Strategies: Making the Maker: A Pathway to STEM for Elementary School Students

在目前席卷全国的政府办公室、学校和企业参与的高度活跃的全国创客运动的基础上，该项目将探索如何让更多的儿童参与进来，并对STEM产生积极性和兴趣。该项目将针对3-5年级的200名儿童，让他们从小就参与“制造者的心态”。我们的目标是让孩子们通过参与艺术，手工艺和叙事故事，在STEM领域发展强烈的自我认同。在三年的时间里，拉丁裔和非洲裔美国儿童将在基于项目的学习环境中，从建构主义的角度，根据制作运动的原则，参加STEM启发的干预。学生将学习电力，电路，欧姆定律，3D打印，电子负载平衡，LED，电阻，晶体管和二极管的基本概念，以及与年龄相适应的几何知识和技能，旨在培养自我认同与制造商的心态。研究表明，让儿童尽早参与这些类型的活动，可以与更大的STEM社区建立牢固的联系，在该社区中创造归属感，并帮助儿童做好准备，以便在快速变化的技术世界中轻松同化。为了确保制作活动本身不是目的，教师将参加正在进行的专业发展活动，以学习如何将制作活动融入现有的科学课程中。这项反复设计的研究源于NSF先前的支持，围绕四个主题展开，旨在：（a）从儿童早期发展的角度将创客运动概念化;（B）向儿童灌输创客心态;（c）影响儿童对STEM的认同;（d）通过对未来STEM劳动力的贡献造福社会。围绕这些线索构建的研究问题将指导项目团队在三年内与五个队列中的100名儿童一起工作，他们将参与Maker的干预，以观察对儿童自我认同的影响。项目小组将使用混合方法设计，以便每年对三个年级进行比较。100名相同年级的儿童作为对照组，将用于比较目的。预期的结果是，随着时间的推移，孩子们将开始把自己看作是STEM领域的积极参与者和贡献者，以及STEM职业可能提供的东西。

Building on the highly energized national Maker's Movement involving government offices, schools, and businesses now sweeping the country, this project will explore ways to engage more children in the effort and become motivated and interested in STEM. The project will target 200 children at grades 3-5 to involve them in the "Maker's mindset" from an early age. The goal is for children to develop strong self-identities in STEM areas through their involvement in arts, crafts, and narrative storytelling. For three years, Latino and African American children will participate in a STEM-inspired intervention based on principles of the Making Movement from a constructivist perspective in a project-based learning environment. Students will learn basic concepts in electricity, circuitry, Ohm's Law, 3D printing, electronic load balancing, LEDs, resistances, transistors, and diodes as well as age-appropriate knowledge and skills in geometry that is intended to foster self-identity with a Maker mindset. Research shows that engaging children early on in these types of activities builds strong affiliations with the larger STEM community, creates a sense of belonging in that community, and helps prepare children to easily assimilate within the rapidly changing technological world. To ensure that the Making activities are not an end unto themselves, teachers will participate in ongoing professional development activities to learn how to integrate Making activities into the existing science curriculum for the longer term. This iteratively designed study stems from prior NSF support and is structured around four threads aimed at: (a) conceptualizing the Maker's movement in terms of early childhood development; (b) instilling a Maker's mindset in children; (c) influencing children's identity about STEM; and (d) benefiting society through contributions to the future STEM workforce. Research questions structured around these threads will guide the project team's work with 100 children in five cohorts over three years who will participate in the Maker's intervention to observe the effects on children's self-identity with STEM. The project team will use a mixed-methods design to allow comparisons across three grades each year. A control group of 100 children at the same grades will be used for comparison purposes. The expected outcome is that over time, children will begin to see themselves as active partakers of and contributors to STEM fields and what STEM careers might offer.