Exploratory research and co-design to identify opportunities to support caregiver engagement in early STEM learning

探索性研究和共同设计，以确定支持护理人员参与早期 STEM 学习的机会

• 批准号: 2215353
• 负责人: Susan Letourneau
• 金额: $ 29.97万
• 依托单位: New York Hall of Science
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-09-15 至 2024-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2215353&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Exploratory; research; co; design; identify

This project addresses the urgent need for the development of equitable approaches to early childhood STEM education that honor the diverse cultural practices through which caregivers (such as parents, grandparents, and other adults in children’s lives) support young children’s learning. Recent studies suggest that both formal and informal educational institutions often privilege Western or Eurocentric parenting practices, neglecting many families’ cultural practices and ways of learning. This study will bring together a group of caregivers, pre-K educators, researchers, and museum staff to investigate how families with young children negotiate among their own cultural practices and the types of STEM learning they encounter in museums, schools, and other community settings. The project team will work together to identify opportunities for informal STEM learning institutions to strengthen their roles as places that can bridge home and school environments and open up new possibilities for building on caregivers’ knowledge and cultural practices within this larger community context. The project will directly benefit the 330 families whose children attend the partnering public school each year, as well as hundreds of families who attend family events at the New York Hall of Science annually. Finally, by considering nuances in caregivers’ perspectives and experiences based on multiple facets of their identities, the research will reveal how structures in educational settings might be changed to become more inclusive and culturally responsive for the broadest possible audience of families.This Pilots and Feasibility project seeks to 1) conduct exploratory research to understand caregiver engagement, defined as caregivers’ expectations, values, and practices related to their roles in children’s learning, from the perspectives of caregivers, and 2) engage in co-design efforts with caregivers and pre-K educators to explore how the museum can be leveraged as a material and creative resource to support caregiver engagement in STEM learning. This work will be carried out in the context of a long-term partnership between the New York Hall of Science and the New York City Department of Education. Methods will include in-depth interviews with caregivers, using narrative and intersectional research methods to extend existing studies on caregiver engagement in informal STEM learning, while taking into account multiple aspects of families’ social and cultural identities. This work will be carried out in Corona — a neighborhood in Queens, NY, largely made up of low-income and first-generation immigrant families. The project team will collaboratively interpret findings and engage in the initial phases of co-design work, which will include: reflecting on the systems currently in place to support caregivers’ involvement in children’s learning across settings; collaboratively generating new, culturally responsive strategies for leveraging the museum as a material and creative resource for families with young children; and choosing promising directions for further development and testing. Products from this work will include directions for new caregiver engagement initiatives that can be developed and refined as the partnership continues, and strategies for supporting equitable participation by caregivers, pre-K educators, and other community stakeholders in future research-practice partnerships.This 2-year Pilot and Feasibility study 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.

本项目解决了制定公平的幼儿STEM教育方法的迫切需要，这种方法尊重照顾者（如父母、祖父母和儿童生活中的其他成年人）支持幼儿学习的各种文化习俗。最近的研究表明，无论是正式的还是非正式的教育机构，往往都以西方或欧洲为中心的教育方式为特权，而忽视了许多家庭的文化习俗和学习方式。这项研究将汇集一组护理人员、学前教育工作者、研究人员和博物馆工作人员，调查有幼儿的家庭如何在他们自己的文化习俗和他们在博物馆、学校和其他社区环境中遇到的STEM学习类型之间进行协商。项目团队将共同努力，为非正式STEM学习机构寻找机会，加强其作为家庭和学校环境之间的桥梁的作用，并为在更大的社区背景下利用护理人员的知识和文化实践开辟新的可能性。该项目将直接惠及每年有330个孩子在合作公立学校上学的家庭，以及每年在纽约科学馆参加家庭活动的数百个家庭。最后，通过考虑照顾者基于其身份的多个方面的观点和经验的细微差别，该研究将揭示如何改变教育环境中的结构，使其对尽可能广泛的家庭受众更具包容性和文化响应性。这个试点和可行性项目旨在1)进行探索性研究，以了解照顾者的参与，定义为照顾者的期望，价值观，以及与他们在儿童学习中的角色相关的实践，从照顾者的角度，2)与照顾者和学前教育工作者共同设计工作，探索如何利用博物馆作为材料和创造性资源来支持照顾者参与STEM学习。这项工作将在纽约科学馆和纽约市教育厅长期合作的背景下进行。方法将包括对护理人员进行深入访谈，使用叙述和交叉研究方法扩展关于护理人员参与非正式STEM学习的现有研究，同时考虑到家庭社会和文化身份的多个方面。这项工作将在科罗纳进行，这是纽约皇后区的一个社区，主要由低收入和第一代移民家庭组成。项目团队将共同解释调查结果，并参与共同设计工作的初始阶段，其中包括：反思目前支持照顾者参与儿童学习的系统；合作制定新的文化响应策略，利用博物馆作为有幼儿的家庭的物质和创意资源；并选择有前途的方向进行进一步的开发和测试。这项工作的成果将包括新的照顾者参与倡议的方向，这些倡议可以随着伙伴关系的继续而发展和完善，以及支持照顾者、学前教育工作者和其他社区利益攸关方公平参与未来研究-实践伙伴关系的战略。这项为期两年的试点和可行性研究由推进非正式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。