LabVenture - Revealing Systemic Impacts of a 12-Year Statewide Science Field Trip Program

这项服务于实践项目的研究将检验为期12年的全州科学实地考察计划LabVenture的影响。这个发现和探究的实践项目将缅因州的中学生和教师带到缅因州波特兰的缅因湾研究所(GMRI)，完全沉浸在对当地海洋科学生态系统复杂性的探索中。这些密集的实地考察体验是由非正式教育者领导的，并完全在GMRI的非正式背景下进行。缅因州每年约有70%的五年级和六年级学生参加该计划，自2005年该计划开始以来，已有超过12万名学生参加了该计划。不幸的是，到目前为止，关于该计划如何影响正式、非正式和社区环境中的实践和学习生态系统，人们知之甚少。因此，这项服务于实践项目的研究将采用一种创新的研究方法，以了解和促进关于该计划在不同背景下的短期和长期影响的知识。如果被证明有效，LabVenture计划将阐明随着时间的推移在社区内系统实施的大规模实地考察计划的潜在好处，并成为全州范围内采用类似计划的声誉良好的典范，该计划寻求创新战略，将正式和非正式的科学学习联系起来，以实现当地、全州或地区性STEM学习生态系统的显著积极转变。在四年的项目期间，该项目将覆盖缅因州的所有16个县。研究设计包括一个多步骤、多方法的方法，以深入了解主要的研究问题。最初的研究将侧重于现有数据和在该计划12年历史上编码的追溯数据来源。然后，这项研究将被扩大，以获得关于当前参与的学生、教师和非正式教育工作者的预期数据。最后，将进行一项社区研究，以了解该计划潜在的更广泛的影响。研究的每个阶段将考虑以下主要研究问题：(1)正式和非正式实践者如何看待实地考察计划和更广泛的实地考察体验的价值和目的(实地考察本体论)？(2)非正式背景下的短期实地考察经历在多大程度上影响学生的认知和情感结果？(3)社区特征(例如，人口、离GMRI的距离、(4)正在进行的实地考察计划的哪些方面可能会将其嵌入为社区文化的一个组成部分(例如，社区对共享社会体验的认识)？(5)一个州的学校分享的实地考察经历在多大程度上会导致可追溯的变化，这些变化可以为参与者和更广泛的社区进行衡量？以及(6)在非正式环境中进行的实地考察能以何种方式对更大的学习生态系统(例如缅因州的教育系统)产生影响？研究的每个阶段将由一组研究人员领导，这些研究人员在开展研究的特定方面(即，回溯性研究、前瞻性研究、社区研究)所需的方法和背景方面具有必要的专门知识。此外，评价和实践者专家组将就研究、评价和项目实施提供专门知识和指导。该项目最终将由一名实践者召开会议，与正式和非正式实践者更广泛地分享项目成果，并促进从研究向实践的转移。其他传播策略包括会议、网络会议和同行评议的出版物。这项研究可以在正式和非正式STEM学习之间的交叉性方面获得潜在的见解是实质性的。因此，该项目由推进非正式STEM学习(AISL)和探索研究K-12(DRK-12)计划共同资助。推进非正式STEM学习(AISL)计划旨在促进对非正式环境中STEM学习的设计和开发的新方法和基于证据的理解。同样，发现研究-K12项目旨在通过研究和开发创新资源、模型和工具，显著提高K-12学前班学生和教师的科学、技术、工程和数学(STEM)的学习和教学。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This research in service to practice project will examine the impact of a 12-year statewide science field trip program called LabVenture. This hands-on program in discovery and inquiry brings middle school students and teachers across the State of Maine to the Gulf of Maine Research Institute (GMRI) in Portland, Maine to become fully immersed in explorations into the complexities of local marine science ecosystems. These intensive field trip experiences are led by informal educators and facilitated entirely within informal contexts at GMRI. Approximately 70% of all fifth and sixth grade students in Maine participate in the program each year and more than 120,000 students have attended since the program's inception in 2005. Unfortunately, little is known to date on how the program has influenced practice and learning ecosystems within formal, informal, and community contexts. As such, this research in service to practice project will employ an innovative research approach to understand and advance knowledge on the short and long-term impacts of the program within different contexts. If proven effective, the LabVenture program will elucidate the potential benefits of a large-scale field trip program implemented systemically across a community over time and serve as a reputable model for statewide adoption of similar programs seeking innovative strategies to connect formal and informal science learning to achieve notable positive shifts in their local, statewide, or regional STEM learning ecosystems. Over the four-year project duration, the project will reach all 16 counties in the State of Maine. The research design includes a multi-step, multi-method approach to gain insight on the primary research questions. The initial research will focus on extant data and retrospective data sources codified over the 12-year history of the program. The research will then be expanded to garner prospective data on current participating students, teachers, and informal educators. Finally, a community study will be conducted to understand the potential broader impacts of the program. Each phase of the research will consider the following overarching research questions are: (1) How do formal and informal practitioners perceive the value and purposes of the field trip program and field trip experiences more broadly (field trip ontology)? (2) To what degree do short-term field trip experiences in informal contexts effect cognitive and affective outcomes for students? (3) How are community characteristics (e.g., population, distance from GMRI, proximity to the coast) related to ongoing engagement with the field trip program? (4) What are aspects of the ongoing field trip program that might embed it as an integral element of community culture (e.g., community awareness of a shared social experience)? (5) To what degree does a field trip experience that is shared by schools across a state lead to a traceable change that can be measured for those who participated and across the broader community? and (6) In what ways, if at all, can a field trip experience that occurs in informal contexts have an influence on the larger learning ecosystem (e.g., the Maine education system)? Each phase of the research will be led by a team of researchers with the requisite expertise in the methodologies and contexts required to carry out that particular aspect of the research (i.e., retrospective study, prospective study, community study). In addition, evaluation and practitioner panels of experts will provide expertise and guidance on the research, evaluation, and project implementation. The project will culminate with a practitioner convening, to share project findings more broadly with formal and informal practitioners, and promote transfer from research to practice. Additional dissemination strategies include conferences, network meetings, and peer-reviewed publications.The potential insights this research could garner on intersectionality between formal and informal STEM learning are substantial. As a consequence, this project is co-funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) and Discovery Research K-12 (DRK-12) Programs. 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. Likewise, the Discovery Research-K12 Program seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) by preK-12 students and teachers, through research and development of innovative resources, models and tools.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.