Engaging Rural, Latinx Youth in an After School Program That Integrates Design Thinking, Making and Math

让农村拉丁裔青年参与集设计思维、制作和数学于一体的课后项目

• 批准号: 2215382
• 负责人: Teresa Lara-Meloy
• 金额: $ 299.78万
• 依托单位: TERC Inc
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-08-01 至 2026-07-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2215382&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Engaging; Rural; Latinx; Youth; After

The project will develop and research an after-school program designed to engage rural, Latinx youth in design thinking and math through making. Making is a learner-centered environment where participants design, create, and develop projects. Latinx individuals are underrepresented in the STEM workforce. The project will engage Latinx youth during the critical middle school years when young people make choices that affect their futures. The project will work with community members, after school staff, and youth as co-designers to develop and pilot the complete after school program. The program will involve Latinx youth who live in the agricultural regions of the Southwest United States with the goal of developing agency and positive identity, as makers, mathematical doers and users, and active community members. They will engage in developmentally appropriate mathematics, such as the volume and surface area of geometric shapes, within the context of informal learning projects. The program will comprise four semester-long after school projects, involving participants for 2-4 hours each week, during which time youth will design and create objects to address typical community challenges. Each project will incorporate smaller modules to enable youth with different attendance needs to participate. Real community problems (e.g., drought) and solution paths (e.g., water catchment system) will motivate the making and the mathematics. The program, co-designed in partnership with the Cesar Chavez Foundation, promises to reach 100,000 youth over the next decade. Because the program can serve as a model for others with similar goals, this reach has the potential to be expanded in many other communities. Project research will address a gap in the current literature on mathematics, making, and community membership. The project connects community mathematics—the rich mathematical knowledge and practices drawn from communities—to educational making to both enrich understanding of school mathematics and aid in developing students’ positive mathematical and cultural identities. The project will also result in a model of professional development that can be used and studied by after school programs and researchers, contributing to the limited body of knowledge of professional development on STEM making for after school facilitators. The research design for this project will follow a mixed methods approach where quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis will occur simultaneously. Results of both strands will be brought together at the interpretation and reporting level to compare and bring out the convergence, divergence, or complementarity of findings. The research will take place in two stages (co-design and pilot) over 3 years, with an additional half year for developing communications of the findings. Research will address the following questions: (1) What are the key features of projects for integrating community mathematics, school mathematics understanding, and design/making? (2) How do facilitators support the youth in engaging in program activities? (3) What math content and practices do youth learn through participation in program activities? and (4) How do youth’s agency and identity as makers, mathematics doers and users, and community members change with participation in the program? Program research and resources will be disseminated nationally through the Cesar Chavez Foundation and by sharing project research and resources through publications and conference presentations reaching researchers, educators, and program developers. This research project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which seeks to (a) advance new approaches to and evidence-based understanding of the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments; (b) provide multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM learning experiences; (c) advance innovative research on and assessment of STEM learning in informal environments; and (d) engage the public of all ages in learning STEM in informal environments.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.

该项目将开发和研究一个课后项目，旨在通过制作让农村的拉丁裔青年参与设计思维和数学。制作是一个以学习者为中心的环境，参与者设计，创建和开发项目。拉丁裔人在STEM劳动力中的代表性不足。该项目将在关键的中学时期吸引拉丁裔青年，年轻人在这一时期做出影响他们未来的选择。该项目将与社区成员，课后工作人员和青年合作，共同设计和试点完整的课后计划。该计划将涉及拉丁裔青年谁住在美国西南部的农业地区与发展机构和积极的身份，作为制造商，数学实干家和用户，以及积极的社区成员的目标。他们将在非正式学习项目的背景下从事适合发展的数学，如几何形状的体积和表面积。该计划将包括四个学期的课后项目，涉及参与者每周2-4小时，在此期间，青年将设计和创建对象，以解决典型的社区挑战。每个项目都将纳入较小的模块，以使有不同出勤需求的青年能够参与。真实的社区问题（例如，干旱）和解决途径（例如，集水系统）将激励制作和数学。该计划是与塞萨尔查韦斯基金会合作设计的，承诺在未来十年内惠及10万名青年。由于该计划可以作为具有类似目标的其他人的典范，因此这种覆盖范围有可能在许多其他社区扩大。项目研究将解决数学，制作和社区成员的现有文献中的差距。该项目将社区数学（从社区汲取的丰富数学知识和实践）与教育决策联系起来，以丰富对学校数学的理解，并帮助发展学生积极的数学和文化身份。该项目还将产生一个专业发展模型，可供课后项目和研究人员使用和研究，为课后辅导员提供STEM专业发展的有限知识。本项目的研究设计将采用混合方法，同时进行定量和定性数据收集和分析。这两个方面的结果将在解释和报告层面上汇集在一起，以比较和显示调查结果的一致性、差异性或互补性。研究将在三年内分两个阶段进行（共同设计和试点），另有半年时间用于研究结果的传播。研究将解决以下问题：（1）整合社区数学，学校数学理解和设计/制作的项目的关键特征是什么？(2)辅导员如何支持青少年参与计划活动？(3)青少年通过参与项目活动学习了哪些数学内容和实践？以及（4）青少年作为数学创造者、数学实践者和数学使用者以及社区成员的能动性和身份是如何随着参与该项目而改变的？计划研究和资源将通过塞萨尔查韦斯基金会在全国范围内传播，并通过出版物和会议演讲分享项目研究和资源，以达到研究人员，教育工作者和计划开发人员。该研究项目由推进非正式STEM学习（AISL）计划资助，该计划旨在（a）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;（B）提供多种途径，以扩大STEM学习经验的获取和参与;（c）推进非正式环境中STEM学习的创新研究和评估;（d）促进非正式环境中STEM学习的创新研究。以及（d）让所有年龄段的公众在非正式环境中学习STEM。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。