Co-Designing Media to Foster Joint Peer-to-Peer Engagement, Promote Engineering Learning, and Expand Reach to Young Children

非正式科学学习（ISL）中成功的点对点实践通常没有很好的定义，但进一步的调查有可能有助于揭示如何激励和支持儿童在科学和工程方面的联合学习。团队的仓鼠!是PBS KIDS互动数字系列节目，帮助青少年创造性地思考，并运用工程技能用日常工具解决问题，将被用来实现这个项目的目标。一个目标是研究如何有意地与来自不同经济背景的儿童共同设计工程媒体，以促进同龄人的参与和学习。可以对这些自然发生的点对点互动进行调查，以确定哪种方式最有可能促进科学和工程方面的学习。此外，该项目旨在为制片人如何共同创造媒体提供一个新的标准，以反映他们所服务的儿童的兴趣、习惯和生活经历。考虑到今天孩子们的媒体习惯，他们经常看视频，玩电子游戏，和他们的朋友和兄弟姐妹讨论策略和偏好，仓鼠队！facebook的3500万数字游戏玩家和5500万视频浏览量可以对服务对象的青少年产生重大影响。该项目采用参与式共同设计方法，合作者包括四组：青年、媒体设计师、青年发展专家和STEM专家。将进行一项影响研究，采用实验-控制/前-后-测试设计，大约120名儿童和他们的照顾者组成相等的小组。来自技术调查的数据将被分析，以创建青少年使用概况，重点是点对点的参与。研究将用于解决以下问题：1)哪种点对点联合媒体参与实践最有希望促进5至7岁不同、经济状况不佳的儿童的工程学习和探索，以及数字游戏和辅助视频的新设计特征如何促进这些实践？2)数字游戏和辅助视频的哪些设计特征最能促进基于媒体的、围绕工程学习和探索的点对点互动？3)通过这个项目开发的数字游戏在多大程度上促进了工程学习和探索？4)开发参与式共同设计过程的最佳实践是什么？既要在线上进行，也要面对面进行，以创造数字游戏功能为中心，并支持能够扩展数字工程游戏范围的视频？第5类“支持广泛公众参与STEM的研究”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)有助于研究和实践，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。该项目由“面向学生和教师的创新技术体验”（ITEST）项目共同资助，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、背景和流程的理解。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。

Successful peer-to-peer practices in informal science learning (ISL) are often not well defined, but further investigation has the potential to help uncover how to motivate and scaffold children's joint learning in science and engineering. Team Hamster!, a PBS KIDS interactive digital series that helps youth think creatively and use engineering skills to solve problems with everyday tools, will be used to achieve the goals of this project. One goal is to investigate how engineering media can be intentionally co-designed with children from diverse, economically disadvantaged backgrounds in order to foster peer-to-peer engagement and learning. These naturally occurring, peer-to-peer interactions could be investigated to determine which hold the most potential for fostering learning in science and engineering. Additionally, this project seeks to provide a new standard for how producers can co-create media that reflects the interests, habits, and lived experiences of the children they aim to serve. Given the media habits of today's children, who often view videos, play video games, and discuss strategies and preferences with their friends and siblings, Team Hamster!'s 35 million digital game plays and 55 million video views can have a significant reach and impact on the youth who are served. The project uses a participatory co-design approach with four groups of collaborators: youth, media designers, youth development experts, and STEM experts. There will be an impact study utilizing an experimental-control/pre-test-post-test design, with equal groups of approximately 120 children and their caregivers. Data from technology probes will be analyzed to create profiles of youth usage, with a focus on peer-to-peer engagement. Research will be used to address these questions: 1) What peer-to-peer joint media engagement practices are most promising for fostering engineering learning and exploration among diverse, economically disadvantaged 5 to 7 year-old children, and how might new design features of digital games and supporting videos promote these practices? 2) What design features of digital games and supporting videos best promote media-based peer-to-peer engagement around engineering learning and exploration? 3) To what extent do the digital games developed through this project foster engineering learning and exploration? 4) What are best practices for developing a participatory co-design process, occurring both online and in person, that is centered on the creation of digital game features and supporting videos that expand the reach of digital engineering games? This Type 5, Research in Support of Wide-reaching Public Engagement with STEM, 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. The project is co-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 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.