Increasing STEM Signing Knowledge of Undergraduate Student Interpreters

教育工作者面临的一个持续挑战是如何扩大未被充分代表的人群在STEM职业中的参与。从历史上看，失聪或有听力障碍的学生在成功学习科学方面遇到了重大障碍。这些学生大多依靠手语翻译的支持。这个项目将开发一个签名生物科学词典的原型，其中将包括大约1500个在本科生物学课程中经常使用的术语。该项目团队将研究该词典在增加拉马尔大学四年制本科口译培训项目学生口译员的生命科学词汇方面的潜在有效性。总体目标是训练有素的口译员通过手语准确有效地传达本科生物学信息，以支持聋哑和听力障碍学生。该项目还可能导致该词典被纳入全国的本科培训计划，可能会增加与这些学生一起工作的STEM口译员的数量，并导致更多的聋人或听力障碍人士从事STEM职业。这个项目的智力价值在于提升了生命科学领域的知识基础，以留住失聪和重听学生。除了开发原型词典外，该项目还将评估其潜在的有效性，使拉马尔大学的本科生能够开发出更强大的美国手语生命科学词汇，并用它来解释本科生物学课程的内容。此外，该项目还将征求拉马尔大学的学生和教师的建议，以确定将纳入词典扩充版的新术语，并纳入他们提出的任何改进意见。该项目的创新之处在于将TERC的签名生命科学词典中的签名术语重新用于交互式点播视频，其中包括术语、定义、插图和签名英语文本元素的化身。使用视频将使词典与大多数电脑和浏览器兼容，并且不需要连接互联网。研究方法和测量将建立在TERC用于评估其他签名词典的设计之上。研究结果将使人们对该词典在加强拉马尔培训项目学生的美国手语STEM知识方面的有效性有了新的认识。如果成功，该项目将有助于解决扩大未被充分代表的学生群体在STEM学习和潜在STEM职业中的参与的挑战。

A persistent challenge facing educators is how to broaden participation of underrepresented populations in STEM careers. Historically, students who are deaf or hard of hearing experience significant obstacles to successful learning in the sciences. Most of these students rely on the support of sign language interpreters. This project will develop a prototype Signing Bioscience Dictionary that will include approximately 1,500 terms that are routinely used in undergraduate biology courses. This project team will examine the potential effectiveness of the dictionary in increasing the life science vocabulary of student interpreters enrolled in Lamar University's four-year undergraduate Interpreter Training Program. The overall goal is for trained interpreters to accurately and effectively convey undergraduate biology information via sign language to support deaf and hard of hearing students. This project may also lead to the dictionary being incorporated into undergraduate training programs across the nation, potentially increasing the number of STEM interpreters working with these students and leading to more persons who are deaf or hard of hearing pursuing careers in STEM.The intellectual merit of this project rests in advancing the knowledge base for retaining deaf and hard of hearing students in the life sciences. In addition to developing a prototype dictionary, the project will evaluate its potential effectiveness in enabling undergraduate students at Lamar to develop a more robust American Sign Language life science vocabulary and use it to interpret content taught in undergraduate biology courses. In addition, this project will solicit recommendations from students and instructors at Lamar to identify new terms to be included in an expanded version of the dictionary and to incorporate any improvements they suggest. The project innovation is the repurposing of the signed terms from TERC's Signing Life Science Dictionary into interactive on-demand videos that include terms, definitions, illustrations, and an avatar signing the English text-based elements. Use of video will make the dictionary compatible with most computers and browsers and does not require an Internet connection. Research methods and measurements will build on the designs TERC has used for evaluations of other signing dictionaries. Results will render new knowledge about the effectiveness of the dictionary in strengthening the American Sign Language STEM knowledge of students in Lamar's training program. If successful, the project will help address the challenge of broadening participation of an underrepresented student population in STEM learning and potentially in STEM careers.