Advancing Public Engagement with Science across the Long-Term Ecological Research Network

该项目的目标是了解和支持在STEM研究组织内发展基于证据的公众参与科学（PES）战略。它特别试图了解科学家，机构领导人，和NSF的长期生态研究（LTER）网络内的工作人员如何作出关于PES活动的设计和实施的决定。LTER网络包括北美28个不同的站点，为研究科学组织内部的生态系统服务费用支付决策提供了一个独特的机会。该项目特别感兴趣的是，这些类型的组织在多大程度上考虑到当地社区，包括代表性不足的社区的利益和资产。该项目将提高国家STEM研究基础设施重要部门的有效循证PES的能力。该项目是LTER网络内的PES从业人员和PES研究人员在密歇根州州立大学和俄勒冈州州立大学的合作。该项目将解决三个主要的研究问题：（1）科学家，机构领导人和工作人员如何看待和决策的设计和实施PES？(2)生态系统服务付费活动和生态系统服务付费战略在多大程度上考虑了当地社区的利益和资产，包括那些在STEM中代表性不足的社区？(3)科学家、机构领导人和工作人员如何以及在何种程度上制定旨在加强互惠交流和与社区的持续关系的公共生态系统服务费用分担战略？项目设计包括：（a）对长期应急措施科学家、机构领导人和工作人员的调查和访谈;（B）案例研究，结合战略参与规划，调查生态系统服务费用支付的社区背景;（c）生态系统服务费用支付工作组，由长期应急措施科学家和与生态系统服务费用支付有关的工作人员组成，以整合研究和实践;（d）生态系统服务费用支付监测系统，用于跟踪长期应急措施地点的生态系统服务费用支付活动;以及（e）由生态系统服务系统专家和其他科学、技术、工程和数学研究组织的代表组成的外部咨询委员会，以促进工作的问责制，并将其影响扩大到长期应急反应网络之外。总体假设是，通过专注于帮助科学组织与相关社区合作制定PES战略，可以提高PES的有效性。该研究服务于实践项目是一项为期三年的奋进，并得到推进非正式STEM学习（AISL）计划的支持，该计划旨在推进新的方法，并以证据为基础的理解，在非正式环境中设计和开发STEM学习，拓宽获得和参与STEM学习经验的多种途径，推进非正式环境中STEM学习的创新研究和评估，该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为是值得支持的，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。

The goal of this project is to understand and support the development of evidence-based public engagement with science (PES) strategies within STEM research organizations. It specifically seeks to understand how scientists, institutional leaders, and staff within the NSF’s Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network make decisions about the design and implementation of PES activities. The LTER Network includes 28 varied sites across North America and provides a unique opportunity to study PES decision-making within scientific organizations. The project is especially interested in the degree to which these types of organizations consider the interests and assets of local communities, including underrepresented communities. This project will lead to increased capacity for effective, evidence-based PES in an essential sector of the nation’s STEM research infrastructure. The project is a collaboration between PES practitioners within the LTER Network and PES researchers at Michigan State University and Oregon State University.The project will address three primary research questions: (1) How do scientists, institutional leaders, and staff view and make decisions about the design and implementation of PES? (2) To what degree do PES activities and PES strategies consider the interests and assets of local communities, including those underrepresented in STEM? (3) How, and to what degree, can scientists, institutional leaders, and staff develop shared PES strategies aimed at enhancing reciprocal exchanges and ongoing relationships with communities? The project design includes: (a) surveys and interviews with LTER scientists, institutional leaders, and staff; (b) case studies coupled with strategic engagement planning to investigate the community contexts of PES; (c) a PES working group with LTER scientists and PES-related staff to integrate research and practice; (d) a PES monitoring system for tracking PES activities at LTER sites; and (e) an external advisory board of PES experts and representatives of other STEM research organizations to promote accountability of the work and broaden its impact beyond the LTER Network. The overall hypothesis is that it is possible to improve the effectiveness of PES through a focus on helping scientific organizations develop PES strategies in collaboration with relevant communities.This Research in Service to Practice Project is a three year endeavor and supported 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, multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM learning experiences, advancing innovative research on and assessment of STEM learning in informal environments, and developing understandings of deeper learning by participants.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.