GSE-RES: Gender Research on Adult-child Discussion in Informal Engineering eNvironmenTs (GRADIENT)

智力价值：明尼苏达州科学博物馆和普渡大学的P-12工程研究与学习研究所正在进行一项校外研究，旨在探索4至11岁儿童在工程兴趣和理解力发展方面的性别差异。在研究期间，研究人员将仔细检查三个具体的非正式环境：父母和孩子可以参与以工程为重点的活动的学前项目，面向小学生及其家长的面向家庭的工程活动，以及科学博物馆内的工程展览。这些环境都具有高度的亲子互动，是由于工程教育研究的一个新趋势，认为父母在女孩关于工程职业的决定中发挥着关键作用，所以故意选择了这些环境。该项目将检查工程实践(例如迭代设计、构建和测试周期)如何影响兴趣和理解的发展。这项研究的重点是研究中学前关键年龄段的儿童，当时女孩对工程学的兴趣明显低于男孩。广泛影响：调查女孩早期对工程学的兴趣和理解的过程，对于解决女性在工程学领域长期代表性不足的问题至关重要。非正式的学习经历，如家里的互动、参观博物馆和其他日常接触，代表了一系列丰富的环境，用于培养工程兴趣，但很少有人研究过这些环境。该项目将通过传统的学术渠道以及为非正式科学教育工作者举办的家长和实践者讲习班分享研究成果，这些讲习班传播让女孩从小从事工程工作的有用做法和技术。此外，明尼苏达州科学博物馆和普渡大学之间的合作伙伴关系为后续专注于研究非正式工程教育的合作项目奠定了坚实的基础。该项目有可能对女孩开始培养对工程的终身兴趣的方式产生重大影响，这最终可能会鼓励更多的女性在未来从事工程职业。

Intellectual Merit: The Science Museum of Minnesota and Purdue University's Institute for P-12 Engineering Research and Learning are conducting a study within out-of-school contexts that will explore gender differences in the development of engineering interest and understanding in children between the ages of 4 and 11. During the study, the researchers will closely examine three specific informal environments: a pre-school program where parents and children can engage with engineering focused activity, a family-oriented engineering event for elementary students and their parents, and an engineering exhibit within a science museum. These settings, each featuring a high level of parent-child interaction, have been intentionally chosen due to an emerging trend in engineering education research that identifies the parent as playing a crucial role in girls' decisions regarding engineering careers. The project will examine the ways in which engineering practices (such as the iterative design, build, and test cycle) impact the development of interest and understanding. The study focuses on studying children during the critical years before middle school, when girls have been shown to have significantly lower levels of interest in engineering than boys.Broader Impacts: Investigating the processes by which girls develop early interest and understanding in engineering is essential to addressing the persistent underrepresentation of women in engineering fields. Informal learning experiences, such as interactions in the home, visits to museums, and other everyday encounters, represent a rich array of settings for the development of engineering interest that have been minimally researched. The project will share results from the study through traditional academic channels, and also through parent and practitioner workshops for informal science educators that disseminate useful practices and techniques for engaging girls in engineering at a young age. In addition, the partnership between the Science Museum of Minnesota and Purdue University creates a strong foundation for subsequent collaborative projects focused on researching informal engineering education. The project has the potential to significantly impact the ways in which girls begin to cultivate a lifelong interest in engineering, which may ultimately encourage more women to pursue engineering careers in the future.