The Bessie Coleman Project - Using Computer Modeling and Flight Simulation to Create STEM Pathways

该战略项目推进了学生和教师创新技术体验（ITEST）计划的努力，以更好地理解和促进提高学生在科学、技术、工程或数学（STEM）领域追求职业的动机和能力的实践。具体而言，该项目将使用计算机建模和飞行模拟作为机制，为美国落基山脉和中大西洋地区代表性不足的小学生和中学生提供独特的STEM和STEM职业。贝西·科尔曼项目以第一位获得飞行员执照的非裔美国女性的名字命名，以现有的知识和对航空航天复杂系统的理解为基础，开发、实施和测试特定文化、基于地点的主题课程和扩展活动对从事与计算机科学相关的非正式STEM学习计划的青年的影响。关注计算机科学学习与21世纪信息和通信技术（ICT）技能准备的交叉性是教育改革前沿的国家优先事项。研究表明，有强有力的证据表明，计算机编码可以激励学生学习，拓宽学生在STEM领域的机会。同样，研究也显示了学生学习编码作为培养计算思维技能的途径所带来的令人鼓舞的好处。全国各地的K-12学校、学术机构和非正式STEM教育部门对有效的策略特别感兴趣，以使教师和学生在计算机科学和编码方面做好准备，特别是来自STEM中代表性不足群体的青年。本项目探讨了贝西·科尔曼项目的潜力和影响，作为一种有效的方法，在四个不同州的计算机科学中，三个严重代表性不足的群体中解决这一国家需求。研究结果将促进适用于正式和非正式背景的知识。在为期三年的项目期间，大约1000名农村和城市的中小学生将参与广泛的项目活动-从3D计算机建模和游戏设计（4-5年级）到使用无人机和树莓派进行飞行模拟（6-8年级）。这些学生主要是美国原住民、非裔美国人/黑人、西班牙裔和亚裔，他们参加了课后计算机科学俱乐部和夏令营，地点在科罗拉多州、马里兰州、宾夕法尼亚州和怀俄明州。参观航空和航天博物馆，有机会与现场专家，嘉宾演讲，和其他扩展的学习机会是不可或缺的计划。来自Boys &amp； Girls俱乐部和创客空间的42名任课教师和12名非正式教育工作者和工作人员将接受培训，以便在其所在地实施和促进该项目。采用迭代研究设计来调查三个主要研究问题：(a)涉及新兴技术的哪些学习经验能有效地使不同的学生群体熟悉这些技术并获得相关能力，哪些因素影响学习经验的结果？(b)教师采用了哪些符合文化的教学和课程实践和模式，包括在地教育，以提高学生对STEM职业的理解和兴趣，哪些因素影响这些实践和模式的结果？(c)企业和行业劳动力成员（即STEM专业人员）以何种角色和方式激励学生意识到、感兴趣并为STEM劳动力中的STEM职业做好准备，并支持教师努力提高STEM劳动力的意识和兴趣？正式和总结性评价由咨询委员会和外部评价人员进行。研究和项目结果通过图书馆、资源指南、博客、社区参与、会议发言和期刊出版物在地方和全国传播。最终，该项目致力于提高学生的计算思维能力，STEM兴趣和动力，以及对STEM职业道路的坚持，特别是在计算机科学方面。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This strategies project advances 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 the fields of science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM). Specifically, the project will use computer modeling and flight simulations as mechanisms to provide unique entrées to STEM and STEM careers for predominately underrepresented elementary and middle school students in the Rocky Mountain and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. Named for the first African-American woman to receive a pilot's license, the Bessie Coleman Project builds on extant knowledge and understandings of complex systems in aviation and aerospace to develop, implement, and test the impact of a culturally specific, place-based, thematic curriculum and extension activities on youth engaged in informal STEM learning programs related to computer science. This focus on the intersectionality of computer science learning and 21st century information and communications technology (ICT) skill preparation is a national priority at the forefront of educational reform. Research has shown strong evidence that computer coding can motivate student learning and broaden student opportunities in STEM. Likewise, research has shown encouraging benefits of students learning coding as a pathway to develop computational thinking skills. K-12 schools, academic institutions, and informal STEM education sectors across the country are particularly interested in effective strategies to prepare teachers and students in computer science and coding, particularly youth from underrepresented groups in STEM. This project explores the potential and impact of the Bessie Coleman Project as an effective approach to address this national need among three critically underrepresented groups in computer science in four different states. The findings will advance knowledge applicable for both formal and informal contexts.Over the three-year project duration, approximately 1,000 rural and urban elementary and middle school students will engage in a broad range of project activities - from 3D computer modeling and game design (grades 4-5), to flight simulation using drones and Raspberry Pi (grades 6-8). The students are predominately of Native American, African-American/Black, Hispanic and Asian descent, participating in after school computer science clubs and summer camps at project sites in Colorado, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Wyoming. Expeditions to air and space museums, opportunities to engage with field experts, guest speakers, and other extended learning opportunities are integral to the program. Forty-two classroom teachers and 12 informal educators and staff from Boys & Girls Clubs and Makerspaces will receive training to implement and facilitate the program in their site locations. An iterative research design is used to investigate the three overarching research questions: (a) What learning experiences involving emerging technologies effectively enable diverse populations of students to gain familiarity and relevant competencies with these technologies, and what factors influence the outcomes of the learning experiences? (b) What culturally-responsive instructional and curricular practices and models, including place-based education, used by teachers enhance student understanding of and interest in STEM occupations, and what factors influence the outcomes of the practices and models? and (c) In what roles and in what ways do business and industry workforce members (i.e., STEM professionals) motivate students to become aware of, interested in, and prepared for STEM careers in the STEM workforce and support teachers in efforts to promote STEM workforce awareness and interest? Formal and summative evaluations are carried out by an Advisory Board and an external evaluator. The research and project findings are locally and nationally disseminated through libraries, a resource guide, a blog, community involvement, conference presentations and journal publications. Ultimately, the project endeavors to increase students' computational thinking abilities, STEM interest and motivation, and persistence in STEM career pathways, especially in computer science.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.