The Bowman Creek Educational Ecosystem

该项目通过建立重要的学术和社区合作伙伴关系，重新概念化STEM创新，教学和学习。借鉴参与式学习和创造创新学习环境的原则和最佳做法，合作伙伴寻求建立一个融入该地区文化结构的跨机构创新和STEM学习系统。具体来说，一个学生实习生团队，他们的教师和社区导师将调查和实施改善受损的水道和周围的经济挑战在南本德，印第安纳州附近。鲍曼溪教育生态系统的合作者包括许多合作伙伴：来自圣母大学、印第安纳州南本德大学、常春藤科技社区学院和南本德莱利高中的管理人员和教师;以及来自南本德市创新办公室、社区协会和社区发展公司的社区合作伙伴。拟议的项目是两阶段工作的第一阶段，有两个关键的技术目标：1）推进教育环境的理论和知识，有助于建立和加强从高中到研究生院的STEM管道; 2）开发一个协作和可持续的社区/机构基础设施，以支持跨学科，真实的STEM学习对社区的影响。所采取的方法是在一个创新的框架内，旨在深入挖掘有关STEM学习，参与，知识，技能以及许多后工业化城市所面临的经济赤字的影响的答案。所提出的研究问题旨在了解身份和可能性的看法以及生活经验如何影响不同教育水平的STEM选择，以及哪些因素促进或抑制了STEM的积极合作。采用了各种方法来寻求问题的答案，包括探索STEM途径的探索性顺序混合方法和文化领域分析，用于在项目开始和结束时生成学生如何从文化上理解STEM途径的认知地图。基于项目的学习体验的参与者在种族和社会经济上是多样化的，此外，提出的研究问题研究了重要的问题，如在不同的学生群体中发生的合作类型及其对学生的招聘，保留和感知STEM身份的影响。

This project re-conceptualizes STEM Innovation, Teaching, and Learning through the establishment of significant academic and community partnerships. Drawing from principles and best practices for engaged learning and creation of innovative learning environments, partners seek to develop a system of innovation and STEM learning across institutions that is woven into the cultural fabric of the region. Specifically, a team of student interns, their faculty, and community mentors will investigate and implement improvements to an impaired waterway and the surrounding economically challenged neighborhood in South Bend, Indiana. Collaborators for the Bowman Creek Educational Ecosystem include many partners: administrators and faculty from the University of Notre Dame, Indiana University at South Bend, Ivy Tech Community College, and Riley High School of South Bend; and community partners from the City of South Bend's Office of Innovation, neighborhood associations, and a community development corporation. The proposed project is Phase I of a two-phase effort and has two key technical goals: 1) to advance the theory and knowledge of educational environments that contribute to building and strengthening the STEM pipeline from high school to graduate school; 2) to develop a collaborative and sustainable community/institutional infrastructure to support trans-disciplinary, authentic STEM learning for community impact. The approach taken is housed within an innovative framework designed to dig deeper for answers about STEM learning, engagement, knowledge, skill as well as the impact of economic deficits with which many post-industrial cities struggle. The research questions posed aim to generate knowledge about how perceptions of identity and possibility together with life experiences shape choices with regard to STEM at different levels of education and what factors facilitate or inhibit positive STEM collaboration. A variety of methods for seeking answers to the questions are adopted including exploratory sequential mixed methods for exploring STEM pathways and cultural domain analysis for generating cognitive maps of how students culturally understand STEM pathways at the beginning and end of the project. Participants in the project-based learning experience are ethnically and socio-economically diverse, furthermore, the research questions posed examine important issues such as the types of collaboration that take place in diverse student groups and their effect on students' recruitment, retention and perceived identity in STEM.