EAGER: MAKER: Nebraska Innovative Maker Co-laboratory

该项目将推动学生和教师创新技术体验(ITEST)计划的努力，以更好地了解和促进提高学生在科学、技术、工程或数学(STEM)领域追求职业生涯的动机和能力的实践。该项目将设计、开发和测试Makerspace参与模式，将地理上分散的学习社区与参与Maker活动和空间的导师联系起来，为青年及其社区提供非正式的STEM学习途径，并扩大对STEM活动的参与。该项目将在一个农村、相对孤立和服务不足的社区建立一个专门的公共图书馆Makerspace，该社区与内布拉斯加-林肯大学的一个锚点空间密切相关，该锚点空间支持开放式、自我指导的学习、想法探索、技术技能、创业和协作项目。项目设计将汇集来自不同领域(如工程、纺织、摄影、机器人和STEM教育)的专家，为青年提供六个重点领域的实践机会，包括电子、纺织品(包括带有可穿戴电子产品的电子纺织品)、计算机、数字媒体创作、音乐技术和数字制造。青年会根据自己的兴趣选择项目和学习路径。然后，青年将完成迷你课程，并获得与他们选择的项目相关的设备和技能认证。虚拟协作空间和机器人远程呈现之间的预期协同将为青年团队和导师提供机会，让他们无论地理位置如何都可以进行协作，并创造性地协作、解决问题和创新。(网真机器人被定义为允许用户通过技术感知他们在另一个物理空间中操作的平台。)该项目重点使用两个主要战略；a)虚拟协作空间和b)机器人远程呈现，为农村青年提供进入Maker运动的途径。这一模式将提供一种可复制的战略，在社区内接触到服务不足的农村青年受众，以便他们可以与专家和导师建立更广泛的学习社区，从而充分参与Maker体验。在Makerspace中使用远程呈现机器人进行集中的一对一协作和指导，将特别有助于满足此类指导的物理需求。虚拟创新实验室空间将允许年轻人开发项目想法并参与协作解决问题。这些空间将通过基于移动电话的头盔显示器进入。学生调查、观察、社交网络分析以及青年和导师之间互动的系统编码将用于研究通过共享制造活动发生的合作、解决问题和创新的性质。

This project will advance efforts of the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program to better understand and promote practices that increase students' motivations and capacities to pursue careers in fields of science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM). The project will design, develop and test a Makerspace engagement model that connects geographically dispersed learning communities and mentors participating in Maker activities and spaces to provide informal STEM learning pathways and to broaden participation for STEM activities for youth and their community. The project will establish a dedicated public library-based Makerspace in a rural, relatively isolated and underserved community with close connections to an anchor space at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln that supports open-ended, self-directed learning, idea exploration, technical skills, entrepreneurship, and collaborative projects. The project design will bring together experts from a wide variety of fields (e.g., engineering, textiles, photography, robotics, and STEM education) to provide youth with hands-on opportunities in six focus areas, electronics, textiles including e-textiles with wearable electronics, computers, digital media creation, music technology, and digital fabrication.  Youth will select a project and learning pathway based on their interests. Youth will then complete mini-courses and receive certification on the equipment and skills relevant to their chosen project. The expected synergy between virtual collaborative spaces and robotic telepresence will provide opportunities for teams of youth and mentors to collaborate regardless of geographic location and to creatively collaborate, problem solve and innovate. (Telepresence robots are defined as platforms that allow users to perceive that they are operating in another, typically remote physical space via technology.)  This project focuses on using two main strategies; a) virtual collaborative spaces and b) robotic telepresence, to provide rural youth access to the Maker movement. This model will provide a replicable strategy of reaching rural underserved youth audiences within their communities so that they may establish wider learning communities with experts and mentors and thereby fully participate in the maker experience. The use of telepresence robotics for focused one-on-one collaboration and guidance in the Makerspace will particularly help to address the physical needs of such mentoring. Virtual innovative lab spaces will allow youth to develop project ideas and engage in collaborative problem solving. The spaces will be accessible via mobile phone based Head-Mounted Displays. Student surveys, observation, social network analysis, and the systematic coding of interactions between youth and mentors will be used to research the nature of the collaboration, problem solving and innovation that occurs through shared making activities.