Conference Travel Grant: Connecting Practioners and Scholars in Public Participation in STEM Research and in Community-Based Environmental Science to Enhance Informal STEM Learning

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)计划寻求促进非正式环境中STEM学习的设计和发展的新方法和基于证据的理解。这包括为扩大获得和参与STEM学习经验提供多种途径，推进对非正式环境中STEM学习的创新研究和评估，以及加深参与者对更深层次学习的理解。这笔旅行补助金的重点是扩大对STEM学习的参与，并促进与公众参与STEM研究(PPSR)相关的学术和实践。在PPSR中，公众自愿参与科学过程，以各种方式解决现实世界的问题，包括提出研究问题、进行科学实验、收集和分析数据、解释结果、做出新发现、开发技术和应用程序，以及解决复杂的问题。目前，许多PPSR项目的参与并不经常反映出国家的全方位多样性。公民科学协会(CSA)是一个旨在支持公民科学--PPSR的一种形式--在广泛的问题和社区中进行严格和道德实践的组织，每两年将PPSR实践者和学者聚集在一起。CSA会议将于2019年3月13日至17日在北卡罗来纳州罗利举行，将建立网络和能力，以支持全方位的公民科学和不同人群的学术和实践。这笔旅行补助金支持75名与会者，其中25名是当地代表，50名是国家代表，他们来自STEM中代表性不足的群体，他们积极参与以社区为基础的环境科学，并且以前没有参加过CSA会议。经常发生在少数群体社区的社区环境科学项目越来越依赖PPSR方法，包括让公众参与者通过技术和发展数据知识参与STEM学习。通过这笔旅行赠款，2019 CSA大会将汇集公民科学和社区环境科学项目的实践者和学者的专业知识和经验。会议将促进为期四天的互动和相互学习，有大量时间进行反复思考和积极讨论，使会议具有个人意义和意义。这是有意在公民科学和基于社区的环境科学项目中找出共性和矛盾的领域，以便有时间通过各种方法和问题与同事共同努力，以便更好地学习。互动应允许对项目的目标、理论、方法、招聘和保留以及对项目成功产生影响的其他方面进行有意义的讨论。会议的结构包括小组讨论、演讲、海报会议和讨论，以提高PPSR和基于社区的环境科学实践的质量和范围。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。

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. This travel grant focuses on broadening participation in STEM learning and advancing scholarship and practice related to Public Participation in STEM Research (PPSR). In PPSR, members of the public participate voluntarily in scientific processes, addressing real-world problems in ways that may include formulating research questions, conducting scientific experiments, collecting and analyzing data, interpreting results, making new discoveries, developing technologies and applications, and solving complex problems. Currently, participation in many PPSR projects does not often reflect the full range diversity in the nation. The Citizen Science Association (CSA), an organization that seeks to support the rigorous and ethical practice of citizen science--a form of PPSR--across a broad range of issues and communities, brings together PPSR practioners and scholars biennially. The CSA conference, to be held March 13-17, 2019, in Raleigh, North Carolina, will build networks and capacities to support scholarship and practice across the full range of citizen science and across diverse populations. This travel grant supports 75 participants, 25 local and 50 national, from groups underrepresented in STEM, who are actively engaged in community-based environmental science and have not previously attended a CSA conference. Community-based environmental science projects, which often occur in minority communities, are increasingly relying on PPSR approaches, including engaging public participants in STEM learning through technology and the development of data literacies. Through this travel grant, the 2019 CSA conference will bring together the expertise and experiences of practioners and scholars from citizen science and community-based environmental science projects. The conference will facilitate four days of interactions and mutual learning with significant time for iterative reflection and active discussion to make the sessions personally relevant and meaningful. This intentionally allows for identifying areas of both commonalities and tensions across citizen science and community-based environmental science projects, with time to work through various approaches and issues with colleagues for greater learning. The interactions should allow for meaningful discussion of goals, theory, methods, recruitment and retention and other aspects of projects that make a difference in the success of projects. The structure of the conference includes panels, presentations, poster sessions, and discussion to increase the quality and extent of PPSR and community-based environmental science practice.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.