Collaborative Research, Pathways Project : Project SOS - Making Connections Using The Science Of Sustainability

这个路径项目将华盛顿州东部和爱达荷州北部农村、服务不足的青年和家庭与可持续建筑设计中重要的STEM概念联系起来。该项目是帕卢斯发现科学中心（Pullman， WA）、华盛顿州立大学和爱达荷大学与农村社区组织和企业合作开展的。可交付成果包括：1)互动展示原型活动，2)团队合作学习解决问题的挑战，以及(3)带回家的材料，鼓励参与者使用他们所学到的知识来研究如何使他们的家更节能和可持续。该项目向年轻人和家庭介绍了传统上困难的热能物理概念，特别是因为它与可持续建筑设计有关。参与者将探索如何使用建筑材料及其特性来控制所有三种类型的传热：传导、对流和辐射。互动展示原型与能源效率工程挑战相结合，参与者在合作学习团队中工作，利用从展示原型活动中获得的信息来改造样板房，提高其能源效率。项目的组成部分首先在帕卢斯发现科学中心进行试点，然后在爱达荷州北部和华盛顿州东部三个服务不足的农村/部落社区进行试点。前端和形成性评估研究将证明该模型是否促进了参与者对STEM主题和职业的理解和兴趣。该项目将提供关于其他ISE从业者如何有效地将合作学习策略纳入非正式环境的信息，以提高从展览中获得的知识对现实世界解决问题的挑战的可转移性，特别是对于农村和服务不足的受众。该项目还将为ISE领域提供：1)增加小型农村科学中心的能力，形成协作区域网络的模式，利用社区中以前未使用的资源，为他们所服务的代表性不足的人群提供更有效的外展服务；2)将合作学习与外展展览结合起来的模式，提供更丰富的积极参与经验。

This Pathways Project connects rural, underserved youth and families in Eastern Washington and Northern Idaho to STEM concepts important in sustainable building design. The project is a collaboration of the Palouse Discovery Science Center (Pullman, WA), Washington State University and University of Idaho, working in partnership with rural community organizations and businesses. The deliverables include: 1) interactive exhibit prototype activities, 2) a team cooperative learning problem-solving challenge, and (3) take-home materials to encourage participants to use what they have learned to investigate ways to make their homes more energy-efficient and sustainable.The project introduces youth and families to the traditionally difficult physics concept of thermal energy, particularly as it relates to sustainable building design. Participants explore how building materials and their properties can be used to control all three types of heat transfer: conduction, convection, and radiation. The interactive exhibit prototypes are coupled with an Energy Efficient Engineering Challenge in which participants, working in cooperative learning teams, use information learned from the exhibit prototype activities to retrofit a model house, improving its energy efficiency. The project components are piloted at the Palouse Discovery Science Center, and then travel to three underserved rural/tribal communities in Northern Idaho and Eastern Washington. Front-end and formative evaluation studies will demonstrate whether this model advances participant understanding of and interest in STEM topics and careers. The project will yield information about ways that other ISE practitioners can effectively incorporate cooperative learning strategies in informal settings to improve the transferability of knowledge gained from exhibits to real-world problem-solving challenges, especially for rural and underserved audiences. This project will also provide the ISE field with: 1) a model for increasing the capacity of small, rural science centers to form collaborative regional networks that draw on previously unused resources in their communities and provide more effective outreach to the underrepresented populations they serve, and 2) a model for coupling cooperative learning with outreach exhibits, providing richer experiences of active engagement.