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导师计划，这是一个旨在提高中学生科学和数学素养的全面发展项目。基于通过实施国家倡议，如国家科学基金会K-12教育研究生STEM研究员计划(GK-12)，大学倡议，如UTeach模式，以及当地开办的计划所学到的经验，该项目的目标是：1)在非正式环境中增加获得高质量、动手操作的STEM计划的机会；2)提高科学家在培训中的教学和推广技能(研究生和博士后研究员)；以及3)围绕可扩展的计划要素检验假设。纽约州立大学和纽约州立大学共同提议开展一项全面、系统的科学教育计划，在全州的学院和大学招募攻读科学、技术、工程和数学(STEM)学科的研究生和博士后研究员，担任课外项目的导师。纽约州立大学校园将与一个基于社区的组织(CBO)合作，在课外项目中安排导师，为高需求、低资源的城乡社区的中学生提供服务。项目可交付成果包括一个三学分的在线研究生导师培训课程、六个试点网站、一个最佳做法指南和一个全国传播模式。在线课程将让研究生和博士后研究员准备好在课外项目中花费12-15周的时间，使用符合纽约州标准的课程模块向学生介绍生命科学、地球科学、数学和工程。该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学中心)和三个未来将通过竞争程序选择的地点，每个地点都将与一个国会预算办公室配对，以创建当地设计的STEM指导计划。因此，至少192名导师将为纽约州2880名中学生提供非正式的STEM教育。这项综合的混合方法评估将解决以下问题：1)学生参与课后非正式教育模式是否会增加STEM内容知识、态度、自我效能感，以及对进一步从事STEM教育和职业道路的兴趣？2)参与该项目的年轻科学家是否发展了有效的教学和指导技能，3)有效的STEM课后计划的属性是什么，以及实现成功扩大到不同地理位置所需的当地适应和创新的要素是什么？4)课外模式在提供非正式STEM教育方面扮演着什么角色？这一创新模式包括承诺在纽约州立大学校园和美国女童子军理事会之间进行扩展，使用在线平台提供培训，并将实习科学家置于非正式学习环境中。研究假设，由于在非正式环境中更多地接受STEM教育，参与STEM教育的中学生将发展出更高水平的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)发展指导和人际交流的技能，3)学习和应用探究式教学的最佳实践，4)潜在地培养对教学的兴趣，将其作为一种可行的职业选择。预计该项目将增加几个领域的研究文献，如研究生激励的有效性；导师支持系统的设计；以及当地社区试点项目的结构。该项目的成果和材料将通过在地方、地区和国家会议上的发言、在以非正式科学教育为重点的同行评议期刊上发表文章以及向世界各地的25,000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 the NSF 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.