"Collaborative Research: Studying Science Curiosity and Computational Thinking in an eTextile Upward Bound Curriculum"

该项目将研究并迭代改进以青年为中心的30小时暑期学校课程的设计，该课程将使高中学生参与制作电子纺织品（即，可穿戴技术）。该研究建立在现有课程（STEAM-Maker）的基础上，该课程在试点时显示出提高参与者计算思维的潜力。除了研究修订后的课程对计算思维的影响外，目前的项目还将评估课程对以下方面的影响：科学好奇心;对科学，技术和工程的亲和力;青少年作为计算专业人员的自我认知;以及增加对STEM相关职业和追求的知识和/或兴趣。这项工作将巩固在两个州与青年服务组织“向上发展”的研究-实践伙伴关系。该项目将在宾夕法尼亚州和密歇根州的Upward Bound夏令营中与60名青年合作，并雇用参与可穿戴技术行业的计算机科学和工程专业毕业生（例如，生物医学设备，健身追踪器，机器人技术和智能织物）作为近同行导师在计划期间。招募导师是为了挑战关于谁能创造技术的典型定型观念，并将接受反种族主义和基于公平的导师做法方面的培训。该项目将制作一个精致的课程，将与高中夏令营提供者分享，旨在扩大黑人和西班牙裔/拉丁裔青年对STEAM-Maker的参与。 该研究将支持围绕好奇心，计算思维，STEM职业兴趣和科学好奇心之间联系的进一步理论化。数据将包括青少年参与活动的视频;学习者的文物;科学好奇心，STEM职业兴趣和计算思维的验证调查;以及项目后参与制作的调查。分析包括人工制品的定性编码，青年参与，学习和创新的微观人种学分析，以及定量数据的统计分析，包括影响调查（使用位置，性别和种族/民族作为变量）。该项目的智力价值在于开发设计原则，以鼓励科学好奇心，职业兴趣和以青年为中心的制作体验中的计算思维。该项目由学生和教师创新技术体验（ITEST）计划资助，该计划支持建立对实践，计划要素，背景和过程的理解的项目，有助于增加年轻人对科学，技术，工程和数学（STEM）以及信息和通信技术（ICT）职业的知识和兴趣。该项目由CS for All：Research and RPPs计划共同资助。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。

This project will examine and iteratively improve the design of a youth-centered 30-hour summer school curriculum that will engage high school students in making e-textiles (i.e., wearable technologies). The research builds on an existing curriculum (STEAM-Maker) that, when piloted, showed a promising capacity to improve participants' computational thinking. In addition to studying the impact of the revised curriculum on computational thinking, the current project will assess the curriculum’s impact on: science curiosity; affinity for science, technology, and engineering; youths' self-perceptions as computational professionals; and increased knowledge of and/or interest in STEM-related careers and pursuits. This work will solidify a research-practice partnership in two states with the youth-serving organization, Upward Bound. The project will work with 60 youth in Upward Bound summer camps in Pennsylvania and Michigan, and employ computer science and engineering graduates involved in wearable technology industries (e.g., biomedical devices, fitness trackers, robotics, and smart fabrics) as near-peer mentors during the program. The mentors have been recruited to challenge typical stereotypes about who can create technology, and will be trained in anti-racist and equity-based mentorship practices. The project will produce a refined curriculum which will be shared with high school summer camp providers, with the intent to broaden participation of Black and Hispanic/Latinx youth in STEAM-Maker camps.The research will support further theorization around the linkages between curiosity, computational thinking, STEM career interest, and science curiosity. Data will include video of youths' engagement with activities; learners' artifacts; validated surveys of science curiosity, STEM career interest, and computational thinking; and surveys of post-program engagement with making. Analysis includes qualitative coding of artifacts, micro-ethnographic analysis of youth engagement, learning and innovation, and statistical analysis of quantitative data including affect surveys (using location, gender, and race/ethnicity as variables). The intellectual merit of the project rests in the development of design principles for encouraging science curiosity, career interest, and computational thinking in youth-centered making experiences. This project is funded by the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program, which supports projects that build understandings of practices, program elements, contexts and processes contributing to increasing youths' knowledge and interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and information and communication technology (ICT) careers. This project is co-funded by the CS for All: Research and RPPs program.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.