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

该项目将开发和研究一个课后项目，旨在通过制作让农村拉丁裔青年参与设计思维和数学。Making是一个以学习者为中心的环境，参与者可以设计、创造和开发项目。拉丁裔个人在STEM劳动力中的代表性不足。该项目将在关键的中学阶段吸引拉丁裔青年参与，在这个阶段，年轻人会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共同设计，开发和试点完整的课后项目。该项目将包括生活在美国西南部农业地区的拉丁裔青年，其目标是发展能动性和积极的身份，成为创造者、数学实干家和用户，以及活跃的社区成员。他们将在非正式学习项目的背景下学习与发展相适应的数学，如几何形状的体积和表面积。该项目将包括四个学期的课后项目，参与者每周有2-4小时的时间，在此期间，青少年将设计和创造物品，以解决典型的社区挑战。每个项目将包含更小的模块，以使有不同出勤需求的青少年参与。真正的社区问题（例如，干旱）和解决方案（例如，集水系统）将激励制作和数学。该项目是与塞萨尔·查韦斯基金会（Cesar Chavez Foundation）合作设计的，承诺在未来十年惠及10万名青少年。由于该计划可以作为具有类似目标的其他社区的榜样，因此这种影响有可能在许多其他社区扩大。项目研究将解决当前关于数学、制造和社区成员的文献中的空白。该项目将社区数学（来自社区的丰富数学知识和实践）与教育制作联系起来，既丰富了对学校数学的理解，又有助于培养学生的积极数学和文化认同。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体系。该项目的研究设计将采用混合方法，定量和定性数据收集和分析将同时进行。两方面的结果将在解释和报告层面结合在一起，以比较并找出结果的趋同、分歧或互补性。该研究将在3年内分两个阶段（共同设计和试点）进行，另外半年用于发展研究结果的交流。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项目活动？(3)青少年通过参与项目活动学到了哪些数学内容和实践？(4)青年作为创造者、数学实干家和使用者以及社区成员的能动性和身份如何随着参与该计划而改变？项目研究和资源将通过Cesar Chavez基金会在全国范围内传播，并通过出版物和会议报告向研究人员、教育工作者和项目开发者分享项目研究和资源。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学习的设计和开发的新方法和基于证据的理解；(b)提供多种途径，以扩大获得和参与STEM学习经验的机会；(c)推进非正式环境中STEM学习的创新研究和评估；(d)让所有年龄段的公众在非正式环境中学习STEM。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，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。

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.