Hidden No More: Shedding Light on Science Stories in the Shadows

作为在非正式环境中加强学习的总体战略的一部分，推进非正式STEM学习(AISL)计划为各种环境中使用的创新资源提供资金。在代表性不足的人群中，缺乏杰出的STEM榜样。例如，根据2017年的一项调查，美国只有3.1%的物理学家是黑人，只有2.1%是西班牙裔，只有0.5%是美洲原住民。该项目将通过开发展品来帮助弥合这些差距，展品包括对鲜为人知的彩色科学家进行的历史科学实验的模拟，让参与者沉浸在科学家发现过程中的虚拟现实遭遇，以及允许参观者与展品互动并探索展品主题的其他内容。该项目将开发可运输的互动展览，重点关注光：我们如何感知光，从灯泡到恒星的光源，真实和人造光在人类努力中的使用，以及过去和现在的STEM创新者，他们的工作帮助我们理解、创造和利用现在的光。展品将分三个阶段进行，每个阶段都探索光的一个特征(颜色、能量或时间)。每个主题都将通过多种形式进行探索：纪录片和动画短片、虚拟现实体验、互动“照相亭”，以及基于技术的调查活动。展览部分将在另外七个地点复制，这些地点将为观众举办展品，该项目的数字资产将使其他STEM学习组织能够复制展品。这些展品将旨在解决成年人和年轻学习者在理解光方面的常见差距。从科学上讲，光真正是什么，做什么，是这些展品将向普通观众传达的一种隐藏的故事。展品将讲述另外两种类型的科学故事：与光相关的当代研究，特别是天体物理学，如何揭示我们宇宙的隐藏故事；以及STEM创新者的隐藏故事，过去和现在，女性和男性，来自不同的背景。这些故事将为青少年学习者提供必要的榜样，帮助他们学习复杂的STEM内容，同时向他们展示科学研究是如何进行的，以及可以为STEM创新和发现做出贡献的不同社区。项目交付成果将旨在通过连贯、身临其境和身临其境的学习体验来呈现复杂的物理内容，这些学习体验已被证明可以促进参与和更深入的学习。该项目将研究参与者是否能够通过与这些展品的互动，开始整合离散的想法，并与复杂的科学内容建立联系，而如果没有技术支持，这将是困难的。例如，学生和其他新手往往缺乏必要的专业知识来区分科学问题中需要的和额外的东西。建议的研究遵循基于设计的研究(DBR)方法，其特点是数据收集、分析和反思的迭代循环，以指导教育创新的设计和推进教育理论。项目研究包括构思、构建和测试迭代阶段，这将使项目能够捕捉到非正式学习环境中学习和参与的复杂性。研究参与者将完成一系列研究活动，包括焦点小组访谈、观察和对科学内容知识和性格的事后评估。通过展示这些榜样并介绍STEM的相关内容，该项目将拓宽非正式学习环境中的受众的视野，特别是STEM领域中代表性不足群体的青少年。研究成果和方法将在非正式STEM学习社区中广泛分享，建立该领域的知识，以扩大对非正式科学学习的参与，从而增加对STEM工作人员的广泛参与和准备。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 funds innovative resources for use in a variety of settings. There is a dearth of prominent STEM role models for underrepresented populations. For example, according to a 2017 survey, only 3.1% of physicists in the United States are Black, only 2.1% are Hispanic, and only 0.5% are Native American. The project will help bridge these gaps by developing exhibits that include simulations of historical scientific experiments enacted by little-known scientists of color, virtual reality encounters that immerse participants in the scientists' discovery process, and other content that allows visitors to interact with the exhibits and explore the exhibits' themes. The project will develop transportable, interactive exhibits focusing on light: how we perceive light, sources of light from light bulbs to stars, uses of real and artificial light in human endeavors, and past and current STEM innovators whose work helps us understand, create, and harness light now. The exhibits will be developed in three stages, each exploring a characteristic of light (Color, Energy, or Time). Each theme will be explored via multiple deliveries: short documentary and animated films, virtual reality experiences, interactive "photobooths," and technology-based inquiry activities. The exhibit components will be copied at seven additional sites, which will host the exhibits for their audiences, and the project's digital assets will enable other STEM learning organizations to duplicate the exhibits. The exhibits will be designed to address common gaps in understanding, among adults as well as younger learners, about light. What light really is and does, in scientific terms, is one type of hidden story these exhibits will convey to general audiences. Two other types of science stories the exhibits will tell: how contemporary research related to light, particularly in astrophysics, is unveiling the hidden stories of our universe; and hidden stories of STEM innovators, past and present, women and men, from diverse backgrounds. These stories will provide needed role models for the adolescent learners, helping them learn complex STEM content while showing them how scientific research is conducted and the diverse community of people who can contribute to STEM innovations and discoveries. The project deliverables will be designed to present complex physics content through coherent, immersive, and embodied learning experiences that have been demonstrated to promote engagement and deeper learning. The project will research whether participants, through interacting with these exhibits, can begin to integrate discrete ideas and make connections with complex scientific content that would be difficult without technology support. For example, students and other novices often lack the expertise necessary to make distinctions between what is needed and what is extra within scientific problems. The proposed study follows a Design-Based Research (DBR) approach characterized by iterative cycles of data collection, analysis, and reflection to inform the design of educational innovations and advance educational theory. Project research includes conceiving, building, and testing iterative phases, which will enable the project to capture the complexity of learning and engagement in informal learning settings. Research participants will complete a range of research activities, including focus group interviews, observation, and pre-post assessment of science content knowledge and dispositions. By showcasing such role models and informing about related STEM content, this project will widen perspectives of audiences in informal learning settings, particularly adolescents from groups underrepresented in STEM fields. Research findings and methodologies will be shared widely in the informal STEM learning community, building the field's knowledge of effective ways to broaden participation in informal science learning, and thus increase broaden participation in and preparation for the STEM-based workforce.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.