Collaborative Research: SUNY/NYAS STEM Mentoring Program Statewide Scale Up Project

纽约州立大学（SUNY）和纽约科学院（NYAS）正在合作实施SUNY/NYAS STEM指导计划，这是一个全面的发展项目，旨在提高中学生的科学和数学素养。通过实施国家计划，如NSF的K-12教育研究生STEM研究员（GK-12）计划，大学计划，如UTeach模式，以及地方运行的计划，该项目的目标是：1)增加在非正式环境中获得高质量、动手的STEM项目的机会；2)提高正在接受培训的科学家（研究生和博士后）的教学和拓展技能；3)测试围绕可扩展项目元素的假设。纽约州立大学和NYAS共同提议开展一项全面、系统的科学教育计划，招募在全州高校学习科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）学科的研究生和博士后，担任课后项目的导师。纽约州立大学各校区将与一个社区组织（CBO）合作，在课后项目中安排导师，为高需求、低资源的城市和农村社区的中学生服务。项目可交付成果包括一门用于导师培训的三学分在线研究生课程、六个试点站点、一份最佳做法指南和一份供全国推广的模型。该在线课程将为研究生和博士后准备12-15周的课外项目，使用与纽约州标准一致的课程模块向学生介绍生命科学、地球科学、数学和工程学。项目设计包括三个预先选定的地点（奥尔巴尼大学纳米科学与工程学院、纽约州立大学理工学院和纽约州立大学下州医疗中心）和三个未来的地点，这些地点将通过竞争过程选择，每个地点都将与CBO配对，以创建一个当地设计的STEM指导计划。因此，至少有192名导师将为纽约州的2880名中学生提供非正式的STEM教育。综合的、混合方法的评估将解决以下问题：1)学生参加课外非正式教育模式是否会增加STEM内容知识、态度、自我效能感和追求进一步STEM教育和职业道路的兴趣？2)参与该计划的年轻科学家是否培养了有效的教学和指导技能，并对教学或指导职业选择产生了兴趣，从而导致STEM留任？3)有效的STEM课后项目的属性是什么？在不同地理位置实现成功扩展所必需的适应和创新要素是什么？4)课后模式在提供非正式STEM教育中的作用是什么？这一创新模式包括承诺在纽约州立大学的64个校区和122个美国女童子军理事会中进行扩展，使用在线平台提供培训，并将正在培训的科学家置于非正式的学习环境中。据推测，由于在非正式环境中更多地获得STEM教育，参与的中学生将发展更高水平的STEM内容知识，自我效能感，对STEM学习的信心和对STEM职业的兴趣。科学家导师将：1)了解非正式科学教育的背景和特点，2)培养指导和人际沟通的技能，3)学习和应用探究性教学的最佳实践，4)潜在地培养对教学的兴趣，将其作为可行的职业选择。预计该项目将增加若干领域的研究文献，例如研究生奖励的有效性；导师支持系统的设计；以及当地社区试点项目的结构。该项目的研究结果和材料将通过在地方、区域和国家会议上的演讲、在同行评议的期刊上发表关于非正式科学教育的出版物以及向全球25000多名NYAS成员发送简报的方式传播。

The State University of New York (SUNY) and the New York Academy of Sciences (NYAS) are collaborating to implement the SUNY/NYAS STEM Mentoring Program, a full scale development project designed to improve the science and math literacy of middle school youth. Building upon lessons learned through the implementation of national initiatives such as NSF's Graduate STEM Fellows in K-12 Education (GK-12) Program, university initiatives such as the UTeach model, and locally-run programs, this project's goals are to: 1) increase access to high quality, hands-on STEM programs in informal environments, 2) improve teaching and outreach skills of scientists in training (graduate and postdoctoral fellows), and 3) test hypotheses around scalable program elements. Together, SUNY and NYAS propose to carry out a comprehensive, systemic science education initiative to recruit graduate students and postdoctoral fellows studying science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines at colleges and universities statewide to serve as mentors in afterschool programs. SUNY campuses will partner with a community-based organization (CBO) to place mentors in afterschool programs serving middle school students in high-need, low-resource urban and rural communities. Project deliverables include a three-credit online graduate course for mentor training, six pilot sites, a best practices guide, and a model for national dissemination. The online course will prepare graduate and postdoctoral fellows to spend 12-15 weeks in afterschool programs, introducing students to life science, earth science, mathematics and engineering using curriculum modules that are aligned with the New York State standards. The project design includes three pre-selected sites (College of Nanoscale Science & Engineering at the University of Albany, SUNY Institute of Technology, and SUNY Downstate Medical Center) and three future sites to be selected through a competitive process, each of which will be paired with a CBO to create a locally designed STEM mentoring program. As a result, a minimum of 192 mentors will provide informal STEM education to 2,880 middle school students throughout New York State. The comprehensive, mixed-methods evaluation will address the following questions:1) Does student participation in an afterschool model of informal education lead to an increase in STEM content knowledge, attitudes, self-efficacy, and interest in pursuing further STEM education and career pathways? 2) Do young scientists who participate in the program develop effective teaching and mentoring skills, and develop interest in teaching or mentoring career options that result in STEM retention? 3) What are the attributes of an effective STEM afterschool program and the elements of local adaptation and innovation that are necessary to achieve a successful scale-up to geographically diverse locations? 4) What is the role of the afterschool model in delivering informal STEM education? This innovative model includes a commitment to scale across the 64 SUNY campuses and 122 Councils of the Girl Scouts of the USA, use an online platform to deliver training, and place scientists-in-training in informal learning environments. It is hypothesized that as a result of greater access to STEM education in an informal setting, participating middle school youth will develop increased levels of STEM content knowledge, self-efficacy, confidence in STEM learning, and interest in STEM careers. Scientist mentors will: 1) gain an understanding of the context and characteristics of informal science education, 2) develop skills in mentoring and interpersonal communication, 3) learn and apply best practices of inquiry instruction, and 4) potentially develop interest in teaching as a viable career option. It is anticipated that the project will add to the research literature in several areas such as the effectiveness of incentives for graduate students; the design of mentor support systems; and the structure of pilot site programs in local communities. Findings and materials from this project will be disseminated through presentations at local, regional, and national conferences, publications in peer-reviewed journals focused on informal science education, and briefings sent to more than 25,000 NYAS members around the world.