Collaborative Research: Engineering a Community-Family Partnership: Developing a Program Aimed at Making and Design Practices in Home Environments

在孩子们走向STEM职业的道路上，家庭扮演着至关重要的角色，但人们对这种影响是如何起作用的知之甚少。该项目通过开发、实施和完善将制造和工程设计实践融入资源不足社区家庭环境的计划，解决了这一知识差距。研究人员假设，干预的重点是让服务不足的年轻人及其照顾者参与在家中实施制造/工程设计实践的方法，这将提高他们对STEM职业的认识和亲和力，而不是那些没有参与的人。该项目有三个具体目标。(1)调查在家庭环境中最能支持参与和实施制造/工程设计实践的干预措施的特征。(2)调查每个年轻人在家中与照顾者一起从事制造/工程设计实践时STEM身份的变化。(3)检查父母的转变：(a)对工程的看法，(b)对孩子参与工程设计实践的支持，以及(c)对工程作为孩子可行的学位/职业选择的信念。该项目的独特之处在于，它罕见地观察了学生和家庭如何参与以家庭为基础的STEM活动。它同时评估家庭是否愿意支持STEM职业意识和儿童参与以家庭为基础的STEM活动。目标受众是在印第安纳州布卢明顿和纽约州布鲁姆县的第一修正案学校就读3-6年级孩子的家庭。项目合作伙伴包括这些社区的男孩和女孩俱乐部，他们协助招募和提供干预措施，家庭创造之夜。在家里，家庭将记录他们的设计活动，因为他们展开。通过视频和半结构化访谈刺激回忆将有助于研究团队了解家庭对活动期间发生的事情的想法。比较组的使用允许团队比较与“训练有素”和“未训练有素”的家庭支持相关的行为和结果。该项目以社会认知职业理论和兴趣研究为基础，关注身份发展，有可能为社会学习理论提供信息。因此，该项目将推进“面向学生和教师的创新技术体验”（ITEST）项目的努力，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。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。

Families play a vital role in children's paths toward STEM careers yet little is knowns about how this influence works. This project addresses this knowledge gap by developing, implementing, and refining a program for integrating Making and engineering design practices into the home environments of families from under-resourced communities. The researchers hypothesize that an intervention focused on engaging underserved youth and their caregivers about ways to implement Making/engineering design practices in their home will enhance their awareness of and affinity for STEM careers relative to those who do not participate. The project has 3 specific aims. (1) Investigate features of the intervention that best support participation and implementation of Making/engineering design practices in home environments. (2) Investigate changes in each youth's STEM identity in relation to engaging in Making/engineering design practices with caregivers in their home. (3) Examine shifts in parental: (a) views of engineering, (b) support for their child's engagement in engineering design practices, and (c) beliefs about engineering as a viable degree/career option for their child. The project is unique in that it takes a rare process look at how students and families engage in home-based STEM activities. It concurrently assesses families' readiness to support STEM career awareness and children's engagement in home-based STEM activities. The target audience is families with children in grades 3-6 enrolled in Title I schools in Bloomington, Indiana and Broome County, New York. Project partners include the Boys and Girls Clubs in these communities who assist with recruitment and with the delivery of the intervention, Family Making Nights. At home, families will document their design activities as they unfold. Stimulated recall with video and semi-structured interviews will help the research team understand families' thinking about what occurred during the activities. The use of a comparison group allows the team to compare the behaviors and outcomes associated with "trained" and "untrained" family supports. Grounded in social cognitive career theory and research on interest, the project's focus on identity development has potential to inform theories of social learning. As such, the project will advance the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program's efforts to better understand and promote practices that increase student motivations and capacities to pursue careers in fields of science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM).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.