Montana Models: Connecting Local and Disciplinary Practices through University-Community Partnerships

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）计划旨在推进非正式环境中STEM学习的设计和开发的新方法和基于证据的理解。这包括提供多种途径，扩大STEM学习经验的获取和参与，推进非正式环境中STEM学习的创新研究和评估，以及发展参与者对深度学习的理解。这个为期三年的项目名为“蒙大拿州模型：通过大学-社区伙伴关系将地方和学科实践联系起来”，重点是创建、实施和研究与青少年参与数学建模相关的几种学习成果。该项目建立在该州两所研究型大学和蒙大拿州4-H之间现有的合作伙伴关系的基础上，旨在向农村青年提供服务，并将他们带入一个能够激励、支持和维持STEM学习的人的网络。来自农村社区的初高中学生将被邀请到大学校园参加一个基于住宅建模的暑期项目，重点是数学和数学建模。暑期项目的活动旨在让他们参与与自己的背景和经历相关的问题，并向他们在当地的知识基金致敬。蒙大拿州模型的主要目标是使用数学建模作为一种机制，将已经存在于农村社区的日常数学实践与学科实践联系起来。该项目侧重于以下研究问题：(1)蒙大拿州社区的日常数学实践是什么？(2)如何利用日常的数学实践，并将其与学科实践联系起来，以服务于社区内有意义的数学问题？(3)青年如何认同和被认同数学及其在世界上的角色？(4)参与项目活动如何影响参与者对数学实践和内容的认识？该项目使用社会设计实验，这是一种混合研究方法，将传统的基于设计的研究与涉及参与者、研究人员和其他利益相关者之间合作的调查形式相结合，例如批判性人种学。数据来源包括人种学观察的现场记录、访谈、学生参与建模活动的视频、展示他们数学工作的人工制品以及对数学的态度清单的结果。通过与4-H的合作，蒙大拿州模型计划向全州的农村青年提供服务，特别是那些在STEM领域代表性不足的群体。该项目将影响正规和非正规教育工作者对农村社区现有知识基础的理解方式，以及这些基础如何为STEM学习提供信息、支持和维持。调查结果和成果将通过面向公众的网站和4-H基础设施传播。这个基础设施包括蒙大拿州4-H的三叶草交流比赛，将允许参加青年展示他们的项目。研究成果将通过地方和国家会议以及同行评议的出版物进行分享。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。

As part of its overall strategy to enhance learning in informal environments, the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program seeks to advance new approaches to, and evidence-based understanding of, the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments. This includes providing multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM learning experiences, advancing innovative research on and assessment of STEM learning in informal environments, and developing understandings of deeper learning by participants. The three-year project, Montana Models: Connecting Local and Disciplinary Practices through University-Community Partnerships, focuses on creating, implementing, and studying several learning outcomes associated with youth engagement in mathematical modeling contexts. The project builds on existing partnerships between the state's two research universities and Montana 4-H to target outreach to rural youth and bring them into a network of people who can inspire, support, and sustain STEM learning. Middle school and high school students from rural communities will be invited to a university campus for a residential modeling-based summer program l focused on mathematics and mathematical modeling. Activities at the summer program are designed to engage them in problems relevant to their own backgrounds and experiences and to honor their local funds of knowledge. The primary goal of Montana Models is to use mathematical modeling as a mechanism for bringing everyday mathematical practices already present in rural communities into contact with disciplinary practices. The project focuses on the following research questions: (1) What are the everyday mathematical practices in Montana communities? (2) How can everyday mathematical practices be leveraged and brought into contact with disciplinary practices in service of mathematizing meaningful questions within the community? (3) How do youth identify and get identified with respect to mathematics and with respect to their role in the world? (4) How does participation in project activities affect participants' knowledge of mathematical practices and content? The project uses social design experimentation, a hybrid research methodology which combines the traditions of design-based research with forms of inquiry that involve collaboration among participants, researchers, and other stakeholders, such as critical ethnography. Data sources include field notes from ethnographic observations, interviews, videos of students engaging in modeling activities, artifacts that show their mathematical work, and results from the Attitudes Towards Mathematics Inventory. Through its collaboration with 4-H, Montana Models targets outreach to rural youth across the state, especially those from groups that are typically underrepresented in STEM fields. The project is poised to impact ways in which formal and informal educators understand the knowledge bases that are already present in rural communities and how those bases may inform, support, and sustain STEM learning. Findings and deliverables will be disseminated through a public-facing website and through the 4-H infrastructure. This infrastructure includes Montana 4-H's Clover Communication Contest that will allow participating youth to showcase their projects. Research findings will be shared through local and national conferences and peer-reviewed publications.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.