Science Learning +: Broadening Participation in STEM through Transdisciplinary Youth Development Activities

该项目由华盛顿大学和科学画廊都柏林共同领导，旨在推动和改变下一代扩大参与的努力，目标是来自STEM领域历史上代表性不足的社区的青少年。该项目调查了如何校外时间（OST）计划，整合艺术，科学，计算机科学和其他学科的认知实践，在相应的活动（如创建广播片段，设计博物馆展览或构建在线游戏）的背景下，可以更广泛地吸引和吸引那些还没有确定为STEM学习者的年轻人。与STEM相关的技能和能力（如计算思维、设计、数据可视化和数字故事讲述）是未来许多公民和工作场所活动的生产性和创造性参与的关键，并正在推动美国增长最快的30个职业。但许多新工作将需要混合技能，例如编程和设计技能，许多脱离学术STEM途径的学生可能已经拥有并渴望进一步发展。目前还没有一个强大的研究证据基础来指导跨学科项目的设计、实施和评估--在这些项目中，STEM技能被嵌入作为有意义参与的工具--或者这些方法如何与长期成果相关。假设OST项目有效地吸引青少年在他们的高杠杆青少年时期可以显着影响青少年的长期STEM学习轨迹，该项目将涉及：1）五个为期三年的研究记录在不同的技术丰富的背景下学习：制作课后，媒体制作，博物馆展览设计，数字艺术节目，和弹出/街头科学节目; 2）一项为期4年的纵向研究，涉及来自上述方案的100名青年; 3）创建一些实用的测量工具，可用于监测方案如何利用艺术和科学的交叉点来支持学生的参与和学习;以及4）在欧盟和美国的非正式科学教育会议上进行的专业发展计划，以使非正式STEM领域与新发现接触。该项目由科学学习+资助，这是国家科学基金会（NSF）和惠康信托基金与英国经济和社会研究理事会之间的国际伙伴关系。这项联合资助工作的目标是采取变革性步骤，改善非正式STEM经验的知识基础和实践，以更好地理解，加强和协调STEM参与和学习。在NSF内部，科学学习+是推进非正式STEM学习（AISL）计划的一部分，该计划旨在加强非正式环境中的学习。跨学科，以公平为导向的OST计划可以提供支持性的社会环境，其中STEM概念和实践被作为有意义地参与有价值活动的手段，培养学生的STEM技能，从而推动他们未来的学术，职业，和终身学习的选择。该项目将建立关于这些新兴的21世纪世纪跨学科方法的知识库，以扩大参与调查：1）跨学科（艺术，科学，计算，设计）的知识交叉点，这些交叉点可以扩大代表性不足的青年的吸引力和有意义的参与; 2）如何在相应的学习背景下进行跨学科活动（例如，（3）参与这些项目如何推动学生的长期生活选择和STEM学习轨迹。该项目是华盛顿大学、都柏林科学画廊、印第安纳州大学、加州奥克兰青年电台、纽约和伦敦的游击队科学以及伦敦经济学院的合作项目。

Co-led by the University of Washington and Science Gallery Dublin, this project aims to drive and transform the next generation of broadening participation efforts targeting teen-aged youth from communities historically underrepresented in STEM fields. This project investigates how out-of-school time (OST) programs that integrate epistemic practices of the arts, sciences, computer science, and other disciplines, in the context of consequential activities (such as creating radio segments, designing museum exhibitions, or building online games), can more broadly appeal to and engage youth who do not already identify as STEM learners. STEM-related skills and capacities (such as computational thinking, design, data visualizations, and digital storytelling) are key to productive and creative participation in many future civic and workplace activities, and are driving the 30 fastest-growing occupations in the US. But many new jobs will entail a hybrid blend of skills, such as programming and design skills that many students who have disengaged with academic STEM pathways may already have and would be eager to develop further. There is not currently a strong foundation of research-based evidence to guide the design, implementation, and evaluation transdisciplinary programs - in which STEM skills are embedded as tools for meaningful participation - or how such approaches relate to long-term outcomes. Hypothesizing that OST programs which effectively engage youth during their high-leverage teenage years can significantly impact youths' longer-term STEM learning trajectories, this project will involve: 1) Five 3-year studies documenting learning in different technology-rich contexts: Making Afterschool, Media Production, Museum Exhibition Design, Digital Arts Programs, and Pop-Up/Street Science Programs; 2) A 4-year longitudinal study, involving 100 youth from the above programs; 3) The creation of a number of practical measurement tools that can be used to monitor how programs are leveraging the intersections of the arts and sciences to support student engagement and learning; and 4) A Professional Development program conducted at informal science education conferences in the EU and US to engage the informal STEM field with emerging findings. This project is funded through Science Learning+, which is an international partnership between the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Wellcome Trust with the UK Economic and Social Research Council. The goal of this joint funding effort is to make transformational steps toward improving the knowledge base and practices of informal STEM experiences to better understand, strengthen, and coordinate STEM engagement and learning. Within NSF, Science Learning+ is part of the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program that seeks to enhance learning in informal environments.Transdisciplinary, equity-oriented OST programs can provide supportive social contexts in which STEM concepts and practices are taken up as the means for meaningful participation in valued activities, building students' STEM skills in ways that can propel their future academic, career, and lifelong learning choices. This project will build the knowledge base about these emerging 21st century transdisciplinary approaches to broadening participation investigating: 1) The epistemic intersections across a range of disciplines (art, science, computation, design) that operate to broaden appeal and meaningful participation for underrepresented youth; 2) How transdisciplinary activities undertaken in the context of consequential learning (e.g., producing a radio segment, designing an exhibition for the general public) can illuminate the relevance of STEM to young people's lives, concerns, and futures; and 3) How participation in such programs can propel students' longer-term life choices and STEM learning trajectories. The project is a collaboration of the University of Washington, Science Gallery Dublin, Indiana University, Youth Radio in Oakland California, Guerilla Science in New York and London, and the London School of Economics.