The Expansion of a Mobile Making Project That Engages Underserved Youth Across California in STEM

该项目正在扩大一项有效的移动制作计划，以在服务不足的青年中实现可持续的、广泛的影响。制作是一种以设计为基础，以参与者为导向的努力，它基于边做边学的教学法。近十年来，加州州立大学圣马科斯分校（California State University San Marcos）一直在开展校外制作项目，将设备和大学生辅导员带到服务不足的社区。与其他四个科罗拉多州立大学校区合作，该项目将沿着四个维度扩展：(a)在学校站点之外增加社区站点；(b)在城市/郊区之外增加农村环境；(c)在面对面之外增加混合和在线选项；(d)在STEM本科生之外，包括未来的教师作为促进者。该计划将设计思维作为一个框架，让参与者参与解决对个人和社会有意义的现实问题。参与者将使用低技术和高科技工具，如电路、编码和机器人技术，参与应对设计挑战的活动。一群不同的大学生将领导每周90分钟的活动，并作为同龄人的导师，为青年参与者提供与大学的联系，其中许多人将是第一代大学生。该项目将大幅扩展移动制造项目，从北圣地亚哥县的12个地点扩展到加利福尼亚州的48个地点，在五年的时间里，近2000名大学辅导员每年为10,000多名服务不足的青少年（四年级至八年级）提供12小时的编程。该项目研究将检查额外的地点和项目变化是否会对青年和大学生产生积极的影响。对于4至8年级的青少年，该项目将评估其影响，包括对制作和STEM的持续兴趣，提高制作和STEM的自我效能感，以及对制作和STEM与他们生活相关的更大意义。对于大学生辅导员，该项目将调查其影响，包括拓宽技术技能、提高领导力和21世纪技能，以及提高对STEM推广/非正式科学教育的终身兴趣。多种数据来源将用于研究扩大后的移动制造项目对青年和大学生参与者的影响，比较实施地点，并了解该项目在不同社区、不同学习者群体中的效果。利用现有数据（出席人数、学生工件）、调查、焦点小组、制作会议反馈表、观察和现场笔记的混合方法方法将一起用于评估青年和大学生参与者的结果。该项目将根据性别、种族/民族、年级水平和地点对数据进行分类，以了解移动制造项目在不同背景下对青年参与者的影响。该项目将进一步比较来自不同类型实施地点（例如，学校与图书馆）、学习者群体（例如，中学生与高年级学生）和促进者群体（例如，STEM专业学生与未来教师）的调查结果。这将使该项目能够在科罗拉多州立大学校园之间进行跨案例比较。项目研究还将比较城市和农村学校的调查结果，并根据教学方式（例如，面对面与在线）进行比较。移动创客计划活动、项目研究和实施移动创客计划的工具包将广泛传播给研究人员、教育工作者和校外项目。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)鼓励所有年龄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，并通过基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响评估标准进行了评估，认为值得支持。

This project is expanding an effective mobile making program to achieve sustainable, widespread impact among underserved youth. Making is a design-based, participant-driven endeavor that is based on a learning by doing pedagogy. For nearly a decade, California State University San Marcos has operated out-of-school making programs for bringing both equipment and university student facilitators to the sites in under-served communities. In collaboration with four other CSU campuses, this project will expand along four dimensions: (a) adding community sites in addition to school sites (b) adding rural contexts in addition to urban/suburban, (c) adding hybrid and online options in addition to in-person), and (d) including future teachers as facilitators in addition to STEM undergraduates. The program uses design thinking as a framework to engage participants in addressing real-world problems that are personally and socially meaningful. Participants will use low- and high-tech tools, such as circuity, coding, and robotics to engage in activities that respond to design challenges. A diverse group of university students will lead weekly, 90-minute activities and serve as near-peer mentors, providing a connection to the university for the youth participants, many of whom will be first-generation college students. The project will significantly expand the Mobile Making program from 12 sites in North San Diego County to 48 sites across California, with nearly 2,000 university facilitators providing 12 hours of programming each year to over 10,000 underserved youth (grades 4th through 8th) during the five-year timeline.The project research will examine whether the additional sites and program variations result in positive youth and university student outcomes. For youth in grades 4 through 8, the project will evaluate impacts including sustained interest in making and STEM, increased self-efficacy in making and STEM, and a greater sense that making and STEM are relevant to their lives. For university student facilitators, the project will investigate impacts including broadened technical skills, increased leadership and 21st century skills, and increased lifelong interest in STEM outreach/informal science education. Multiple sources of data will be used to research the expanded Mobile Making program's impact on youth and undergraduate participants, compare implementation sites, and understand the program's efficacy when across different communities with diverse learner populations. A mixed methods approach that leverages extant data (attendance numbers, student artifacts), surveys, focus groups, making session feedback forms, observations, and field notes will together be used to assess youth and university student participant outcomes. The project will disaggregate data based on gender, race/ethnicity, grade level, and site to understand the Mobile Making program's impact on youth participants at multiple levels across contexts. The project will further compare findings from different types of implementation sites (e.g., school vs. library), learner groups, (e.g., middle vs. upper elementary students), and facilitator groups (e.g., STEM majors vs. future teachers). This will enable the project to conduct cross-case comparisons between CSU campuses. Project research will also compare findings from urban and rural school sites as well as based on the modality of teaching and learning (e.g., in-person vs. online). The mobile making program activities, project research, and a toolkit for implementing a Mobile maker program will be widely disseminated to researchers, educators, and out-of-school programs. 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 environmentsThis 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.