(EAGER) Transforming STEM For Women and Girls: Reworking Stereotypes & Bias

智力优势：达特茅斯学院提出了一个探索性项目，旨在提供可测试的概念证明活动，制定一些实用的方法，通过游戏为STEM领域的女孩创造一个鼓励的环境。这些活动将考虑到家庭、学校、社区和同龄群体的背景。研究人员假设，精心设计的游戏活动可能会打破人们对女性在STEM领域能力的负面刻板印象。通过培养和支持女孩对自己在STEM领域的能力的信心，她们可能会更有动力对STEM领域产生兴趣。使用Critical Play的理论框架，在设计过程中反映了要集成到工件设计中的价值，并通过基于设计的研究（design - based Research）提供信息，项目团队将通过迭代和测试解决这些问题的新方法来解决研究问题。拟议中的项目探索、原型化、迭代和评估旨在将性别和STEM领域的研究成果与女孩自身环境联系起来的互动体验。研究团队建议制作10款游戏的原型，目标是最终完成4款游戏的制作。还没有人使用游戏平台来探索减轻偏见和刻板印象，这是一种挑战社会规范的新方法，这些规范已被证明会降低女孩对STEM的兴趣。更广泛的影响：最近发布的一份AAUW报告指出，最近的研究发现，确定了女性在STEM领域代表性不足的社会和环境因素。许多研究指出，如果特定的社会和文化方面得到改善，女孩可能会在STEM领域取得进一步的成功。小型游戏活动是更广泛的讨论、社会互动和合作的有力载体，为STEM探索提供了成熟的平台。发现一套设计原则，促进与STEM领域感知相关的社会和环境因素的变化，有望为该领域提供非凡的概念证明。这项研究的成功完成具有巨大的潜力，可以证明利用游戏打破性别刻板印象的概念。有些障碍可以通过精心设计的协作游戏活动来改变，这些活动可以吸引和激发问题。

Intellectual Merit: Dartmouth College proposes an exploratory project meant to offer testable proof of concept activities that enact some practical approaches to create an environment of encouragement for girls in STEM through games. The activities will take into account the context of families, schools, communities, and peer groups. The researchers hypothesize that well-designed game activities may disrupt negative stereotypes about women's capabilities in STEM fields. Through fostering and supporting girls' confidence in their abilities in STEM, they may be more motivated to become interested in STEM fields. Using the theoretical frameworks of Critical Play, where the design process mirrors the values to be integrated into the design of the artifact, and informed by Design-Based Research, the project team will address the research questions by iterating and testing novel approaches to these issues. The proposed project explores, prototypes, iterates, and assesses interactive experiences designed to connect research findings in gender and STEM areas to girls in their own contexts. The research team proposes to prototype 10 games with the goal to finalize 4 for production. No one has yet used a game platform to explore mitigating bias and stereotypes, and this is a new approach to challenging social norms that have been shown to decrease girls' interest in STEM. Broader Impact: A recently released AAUW report points to recent research findings that identify the social and environmental factors in the underrepresentation of women in STEM areas. Much research has pointed to the specific ways in which girls might further succeed in STEM areas if particular social and cultural aspects were to improve. Small game activities are a powerful vehicle for a much broader discussion, social interaction, and collaboration, and offer a ripe platform for STEM exploration. Discovering a set of design principles that foster change with the social and environmental factors involved in the perception of STEM fields promises an extraordinary proof-of concept contribution to the field. The successful completion of this research has great potential to show proof of concept in the disruption of gender stereotypes using games. Some of these barriers might be changed through well-designed, collaborative game activities that can engage and energize the issues.