An investigation of the impact of culture and experience on reasoning about complex ecological phenomena among students from diverse backgrounds

作为加强非正式环境中学习的总体战略的一部分，推进非正式STEM学习（AISL）项目资助了用于各种环境的创新研究、方法和资源。该项目将开展研究，旨在加深我们对文化、经验和生态系统认知的基础知识，并开发创新的实践和方法，以支持对不断变化的生态系统和环境决策的学习。在复杂系统知识生产中的文化差异方面的工作严重缺乏。这种知识上的差距可能会导致科学教育中的不平等现象继续再现。从这个项目中得到的更广泛的发现将对认知发展理论产生明确的影响，特别是那些与文化和经验如何塑造知识有关的理论。关注生态系统可能是一个机会，不仅可以提高非主导社区和土著青年在科学方面的参与度和成就，还可以促进所有社区的有效学习。该项目的主要可交付成果是会议报告和研究出版物。然而，该项目还将开发额外的资源，供研究人员、教育工作者和公众免费使用。其中包括暑期课程教材和教学工具、专业发展工作坊、可在专业发展工作坊中使用和更广泛分享的研究成果的实践者简报，以及评估报告。更深入地了解文化对自然世界概念的影响，有助于促进儿童，包括来自不同语言和文化背景的儿童的教育需求。项目研究将包括两个相互关联的系列研究，旨在扩展人类对（复杂）生态系统的认知知识，以及非正式STEM学习环境在发展和支持21世纪生态系统水平推理的关键技能方面的作用。第一部分包括一系列关于生态认知和人类在自然中的作用的实验。第二部分包括非正式环境中基于设计的研究干预，针对青年和社区的夏季研讨会，重点关注生态系统层面的思考和社会环境决策。该项目将招募和吸引来自两个广泛的文化社区的儿童和成人参与者，即居住在城市和郊区社区的美国原住民和欧洲裔美国人，部分原因是它提供了对人与自然关系的尖锐考验。从两个不同的城市社区取样将避免简单的土著-非土著比较二元，并进行土著与土著的比较分析。基于这些成果，该项目将产生：1)关于人类学习和推理、生态系统和环境决策的基础知识；2)关于室内和室外非正式学习环境中复杂生态系统的学习和实践的文化响应模型；3)关于研究-实践-社区伙伴关系的见解。这项研究的一个重要目标是扩大STEM领域中代表性不足群体的参与和缩小机会差距，更具体地说，是为土著人民。与该项目过去进行的研究一样，土著社区的成员将作为博士后、研究助理和研究生研究员参与研究，他们为其他有抱负的学者提供了强有力的榜样。

As part of its overall strategy to enhance learning in informal environments, the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program funds innovative research, approaches and resources for use in a variety of settings. The project will conduct research designed to deepen our fundamental knowledge about culture, experience, and ecosystems cognition and to develop innovative practices and approaches to support learning about changing ecological systems and environmental decision making. Work on cultural differences in the production of complex systems knowledge is severely lacking. This gap in knowledge may contribute to the continued reproduction of inequities in science education. More broadly findings from this project will have clear implications for theories of cognitive development, especially those pertaining to how knowledge is shaped by culture and experience. Focusing on ecosystems may represent an opportunity to not only increase engagement and achievement in science among non-dominant communities and Native youth specifically, but also advance effective learning for all communities. The primary deliverables for the project are conference presentations and research publications. However, the project will also develop additional resources freely available to researchers, educators, and the general public. These will include summer curricular materials and teaching tools, professional development workshops, practitioner briefs about research findings that can be used in professional development workshops and shared share more broadly, and evaluation reports.A deeper understanding of cultural influences on conceptions of the natural world can serve to advance the educational needs of children, including children from diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds. Project research will include two interrelated series of studies and is designed to expand knowledge about human cognition of (complex) ecosystems and the affordances of informal STEM learning environments in developing and supporting the critical 21st century skill of ecological systems level reasoning. The first consists of a series of experiments focused on ecological cognition and the role of humans in nature. The second consists of design-based research interventions in informal settings, summer workshops for youth and the communities, focused on ecological systems level thinking and socio-environmental decision making. The project will recruit and engage both child and adult participants from two broad cultural communities, Native Americans and European Americans living in urban and suburban communities, in part because it affords a sharp test of human-nature relations. Sampling from two different urban communities will avoid simple Native-non-Native comparative binaries and to conduct Native-to-Native comparative analysis. Based on results from this, the project will result in: 1) foundational knowledge about human learning and reasoning and ecosystems and environmental decision making, 2) culturally responsive models of learning and practice about complex ecosystems for indoors and outdoors informal learning environments, and 3) insights about research-practice-community partnerships. One important objective of the research is to broaden participation and close opportunity gaps for under-represented groups in STEM fields broadly and more specifically for Indigenous people. As in past research conducted by the project, members of Indigenous communities, who provide strong role models for other aspiring scholars, will be involved as postdoctoral fellows, research assistants and graduate fellows.