Iterative Improvement of a Program for Building Inclusive, Diverse, Equitable, Accessible Large-scale (IDEAL) Participatory Science Projects

迭代改进建立包容、多样化、公平、可访问的大型（IDEAL）参与性科学项目的计划

• 批准号: 2313996
• 负责人: Caren Cooper
• 金额: $ 199.94万
• 依托单位: North Carolina State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2024
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2024-01-01 至 2027-12-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2313996&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Iterative; Improvement; Program; Building; Inclusive

Many scientific inquiries require the participation of thousands of people across multiple locations to share their observations and local knowledge which together yield discoveries that are otherwise unobtainable. These large-scale public participation in scientific research (PPSR) projects also provide an important opportunity for public engagement in science. However, PPSR projects share a common challenge: public participants tend to be demographically homogeneous (white, wealthy, and highly educated), which limits informal science learning opportunities and produces gaps in the scientific data in terms of race, ability and lived experience. In this project, researchers and practitioners of two national participatory science projects will beta-test a professional development program called Inclusive, Diverse, Equitable, Accessible, Large-scale (IDEAL) participatory science. The program was co-created with practitioners and students who are people of color and/or immigrants, representing a range of gender identities and sexual orientations and neurodivergent individuals alongside facilitators that specialize in helping STEM professionals address social inequities. The IDEAL program supports practitioners in developing self-awareness, readiness, agency, and resources to modify their projects with practices that support belonging, equity, and accessibility. The project will iteratively test the IDEAL program and study whether it can impact practitioners' subsequent behaviors to change project structures to engage an audience of groups of the public that have been historically excluded (e.g., people of color, people with disabilities) from large-scale participatory science projects. This work is led by a partnership of researchers and practitioners from North Carolina State University, Shaw University (an HBCU), Arizona State University (a Hispanic-Serving Institution), and two nation-wide public participation in scientific research projects, Audubon’s Christmas Bird Count (CBC) and Colorado State University’s Community Collaborative Rain, Hail, and Snow Network (CoCoRaHS), and guided by team members and advisors with expertise in diversity, equity, access, and inclusion and racially, ethnically, gender and disability diverse lived experiences.Over a three-year period, this project will provide, iterate, and test the impact of IDEAL practices with approximately 180 practitioners whose implementation will reach approximately 6,000 public participants. The research will result in evidence-based professional development to support practices for diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion in the informal learning context of large-scale participatory sciences. The research will examine self-awareness, readiness, agency, and implementation of new practices by practitioners who beta test the IDEAL program. The team will conduct document analyses of the practitioner products and discourse analysis among the communities of practice supported through the IDEAL program. These methods will be used to detail evidence of IDEAL constructs (e.g., do they describe inclusion or assimilation?), derived constructs related to intended practitioner outcomes (self-awareness, readiness, and agency), and additional emergent themes using content analysis. Retrospective self-reported outcomes will explore practitioner attributions to the IDEAL training, and quantitative comparisons will help the team begin to understand aspects that differ among identity groups. To determine the impacts of the training on broadening participation among PPSR participants, the team will create three comparison groups: IDEAL sites with implementation financial support, IDEAL sites without implementation financial support, and sites without any practitioners trained with the IDEAL Program. Using pre/post surveys across approximately 1,200 public participants, the team will be able to gauge the impact of the IDEAL program on diversity of participant identity groups, participants' sense of belonging to the project, and participants' self-efficacy for science learning and doing. The evidence-based program will be shared widely on freely accessible blogs, websites, and resource centers. Research findings will be disseminated through peer-reviewed journal articles and through public media outlets such as podcasts and a bilingual radio show.This Integrating Research and Practice 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.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.

许多科学调查需要来自多个地点的数千人参与，分享他们的观察结果和当地知识，共同产生否则无法获得的发现。这些大规模的公众参与科学研究项目也为公众参与科学提供了重要机会。然而，PPSR项目面临着一个共同的挑战：公众参与者往往是人口统计学上的同质化（白色，富裕，受过高等教育），这限制了非正式的科学学习机会，并在种族，能力和生活经验方面产生了科学数据的差距。在这个项目中，两个国家参与性科学项目的研究人员和从业人员将测试一个名为包容、多样、公平、可扩展、大规模（IDEAL）参与性科学的专业发展计划。该计划是与从业者和学生谁是有色人种和/或移民，代表了一系列的性别身份和性取向和神经分歧的个人一起促进者，专门帮助干专业人士解决社会不平等问题共同创建的。IDEAL计划支持从业者发展自我意识，准备，机构和资源，以修改他们的项目与实践，支持归属，公平和可访问性。该项目将反复测试IDEAL计划，并研究它是否可以影响从业者的后续行为，以改变项目结构，吸引历史上被排除在外的公众群体（例如，有色人种，残疾人）从大规模的参与性科学项目。这项工作是由来自北卡罗来纳州州立大学、肖大学（HBCU）、亚利桑那州州立大学的研究人员和从业人员合作领导的（一个西班牙裔服务机构），以及两个全国性的公众参与科学研究项目，奥杜邦的圣诞鸟计数（CBC）和科罗拉多州立大学的社区合作雨，冰雹和雪网络（CoCoRaHS），并由团队成员和顾问指导，他们在多样性，公平，准入和包容以及种族，民族，性别和残疾多样性生活经验方面具有专业知识。在三年的时间里，该项目将提供，并与约180名从业人员一起测试IDEAL实践的影响，其实施将达到约6，000名公众参与者。该研究将导致基于证据的专业发展，以支持在大规模参与性科学的非正式学习环境中的多样性，公平性，可访问性和包容性的做法。该研究将检查自我意识，准备，代理，并由从业者谁beta测试IDEAL程序的新做法的实施。该团队将对从业者产品进行文档分析，并在IDEAL计划支持的实践社区中进行话语分析。这些方法将用于详细说明IDEAL结构的证据（例如，他们描述的是包容还是同化？）与预期的从业者结果（自我意识，准备和代理）相关的衍生结构，以及使用内容分析的其他新兴主题。回顾性自我报告的结果将探索从业者归因于理想的培训，定量比较将帮助团队开始了解不同的身份群体之间的方面。为了确定培训对扩大PPSR参与者参与的影响，该团队将创建三个比较组：有实施财政支持的IDEAL网站，没有实施财政支持的IDEAL网站，以及没有接受过IDEAL计划培训的任何从业人员的网站。通过对大约1，200名公众参与者进行前/后调查，该团队将能够评估IDEAL计划对参与者身份群体多样性的影响，参与者对项目的归属感，以及参与者对科学学习和实践的自我效能感。这个基于证据的项目将在免费访问的博客、网站和资源中心广泛分享。研究成果将通过同行评议的期刊文章以及播客和双语广播节目等公共媒体渠道传播。该研究与实践整合项目由推进非正式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中的公平和归属感方面的作用;（B）促进STEM领域的个人和教育成功;（c）推动公众参与科学发现;（d）培养对STEM职业的兴趣;（e）为有效的非正式STEM学习创建和加强理论和经验基础;（f）提高社区活力;和/或（g）加强科学传播和公众对STEM和STEM过程的参与和理解。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。