Empowering Youth in STEM and Technological Careers through AI-Enhanced Sustainable and Community-Focused Urban Gardening

这个开发和测试创新（DTI）项目将通过安装被称为恢复性花园的自动化城市园艺机器人，吸引马萨诸塞州和路易斯安那州历史上被排斥群体的高中青年，让他们跨学科地学习计算科学、人工智能、工程和植物科学。这些花园提供了一个将传统园艺和21世纪技术技能结合起来的机会，同时通过支持年轻人使用新兴技术来解决粮食安全等关键问题，促进社区参与。该项目采用解放式社区设计和研究方法，涉及青年参与性行动研究，其中年轻人通过在当地社区建造和规划恢复性花园，利用研究方法理解和解决社区粮食不安全的社会问题。这些菜园将成为一个桥梁，青年、社区和年轻人可以聚集在一起，学习和分享如何利用新兴技术支持和推进城市农业的改进。职业发展部分以近同行指导为特色，吸引年轻人探索广泛的相关STEM职业机会。该项目提供了一种急需的方法，以支持青年在农业和计算领域（而不是特定领域）考察职业，这对开始职业探索的青年很有价值。该项目的成果将揭示有关如何整合恢复性园艺，近同伴指导和青年参与性行动研究以提高青年STEM自我效能并重新吸引选择退出STEM职业道路的青年的宝贵见解。该项目由“面向学生和教师的创新技术体验”（ITEST）项目资助，该项目支持有助于提高学生对科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）以及信息和通信技术（ICT）职业的知识和兴趣的实践、项目要素、背景和过程的理解。该项目也通过CS for All: Research and RPPs计划获得资助。研究人员将使用解放式社区设计和研究（ECDR）框架，在该框架中，青年和社区成员的声音是项目实施的核心。他们将确定恢复性花园的地点，与当地社区就花园中应该种植什么进行分享和研究，制定与社区分享园艺知识的策略，并就恢复性花园的基础技术领导社区研讨会。本项目以以下研究问题为指导：(1)参与恢复性花园项目（和同伴辅导）如何影响青年追求和留在STEM职业领域的愿望和自我效能感？(2)参与恢复性花园项目如何影响青少年对STEM（编码和人工智能）概念和系统思维技能的理解？(3)参与本项目对青年的地方认同和STEM认同有何影响？(3)(a)参与关于恢复性园艺的青年参与性行动研究如何有助于青年对环境责任、粮食主权和全球公民的观念？研究和评估将采用混合方法来调查该项目对青年STEM学习、身份和职业抱负的影响，并支持他们对地方身份、环境责任、粮食主权和全球公民身份的概念化。180名青少年将被跟踪一段时间，以评估该项目的哪些方面对他们的成功和STEM身份至关重要。这些信息将用于更好地了解如何将参与项目的年轻人强大的指导网络融合和融合，以培养年轻人的STEM职业意识和适应能力。项目交付成果包括配备自动化城市园艺机器人的恢复性花园；记录研究成果和通过项目制定的最佳做法的报告和出版物；可被其他组织改编和使用的近同伴指导资源和工具；向青少年提供有关新兴科技的教材；以及由青年创作的内容，如照片声音故事，展示项目对参与的青年及其社区的影响。项目结果将通过学术会议和出版物、社区活动和当地媒体传播。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。

This Developing and Testing Innovations (DTI) project will engage high school youth from historically excluded groups in Massachusetts and Louisiana in transdisciplinary learning of computational science, artificial intelligence, engineering, and plant science through the installation of automated urban gardening robots called restorative gardens. These gardens offer an opportunity to bridge traditional gardening and 21st-century technological skills while fostering community engagement by supporting youth in using emerging technologies to address critical issues such as food security. Drawing upon an emancipatory community design and research approach, the program involves youth participatory action research in which young people use research methods to make sense of and address social problems of community food insecurity by building and programming restorative gardens in their local communities. These gardens will serve as a bridge where youth, community, and younger peers can come together to learn and share how emerging technologies can be used to support and advance improvements in urban farming. The career development component features near-peer mentoring to engage youth in exploring a wide array of related STEM career opportunities. This project offers a much-needed approach to support youth in examining careers across fields of agriculture and computation, rather than a specific field, which is valuable for youth who are beginning their career explorations. The outcomes of this project will reveal valuable insights regarding how to integrate restorative gardening, near-peer mentoring, and youth participatory action research to increase youth STEM self-efficacy and re-engage youth who are opting out of STEM career paths. 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 students' knowledge and interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and information and communication technology (ICT) careers. This project is also funded through the CS for All: Research and RPPs program. Researchers will use an emancipatory community design and research (ECDR) framework in which youth and community member voices are central to the project's implementation. They will identify locations for restorative gardens, share and conduct research with the local community on what should be grown in the gardens, establish strategies for sharing knowledge about gardening to and from the community, and lead community workshops on the underlying technologies of restorative gardens. The project is guided by the following research questions: (1) How does participating in the restorative garden project (and peer mentoring) impact youth's desire and self-efficacy to pursue and stay in STEM career fields? (2) How does participating in the restorative garden project impact youth's understanding of STEM (coding and AI) concepts and systems thinking skills? (3) How does participating in this project impact youth's place identity and STEM identity? (3)(a) How does participating in youth participatory action research around restorative gardening contribute to youth's ideas of environmental responsibility, food sovereignty, and global citizenship? The research and evaluation will employ a mixed-methods approach to investigate the project's impact on youth's STEM learning, identity, and career aspirations, as well as support their conceptualization of place identity, environmental responsibility, food sovereignty, and global citizenship. One hundred and eighty youth will be tracked over time to evaluate what aspects of the program are critical to their success and STEM identity. This information will be used to better understand how to blend and mesh the robust mentoring network of young people participating in the project, with the goal of developing youth's STEM career awarenesss and adaptability. Project deliverables include restorative gardens equipped with automated urban gardening robots; reports and publications documenting the research findings and best practices developed through the project; near-peer mentoring resources and tools that could be adapted and used by other organizations; educational materials to teach youth about emerging technologies; and youth-generated content such as photovoice stories that showcase the impact of the project on the participating youth and their communities. Project findings will be disseminated through academic conferences and publications, community events, and local media outlets.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.