WISE Guys and Gals - Boys & Girls as WISEngineering STEM Learners

作为加强非正式环境中学习的整体战略的一部分，推进非正式STEM学习（AISL）计划为各种环境中使用的创新资源提供资金。该项目将进一步开发，推出，并对一套材料进行研究，这将介绍中学生年龄的青年在男孩和女孩俱乐部（B GC）的背景下创新和从事工程挑战。&在大量前期工作和基于评估的学习的基础上，WISE Guys and Gals-Boys Girls as WISEngineering STEM Learners（WGG）将：（1）将联合收割机工程设计活动与（开源，在线）WISEngineering基础设施相结合;（2）扩大基础设施;（3）让青年参与非正式的课后体验;（4）收集大量丰富的数据，以进一步了解青年如何通过这些体验学习。&这项工作将由霍夫斯特拉大学的STEM研究中心与布鲁克海文国家实验室（BNL），纽约市立大学研究生中心的教育高级研究中心（CASE），美国男孩女孩俱乐部，以及纽约和新泽西的25个B GC联合进行。基本的理论框架建立在NSF和比尔和梅林达盖茨基金会支持的概念验证工作的基础上。&&一个开源的在线接口（WISEngineering）提供了许多虚拟工具（例如，社交网络，设计杂志，嵌入式评估），通过具有挑战性的，深思熟虑的和创造性的工作促进学习和协作。WGG将探索如何将创造力，社交网络，与现实世界的STEM需求/职业的联系以及团队合作融入到可以在一小时内完成的挑战中，这是许多B GC设置中的活动时间限制。&俱乐部的工作人员将参加面对面和虚拟的专业发展，以努力建立他们作为STEM学习促进者的能力。研究将侧重于：（1）为60分钟的实施而开发的活动，以及在知情的工程设计和相互关联的学习框架的指导下，如何支持青年的学习和参与;以及（2）支持B GC促进者能力发展的专业发展方法的特点。&到项目结束时，超过6，000名中学适龄青年，其中大多数来自STEM领域代表性不足的群体，将获得工程设计经验，因为他们开发了工程思维，新的STEM能力，STEM职业意识以及对STEM知识的公民价值的欣赏。

As part of its overall strategy to enhance learning in informal environments, the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program funds innovative resources for use in a variety of settings. The project will further develop, roll out, and conduct research on a set of materials that will introduce middle school age youth to innovative and engaging engineering challenges in the Boys and Girls Club (B&GCs) context. Building on substantial prior work and evaluation-based learning, WISE Guys and Gals - Boys & Girls as WISEngineering STEM Learners (WGG) will: (1) combine engineering design activities with the (open source, online) WISEngineering infrastructure; (2) scale-up the infrastructure; (3) engage youth in informal afterschool experiences; and (4) collect a wealth of rich data to further our understanding of how youth learn through these experiences. This work will be conducted by Hofstra University's Center for STEM Research in conjunction with Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), The CUNY Graduate Center's Center for Advanced Study in Education (CASE), the Boys & Girls Club of America, and 25 B&GCs in New York and New Jersey.The underlying theoretical framework builds on proof-of-concept work supported by NSF and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. An open source, on-line interface (WISEngineering) provides numerous virtual tools (e.g., social networking, Design Journal, embedded assessments) that promote learning and collaboration through challenging, thoughtful, and creative work. WGG will explore how to incorporate creativity, social networking, connections to real-world STEM needs/careers, and teamwork into challenges that can be completed in a one-hour period, an activity time constraint in many B&GC settings. Staff from the clubs will participate in face-to-face and virtual professional development in an effort to build their capacity as facilitators of STEM learning. Research will focus on: (1) how activities developed for 60-minute implementation and guided by informed engineering design and interconnected learning frameworks support youth learning and engagement; and (2) characteristics of the professional development approach that support B&GC facilitators' capacity development. By the end of the project, over 6,000 middle school aged youth, the majority from groups underrepresented in STEM areas, will gain experience with engineering design as they develop engineering thinking, new STEM competencies, STEM career awareness, and an appreciation for the civic value of STEM knowledge.