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

该项目的目标是理解和支持在STEM研究组织内制定以证据为基础的公众参与科学(PES)战略。它特别寻求了解NSF长期生态研究(LTER)网络中的科学家、机构领导人和工作人员如何就PES活动的设计和实施做出决策。LTER网络包括北美28个不同的地点，为研究科学组织内的PES决策提供了独特的机会。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当地社区的利益和资产，包括代表性不足的社区。该项目将在国家STEM研究基础设施的一个重要部门提高有效的、基于证据的PES的能力。该项目是LTER网络中的PES实践者与密歇根州立大学和俄勒冈州立大学的PES研究人员之间的合作。该项目将解决三个主要研究问题：(1)科学家、机构领导人和工作人员如何看待和决定PES的设计和实施？(2)PES活动和PES战略在多大程度上考虑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多大程度上制定旨在加强互惠交流和与社区的持续关系的共享PES战略？项目设计包括：(A)对长期热核实验堆的科学家、机构领导人和工作人员进行调查和访谈；(B)案例研究与战略参与规划相结合，以调查热核实验堆的社区环境；(C)由热核实验堆科学家和热核实验堆相关工作人员组成的热核实验堆工作组，以整合研究和实践；(D)热核实验堆监测系统，以跟踪热核实验堆场地的热核实验堆活动；(E)由热核实验堆专家和其他STEM研究组织的代表组成的外部咨询委员会，以促进对工作的问责，并扩大其在热核实验堆网络之外的影响。总体假设是，有可能通过重点帮助科学组织与相关社区合作开发PES战略来提高PES的有效性。这项服务于实践的研究项目是一项为期三年的努力，并得到推进非正式STEM学习(AISL)计划的支持，该计划旨在促进对非正式环境中STEM学习的设计和开发的新方法和基于证据的理解，扩大获得和参与STEM学习经验的多种途径，推进对非正式环境中STEM学习的创新研究和评估，这一奖项反映了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。

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.