NSF INCLUDES DDLP: Project SYSTEMIC (A Systems-Thinking Approach to STEM Ecosystem Development In Chicago)

系统性项目(芝加哥STEM生态系统发展的系统思维方法)将把系统思维应用于芝加哥最大、最困难的社区之一的社区级STEM生态系统发展努力。该项目旨在扩大非裔美国人和低收入芝加哥公立学校(学龄前至12岁)学生参与STEM学习的机会。该项目的拟议合作变革模式建立在两个协调的集体影响倡议--芝加哥STEM路径合作社和奥斯汀走到一起--的工作基础上，这是一个致力于改善社区教育和经济成果的地方组织网络。该项目的一个关键特点是，它增加了创新、互动、可视化的问题结构和解决策略，以突出和揭示导致非裔美国青年面临BP挑战的系统性相互依存关系。该项目将举办一系列讲习班，让社区利益攸关方参与绘制STEM生态系统图。社区利益相关者的广泛和有代表性的部分将设计和制定基于证据的STEM生态系统组织和实施战略。预计该项目的主要成果是形成共同的理解、议程、活动和承诺，共同应对非裔美国青年获得和参与STEM的根本挑战。这个由社区推动的项目的目标是开发一个可行的系统模型，提升历来被排除在问题解决表和决策过程之外的邻里呼声，以利用现有资产，建设当地能力，提高宣传和对STEM价值的认识，确定所需的新计划，并在合作伙伴之间建立协调/资源共享机制，以支持实施。对该项目的评估将以系统思维和文化响应方法为基础，这些方法力求了解利益攸关方的不同观点，同时衡量项目目标的进展情况。评价数据将用于评估问题构建过程，评估为解决结构化问题而设计的组织战略，并支持利益攸关方之间的适应性学习。

Project SYSTEMIC (A Systems Thinking Approach to STEM Ecosystem Development in Chicago) will apply systems thinking to a community-level STEM ecosystem development effort in one of Chicago's largest and most distressed neighborhoods. The project aims to broaden participation of African American and low-income Chicago Public School students (preK-12) in STEM learning opportunities. The proposed model of collaborative change for this project builds on the work of two coordinated collective impact initiatives--the Chicago STEM Pathways Cooperative and Austin Coming Together, a network of local organizations committed to improving educational and economic outcomes for the community. A key feature of this project is that it adds innovative, interactive, visual problem structuring and solving strategies to highlight and uncover the systemic interdependencies that contribute to the BP challenge for African American youth. The project will convene a series of workshops to engage community stakeholders in the mapping of the STEM ecosystem. A broad and representative cross-section of community stakeholders will design and develop evidence-based STEM ecosystem organizing and implementation strategies. Key outcomes anticipated from this project are the development of a shared understanding, agenda, activities, and commitment to collectively address the underlying challenges of STEM access and participation for African American youth. The goal of this community-driven project is to develop a viable system model that elevates neighborhood voices, historically excluded from the problem-solving table and decision-making processes, to leverage existing assets, build local capacity, increase messaging and awareness of the value of STEM, identify needed new programs, and develop coordination/resource sharing mechanisms across partners to support implementation. The evaluation of this project will be grounded in systems thinking and culturally-responsive approaches that seek to understand the diverse perspectives of stakeholders while measuring progress toward project goals. Evaluation data will be used to assess the problem structuring process, to evaluate the organizational strategy designed to address the structured problem, and to support adaptive learning among stakeholders.