Growing Computer Science Literacy via Informal Learning Communities among Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Men and Women

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）项目资助了用于各种环境的创新研究、方法和资源。这个试点和可行性研究项目将设计和研究纽约州三所监狱的计算机科学教育计划，以及纽约市和佛蒙特州本宁顿的尖端计算机科学学习空间，为最近获释的男女学生提供服务。这两个投资地点的设计和运营目标是将监狱内和释放后的非正式STEM教育联系起来。该项目旨在帮助在押人员和曾经在押人员获得计算机科学方面的实践经验和熟练技术。该项目还将帮助人们建立有效的途径，将监狱中的培训和非正式学习社区与出狱后的职业和教育成功联系起来。该研究将考察非正式的STEM学习如何能够1)为在押人员和出狱人员提供进入计算机科学和技术专业的更有效途径，以及2)帮助振兴那些在高监禁率和高教养监督下成年人比例中挣扎的社区。结果将通过现有网络、学术和新闻出版物以及会议在STEM学习社区和监狱教育工作者之间共享。作为一个试点项目，该项目旨在开发一个全面、严谨、可转移的模式，可作为其他监狱教育项目以及美国农村和城市社区寻求解决监禁后生活中经济和教育不平等问题的资源。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 funds innovative research, approaches, and resources for use in a variety of settings. This Pilots and Feasibility Studies project will design and study computer science education programs in three New York State prisons and cutting-edge computer science learning spaces in New York City and Bennington, VT for recently released men and women. These two sites of investment will be designed and operated with the goals of bridging informal STEM education inside the prison and post-release. The project aims to help incarcerated and formerly incarcerated men and women gain hands-on experience and technical fluency in computer science. The project will also help people build effective pathways that link training and informal learning communities in prison to professional and educational success after prison.The research will examine how informal STEM learning can 1) provide incarcerated and post-incarceration populations more effective pathways into computer science and technology professions, and 2) help revitalize neighborhoods struggling with high rates of incarceration and high rates of adults under correctional supervision. Results will be shared among the STEM learning community and prison educators through existing networks, scholarly and journalistic publications, and conferences. As a pilot program, this project aims to develop a comprehensive, rigorous, and transferable model that may be used as a resource in other prison education programs as well as in rural and urban communities across the United States seeking to address economic and educational inequalities of post-incarceration life.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.