理者建造和驾驶无人机来清点、绘制和监测资源。孵化场监测鱼的水平和维持人口的休闲渔业。穷乡僻壤的滑雪者依靠雪科学和雪崩预测来评估条件。农村社区青年目前从事的户外娱乐活动可以成为培养他们STEM身份和职业抱负的机会和经验来源。现有的研究表明，具体的，一次性的干预措施和离散的活动的承诺，没有一个定位在一个更广泛的生态系统框架，包括一个新生的和不断增长的经济部门，目前正在塑造农村社区的活动。以及新罕布什尔州（NH）的户外娱乐和非正式STEM社区青年服务组织。特别是，本研究将调查的贡献，青年的参与（或厌恶）户外娱乐发展高中适龄学生的干身份和考虑的职业生涯干通过户外娱乐。研究人员试图解决三个问题：如何将户外娱乐作为一种非正式的STEM学习环境，以扩大代表性不足的农村青年的参与，他们面临着发展积极的STEM身份所需的传统学习经验的已知障碍？如何利用户外娱乐来增加代表性不足的农村青年的STEM职业途径？在STEM生态系统中处于不同位置的人们如何将STEM视为未来经济的一部分？在这项定性主导研究中，研究者将采用经验抽样的方法，让农村社区的30名青年和10名成年人收集他们从事户外娱乐的时刻，并鼓励他们检查和反思这些时刻。另一组来自社区的20名青年和30名成年人将接受采访，以考虑社区成员如何看待户外娱乐作为未来STEM职业道路的一部分的可行性。该奖项由推进非正式STEM学习（AISL）计划资助，该计划旨在推进非正式环境中STEM学习的设计和发展的新方法和基于证据的理解。这包括提供多种途径，以扩大获取和参与STEM学习经验。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估的支持。

For some rural communities, the outdoor recreation ecosystem is an integral part of the STEM learning ecosystem that connects rural youth with STEM and STEM career pathways. Landowners and forest managers construct and fly drones to inventory, map, and monitor resources. Hatcheries monitor fish levels and sustain populations for recreational fisheries. Backcountry skiers depend on snow science and avalanche forecasts to assess conditions. Outdoor recreation that youth in rural communities are currently engaging in can be sources of opportunities and experiences for cultivating their STEM identities and career aspirations. Existing studies have shown the promise of specific, one-time interventions and discrete activities, none have situated activities in a broader ecosystem framework comprising a nascent and growing economic sector that is currently shaping rural communities.This Pilot and Feasibility project brings together CAST, a non-profit education research organization, the University of New Hampshire (UNH), and outdoor-recreation and informal STEM community-based youth-serving organizations in New Hampshire (NH). In particular, this study will investigate the contributions of youth's participation in (or aversion of) outdoor recreation on developing high school aged students' STEM identities and considerations of careers in STEM through outdoor recreation. Researchers seek to address three questions: How can outdoor recreation be used as an informal STEM learning context to broaden participation for underrepresented rural youth who face known barriers to the traditional learning experiences necessary for developing positive STEM identities? How can outdoor recreation be used to increase the STEM career pathways for underrepresented rural youth? How do people in different positions in the STEM ecosystem view STEM as part of the future OR economy? In this qualitative dominant research study, investigators will employ experience sampling to involve 30 youth and 10 adults in rural communities in collecting their moments of engaging in outdoor recreation, and photovoice to encourage them to examine and reflect on these moments. Another group of 20 youth and 30 adults from the community will be interviewed to consider how members of the community perceives viability of outdoor recreation as a part of future STEM career pathways.This award is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which seeks to advance new approaches to, and evidence-based understanding of, the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments. This includes providing multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM learning experiences.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.