Acknowledging and Shifting the Dynamics of Power: Building Equitable Partnerships Among Informal STEM Learning Practitioners, Researchers, and Communities

长期以来，美国国家科学基金会（National Science Foundation），特别是STEM教育理事会（Directorate for STEM Education）一直在资助支持研究人员与从业者之间合作的工作，并促进研究成果的应用，以改善正式和非正式学习环境中的学习成果。流行和成功的方法包括开发在线存储库，帮助从业者访问、理解并将研究知识应用到他们的工作中。这些努力越来越多地涉及伙伴关系，需要[1]通过开放和好奇地相互了解来承认和驾驭边界，[2]跨越这些边界，因为有效的伙伴关系在这些交叉点上起作用，因为思想是交换和调解的。该项目将加强对从业者和研究人员如何能够和应该建立公平伙伴关系的理解，以支持在非正式学习环境中终身学习STEM。它还将研究“社区”如何与伙伴关系交叉，以及由研究人员和实践者组成的ISL伙伴关系可能有意和公平地参与的社区的不同层次或规模。这个两阶段的伙伴关系发展和规划项目由学习创新研究所和Pueblo Collab LLC（一个以社区为中心的咨询组织，专注于改变组织文化，与社区建立更好的关系）进行。该项目将侧重于在从业人员和研究人员之间建立公平的ISL伙伴关系的初始过程，通过参与围绕ISL工作中的公平和权力问题的共同思考练习。基于Ferrell及其同事的使命公平和过程公平，这些努力旨在在合作伙伴之间建立信任和共同理解，同时也要面对系统性的权力动态（以及他们在团队先前合作伙伴关系中的角色）。在第一阶段，核心项目成员将测试和改进流程，在扩大视野之前检查他们自己和彼此的实践。在第二阶段，将有更多的ISL和ISL相关的研究人员和从业人员参与。本文将使用共同构建的过程评估来审视以下几个观点：1)为ISL研究者-实践者关系中关于权力的自我反思和共同反思对话提供足够的时间和空间可以支持信任的发展。2)提供这样的时间和空间来参与这项工作是共同创建共享研究议程的核心。3)反复解决权力和信任问题对于创建健康、公平和持久的ISL研究人员-实践者伙伴关系至关重要。在这个项目结束时，团队将a)建立一个强大和扩展的伙伴关系；b)开发了一系列对话提示和练习，特别适用于在ISL背景下发展研究人员和从业人员之间的公平伙伴关系；c)考虑研究人员-从业人员伙伴关系如何与社区/公众受众互动；d)确定未来的项目理念，确保合作伙伴和相关社区的互惠互利。过程将通过一个共同撰写的博客系列广泛分享。该伙伴关系发展和规划项目由推进非正式STEM学习（AISL）计划资助，该计划支持以下项目：(a)促进研究和实践，考虑非正式STEM学习在STEM公平和归属方面的作用；(b)促进个人和教育在STEM方面的成功；(c)促进公众参与科学发现；(d)培养对STEM职业的兴趣；(e)为有效的非正式STEM学习创造和加强理论和经验基础；(f)改善社区活力；及/或(g)加强科学传播和公众对STEM和STEM过程的参与和理解。通过研究ISL领域的基础和有时有问题的实践，必须对这些实践进行审查，才能在该领域做出有意义的改变，该项目支持AISL扩大STEM参与的目标。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。

The National Science Foundation, particularly the Directorate for STEM Education, has long funded work to support collaborations between researchers and practitioners, and to promote the application of research to improve learning outcomes in formal and informal learning environments. Popular and successful approaches have included the development of online repositories that help practitioners access, understand, and apply research knowledge to their work. Increasingly, these efforts involve partnerships that require [1] acknowledging and navigating boundaries by being open and curious to learn about each other and [2] working across these boundaries since effective partnerships work at these intersections as ideas are exchanged and mediated. This project will enhance understanding of how practitioners and researchers can and should form equitable partnerships in service of supporting lifelong STEM learning in informal learning environments. It will also examine how "community" intersects with partnerships, and the different levels or scales of community with which an ISL partnership of researchers and practitioners may intentionally and equitably engage. This two-phase Partnership Development and Planning project is conducted by the Institute for Learning Innovation and Pueblo Collab LLC, a community-centered consulting organization focused on shifting organizational culture to build better relationships with communities. This project will focus on initial processes of building equitable ISL partnerships between practitioners and researchers by engaging in intentional exercises for co-thinking around issues of equity and power in ISL work. Grounded in Ferrell and colleagues' equity-in-mission and equity-in-process, these efforts are designed to build trust and shared understanding among partners while also confronting systemic power dynamics (and their roles in the team's prior partnerships). In Phase one, the core project members will test and refine the processes examining their own and each other's practices before widening the lens. In Phase two, an expanded group of ISL and ISL-adjacent researchers and practitioners will be engaged. Several claims will be scrutinized using co-constructed process evaluation: 1) Providing sufficient time and space for self-reflection and co-reflection conversations about power in ISL researcher-practitioner relationships can support the development of trust. 2) Providing such time and space to engage in this work is central to the co-creation of a shared research agenda. and 3) Iteratively addressing issues around power and trust is essential to creating a healthy, equitable, and lasting ISL researcher-practitioner partnership. By the end of this project the team will have a) created a strong and expanded partnership; b) developed a collection of conversation prompts and exercises specifically useful for developing equitable partnerships between researchers and practitioners in ISL contexts, c) considered how researcher-practitioner partnerships engage with the communities/public audiences, and d) identified future project ideas that ensure reciprocal benefits for the partners and communities involved. Processes will be shared broadly though a co-written blog series.This Partnership Development & Planning project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which supports projects that: (a) contribute to research and practice that considers informal STEM learning's role in equity and belonging in STEM; (b) promote personal and educational success in STEM; (c) advance public engagement in scientific discovery; (d) foster interest in STEM careers; (e) create and enhance the theoretical and empirical foundations for effective informal STEM learning; (f) improve community vibrancy; and/or (g) enhance science communication and the public's engagement in and understanding of STEM and STEM processes. By examining the foundational and sometimes problematic practices in the ISL field that must be interrogated to make meaningful change in this space, the project supports AISL's goal for broadening participation in STEM.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.