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

通过人工智能增强的可持续和以社区为中心的城市园艺，赋予年轻人 STEM 和技术职业的能力

• 批准号: 2241766
• 负责人: George Barnett
• 金额: $ 129.93万
• 依托单位: Boston College
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-06-01 至 2026-05-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2241766&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Empowering; Youth; STEM; Technological; Careers

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.

这个开发和测试创新（DTI）项目将吸引来自马萨诸塞州和路易斯安那州历史上被排斥的群体的高中青年，通过安装称为恢复性花园的自动化城市园艺机器人，进行计算科学，人工智能，工程和植物科学的跨学科学习。这些花园提供了一个机会，将传统园艺和21世纪的技术技能联系起来，同时通过支持青年使用新兴技术来解决粮食安全等关键问题，促进社区参与。借鉴解放社区的设计和研究方法，该方案涉及青年参与行动研究，其中青年人使用研究方法，通过在当地社区建立和规划恢复性花园，了解和解决社区粮食不安全的社会问题。这些花园将成为一座桥梁，青年、社区和年轻的同龄人可以聚集在一起，学习和分享如何利用新兴技术来支持和促进城市农业的改善。职业发展部分的特点是近同行辅导，让青年探索各种相关的STEM职业机会。该项目提供了一种急需的方法，以支持青年研究农业和计算领域的职业，而不是一个特定的领域，这对正在开始职业探索的青年来说是有价值的。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行动研究的宝贵见解，以提高青年STEM自我效能，并重新吸引那些选择STEM职业道路的青年。 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、背景和流程的理解的项目，有助于增加学生对科学、技术、工程和数学的知识和兴趣（STEM）以及信息和通信技术（ICT）职业。该项目还通过CS for All：Research and RPPs计划获得资助。研究人员将使用解放社区设计和研究（ECDR）框架，其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位置，与当地社区分享和研究应该在花园中种植什么，制定与社区分享园艺知识的战略，并领导关于恢复性花园基本技术的社区研讨会。该项目由以下研究问题指导：（1）参与恢复性花园项目（和同伴指导）如何影响年轻人追求和留在STEM职业领域的愿望和自我效能？(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)参与这个项目如何影响青年的地方认同和STEM认同？（3）（a）参与有关恢复性园艺的青年参与性行动研究如何有助于青年的环境责任、粮食主权和全球公民意识？研究和评估将采用混合方法，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。将对180名青年进行跟踪，以评估该计划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融合和融合参与该项目的年轻人的强大辅导网络，目标是培养年轻人的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;记录通过该项目开发的研究成果和最佳做法的报告和出版物;可供其他组织调整和使用的近同行指导资源和工具;向青年传授新兴技术的教育材料;以及由青年制作的内容，如照片之声故事，展示项目对参与的青年及其社区的影响。 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。