Understanding the Impact of Outdoor Science and Environmental Learning Experiences Through Community-Driven Outcomes

科学和环境素养是与学术学习、职业道路以及更广泛地参与科学和环境领域和事业有关的宝贵成果。然而，虽然目前测量这些概念的工具对于衡量影响的某些维度是有用的，但它们与主流观点一致，这些观点可能会边缘化、排斥和抹去有色人种社区的知识和专业知识。该项目将采用社区驱动的过程，以有色人种社区的声音为中心，确定有意义和相关的成果，并开发研究工具来衡量科学和环境素养。然后，我们将进行一项全国性的研究，以衡量户外科学和环境学习（OSEL）经验对学生科学和环境素养的影响。这项研究将有助于对种族和文化如何影响学习的新理解，以及种族主义和偏见如何影响迄今为止的研究。该项目将产生一套由有色人种社区驱动的心理测量学测试工具，提高该领域衡量学习成果的能力，同时也迈出了一步，以抵消研究中长期被边缘化的历史。这项工作将有助于现有的关于户外学习的好处和户外活动经验在发展科学和环境素养方面可以发挥的作用的文献。这项研究将在三个阶段探讨四个问题。第一阶段（定义结果）将探讨：(1)科学素养和环境素养对有色人种社区意味着什么？(2)从事户外科学学习体验的有色人种青年最有意义的结果是什么，如何衡量这些结果？社区研究网络（CRN）由青年、教育工作者、领导者和OSEL合作组织的社区成员组成，将参与创意产生、数据收集和意义表达的迭代过程，以阐明和共同制定一套结果衡量标准。这些措施将在服务于不同社区的不同组织中试行，并将产生最终的项目和比额表。第二阶段（衡量影响）将探讨：(3)OSEL项目以何种方式影响青年，特别是有色人种青年的科学和环境成果？(4)有色人种青年如何理解这些经历？第二阶段将包括一项定量研究，使用第一阶段开发的工具，在全国各地的OSEL项目中进行，同时也试图通过在选定的案例地点进行重点学生案例研究的方法，了解有色人种青年如何从这些经历中获得意义。最后，在第三阶段，研究团队和CRN将合作与该领域分享研究成果，包括通过一个概念框架，阐明OSEL组织内部和邻近组织的成果和结构，使青年能够茁壮成长。基于OSEL的研究和实践都加剧了有色人种的压迫和边缘化，这个项目的目标是，我们以社区为导向的方法和我们创造的新的社区驱动措施将推动研究人员和从业者努力解决在研究和实践中走向更公正和公平的做法意味着什么。该整合研究与实践项目由推进非正式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。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。

Scientific and environmental literacy are valuable outcomes linked to academic learning, career pathways, and broader engagement in science and environmental fields and causes. However, while current tools for measuring these concepts are useful for measuring some dimensions of impact, they are aligned with dominant views that can marginalize, exclude, and erase the knowledge and expertise of communities of color. This project will employ a community-driven process, centering the voices of communities of color, to identify meaningful and relevant outcomes and develop research tools to measure scientific and environmental literacy. We will then conduct a national study to measure the impact of outdoor science and environmental learning (OSEL) experiences on students' scientific and environmental literacy. This study will contribute new understandings of how race and culture influence learning, as well as how racism and biases have shaped research to date. This project will produce a suite of psychometrically tested tools that are driven by communities of color, improving the field's ability to measure learning outcomes while also taking one step to counteract a long history of marginalization in research. The work will contribute to existing bodies of literature on the benefits of outdoor learning and the role OSEL experiences can play in developing science and environmental literacy. The research will explore four questions across three phases. Phase 1 (Defining Outcomes) will explore: (1) What do scientific literacy and environmental literacy mean to communities of color? and (2) What outcomes are most meaningful for youth of color who engage in outdoor science learning experiences, and how can they be measured? A Community Research Network (CRN) composed of youth, educators, leaders, and community members of partnering OSEL organizations will engage in an iterative process of idea generation, data collection, and sensemaking to articulate and co-develop a set of outcome measures. These measures will be piloted with heterogeneous organizations serving diverse communities and will result in finalized items and scales. In Phase 2 (Measuring Impact) will explore: (3) In what ways do OSEL programs influence scientific and environmental outcomes for youth, particularly youth of color? (4) How do youth of color make meaning of these experiences? Phase 2 will include a quantitative study, using the instruments developed in Phase 1, at OSEL programs across the country, while also seeking to understand how youth of color make meaning of these experiences through a focal student case study approach at selected case sites. Finally, in Phase 3, the research team and the CRN will collaborate to share findings with the field, including through a conceptual framework that articulates the outcomes and structures within and adjacent to OSEL organizations that enable youth to thrive. Built on the premise that both research and praxis in OSEL have reinforced the oppression and marginalization of people of color, this project holds the goal that our community-driven approach and our creation of new community-driven measures will push researchers and practitioners to grapple with what it means to move towards more just and equitable practices in research and practice. 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.