Conference: Broadening Participation in an Astrosociology Curriculum

会议：扩大天体社会学课程的参与

• 批准号: 2320886
• 负责人: Gerhard Sonnert
• 金额: $ 5万
• 依托单位: Harvard University
• 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: 2023-10-01 至 2024-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2320886&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Conference; Broadening; Participation; Astrosociology; Curriculum

This project aims to serve the national interest by organizing a conference on broadening participation in an astrosociology curriculum and by producing a White Book of the findings, as part of the NSF IUSE: EDU Engaged Student Learning Track, Level 1. At the dawn of a second Golden Age of space exploration in which humanity is poised to interact with the cosmos in varied and novel ways (e.g., Moon and Mars missions, space tourism, asteroid mining, satellites with enhanced capabilities), space exploration is a fast-growing scientific, technological, and economic sector in U.S. society, creating the need for a rapidly expanding skilled and knowledgeable workforce of a variety of backgrounds. The technical and astronomical challenges of these endeavors will be daunting, but so will the host of social and moral issues raised by them. Awareness of these issues is crucial for both future professionals in astronomy and space exploration and the citizenry as a whole. On the one hand, young people from diverse underserved backgrounds will benefit from developing a critical understanding of space-related issues that might affect them and their communities. On the other, the curriculum is intended to facilitate their entry into this sector of the workforce, which could enable it to become more diverse and inclusive. Moreover, the curriculum focuses on helping students of all majors understand the complex interrelationship between society and astronomy and space exploration, while honing their general skills in thinking rationally through unusual scenarios. The benefits of this practice will extend beyond the course and are intended to positively impact students’ lives. There is a dearth of astronomy courses that systematically integrate the humanities and social sciences, and this conference lays the groundwork for propagating such a curriculum throughout higher education.Recruited with the help of the Quality Education for Minorities Network, participants in this online conference will be educational professionals from all corners of the American higher education landscape. The conference will cover three major topics: (1) an introduction to astrosociology and the astrosociology curriculum; (2) how to infuse the curriculum with diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility for diverse communities; and (3) the support faculty would need or want to successfully adopt the curriculum. This endeavor has the advantage of building on an existing unique course at Harvard University, which has already demonstrated its feasibility. But to implement the curriculum more widely across American institutions of higher education, a necessary first step is to examine, through this conference, how the curriculum may optimally function in a wide variety of institutional environments when designed with diverse students’ experiences at the core, and how it might be further revised to increase its relevance to multiple communities, especially those traditionally underrepresented in science pursuits. In the long run, the goal is a national scale-up of the curriculum in all different institutional types of higher education. The NSF IUSE: EDU Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students.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.

该项目旨在为国家利益服务，组织一次关于扩大参与天体社会学课程的会议，并制作一本关于调查结果的白色书，作为NSF IUSE：EDU学生学习轨道1级的一部分。在太空探索的第二个黄金时代即将到来之际，人类正准备以各种新颖的方式与宇宙互动（例如，月球和火星任务，太空旅游，小行星采矿，具有增强功能的卫星），太空探索是美国社会中快速增长的科学，技术和经济部门，需要迅速扩大各种背景的熟练和知识渊博的劳动力。这些努力的技术和天文挑战将是令人生畏的，但由此引发的社会和道德问题也将是如此。对这些问题的认识对于未来的天文学和空间探索专业人员以及整个公民都至关重要。一方面，来自各种服务不足背景的年轻人将受益于对可能影响他们及其社区的空间相关问题的批判性理解。另一方面，课程旨在促进他们进入这一劳动力部门，使其更加多样化和包容。此外，该课程的重点是帮助所有专业的学生了解社会与天文学和太空探索之间的复杂相互关系，同时通过不寻常的场景磨练他们理性思考的一般技能。这种做法的好处将延伸到课程之外，旨在积极影响学生的生活。目前还缺乏系统地整合人文和社会科学的天文学课程，本次会议为在整个高等教育中推广这样的课程奠定了基础。在少数民族优质教育网络的帮助下，本次在线会议的参与者将是来自美国高等教育领域各个角落的教育专业人士。会议将涵盖三个主要议题：（1）介绍天体社会学和天体社会学课程;（2）如何为不同社区注入多样性，公平性，包容性和可访问性的课程;（3）支持教师需要或想要成功地采用课程。这一奋进的优势是建立在哈佛大学现有的独特课程基础上，该课程已经证明了其可行性。但是，为了在美国高等教育机构中更广泛地实施该课程，必要的第一步是通过这次会议研究，当以不同学生的经验为核心设计时，该课程如何在各种各样的机构环境中发挥最佳作用，以及如何进一步修改以增加其与多个社区的相关性，特别是那些传统上在科学追求中代表性不足的社区。从长远来看，目标是在全国范围内扩大所有不同类型高等教育机构的课程。NSF IUSE：EDU计划支持研究和开发项目，以提高所有学生的STEM教育的有效性。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。