INFEWS/T3 RCN: Cultivating a National Collaborative for Research on Food, Energy, and Water Education (NC-FEW)

当今社会面临着与满足粮食-能源-水-关系（FEW-Nexus）日益增长的需求有关的全球可持续性挑战。将复杂的食物、能源和水（FEW）相互作用概念化为一个联系，提供了一种全面的方法来解释和平衡FEW组件内部和之间的权衡。为了培养科学素养，满足科学，技术，工程和数学（STEM）以及食品，农业，自然资源和人文科学（FANH）的劳动力需求，需要持续和系统地努力关注基于FEW-Nexus的教育和教育研究。研究人员将培养一个新的跨学科社区，即国家食品，能源和水教育研究合作组织（NC-FEW），该组织将作为FEW-Nexus教育项目的教育研究创新中心，在许多层面（K-12，中学后，成人）和环境（正式和非正式）。该项目将直接影响来自不同机构的约600名教育工作者和教育研究人员（中学后教师、K-12教师、非正规教育工作者）以及各种教育环境中的各种学习者。该研究协调网络（RCN）将加强以FEW-Nexus为基础的教育方案。RCN将通过围绕重要的可持续性挑战进行教育创新和能力建设，提高STEM/FANH科学素养，从而造福社会。世纪及以后最大的可持续发展挑战是由自然和人类系统之间复杂的相互作用所定义的。粮食-能源-水-关系（FEW-Nexus）为理解这种相互作用提供了一个框架。虽然FEW-Nexus在科学研究中受到越来越多的关注，但基于FEW-Nexus的教育方案编制和教学研究却没有得到足够的重视。有必要在过去工作的基础上，以跨学科的方式推进基于FEW-Nexus的教育工作。这个研究协调网络（RCN）将培养一个教育工作者和教育研究人员的社区，他们的工作重点是关于FEW-Nexus的教学和学习。国家粮食、能源和水教育研究合作项目（NC-FEW）将包括邀请会议、信息网络研讨会、科学传播和教学资源开发，以及为教育工作者和教育研究人员提供教育和培训机会。它将利用现有的努力，帮助建设一个新的跨学科教育工作者和学者群体的能力，共同关注教育研究和方案编制。通过系统的能力建设活动和协作，项目活动将促进关于FEW-Nexus教与学的知识和实践，包括教学实践、学生学习以及评价和评估，一个新的焦点在少数人身上-跨学科专业知识的联系和动员，以促进围绕创新教育计划的教育研究。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为是值得的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来提供支持。

Societies today face global sustainability challenges related to meeting growing needs at the Food-Energy-Water-Nexus (FEW-Nexus). Conceptualizing complex Food, Energy, and Water (FEW) interactions as a nexus provides a holistic way to account for and balance tradeoffs within and across FEW components. In order to foster scientific literacy, meet workforce demands in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and food, agriculture, natural resources, and human sciences (FANH), there is a need for a sustained and systematic effort focused on education and education research grounded in the FEW-Nexus. The investigators will cultivate a new, transdisciplinary community, the National Collaborative for Research on Food, Energy, and Water Education (NC-FEW), which will serve as a hub of innovation for education research on FEW-Nexus educational programs at many levels (K-12, postsecondary, adults) and settings (formal and informal). The project will directly impact an estimated 600 educators and education researchers (postsecondary faculty, K-12 teachers, informal educators) from diverse institutions, as well as a variety of learners in an array of educational settings. This Research Coordination Network (RCN) will enhance educational programs grounded in the FEW-Nexus. The RCN will benefit society by improving STEM/FANH science literacy through educational innovation and capacity building around an important sustainability challenge. The greatest sustainability challenges of the 21st Century and beyond are defined by complex interactions between natural and human systems. The Food-Energy-Water-Nexus (FEW-Nexus) provides one framework for understanding such interactions. While the FEW-Nexus has received increasing attention in scientific research, educational programming and research on teaching and learning grounded in the FEW-Nexus has been underemphasized. There is a need to build upon past work to advance FEW-Nexus-based educational efforts in a transdisciplinary manner. This Research Coordination Network (RCN) will cultivate a community of educators and education researchers whose work focuses on teaching and learning about the FEW-Nexus. The National Collaborative for Research on Food, Energy, and Water Education (NC-FEW) will involve invited meetings, informational webinars, science communication, and development of instructional resources, as well as education and training opportunities for educators and education researchers. It will leverage existing efforts to help build capacity of a new transdisciplinary community of educators and scholars with a shared focus on educational research and programming. Through systemic capacity-building activities and collaboration, project activities will advance knowledge and practice about teaching and learning in the FEW-Nexus, including pedagogical practices, student learning, and evaluation and assessment, with a novel focus on the FEW-Nexus and mobilization of transdisciplinary expertise to catalyze education research around innovative educational programs.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.