Investigating Measurement of STEM Engagement and Advocacy in Older Adults.

虽然之前的研究已经探索了成年人寻求学习机会的原因，但对影响老年人参与特定学习经历的意愿的因素知之甚少。这项研究将有助于理解老年人在非正式环境中参与STEM学习的策略。这里要研究的特殊非正式STEM学习(ISL)经验涉及创新地使用精心构建的多代团队工程设计挑战，该挑战结合了被公认为STEM综合方法的工程设计过程。该项目将开发和试验新的工具，以衡量ISL经验对老年人的影响。这项工作最终将产生新的知识，通过严格、系统地开发老年人学习的测量方法来支持一般测量实践。在为期18个月的试点研究中，该小组将：(A)制定和测试衡量50岁以上成年人参与非正式STEM学习和STEM宣传的方法；(B)探索导致这一人群参与ISL的因素，并缓和加强STEM宣传的结果。出于研究目的，敬业度被定义为对任务的专注、参与和坚持不懈。STEM倡导被定义为对支持或促进事业或政策的个人行动的立场。研究设计包括使用代际团队工程设计挑战，涉及48名老年人作为研究的重点ISL活动。这项初步研究的结果将为未来针对老年人学习的ISL环境的大规模研究提供参考，包括具体的教学实践和结果。界定STEM宣传的结构，并将其有效性作为潜在的可衡量结果进行审查，将使该领域更好地设计和评估更有效的老年人学习经验。项目成果将通过关于ISL、成人教育和研究工具开发的文献以及现有的从业人员网络广泛传播。该项目与终身学习机构网络的联系为ISL体验创造了更多的基础设施机会，包括更广泛地使用代际学习方法和非正式的STEM设计挑战。这项试点可行性研究由推进非正式STEM学习(AISL)计划资助，该计划旨在促进对非正式环境中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，在非正式环境中推进对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。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。

While prior research has explored the reasons adults seek learning opportunities, little is known about the factors that moderate older adults' desire to participate in particular learning experiences. This study will contribute to understanding strategies that engage older adults in STEM learning in informal settings. The specific informal STEM Learning (ISL) experience to be studied here involves the innovative use of a carefully structured multigenerational team engineering design challenge that incorporates the engineering design process, recognized as integrative approach to STEM. The project will develop and pilot new tools to measure the impacts of the ISL experience on older adults. The work will ultimately generate new knowledge that supports general measurement practices through the rigorous, systematic development of measures of older adult learning. During the 18-month pilot study, the team will: (a) develop and test methods for measuring engagement in informal STEM learning and STEM advocacy in adults 50+ years of age; and (b) explore factors that lead to the engagement of this population in ISL and that moderate the outcome of enhanced STEM advocacy. For research purposes, engagement is being defined as focus, participation, and persistence on a task. STEM advocacy is defined as a stance toward personal actions that supports or promotes a cause or policy. The study design includes use of an intergenerational team engineering design challenge involving 48 older adults as the focal ISL activity of the research. Findings from this pilot study will inform a future large-scale study of ISL environments, including specific instructional practices and resulting outcomes, for older adult learning. Defining the construct of STEM advocacy and examining its validity as a potentially measurable outcome will better position the field to design and evaluate more effective older adult learning experiences. Project results will be disseminated widely through the literature on ISL, adult education and research tool development, as well as existing practitioner networks. The project's connection with networks of lifelong learning institutes creates additional infrastructure opportunities for ISL experiences, including the broader use of intergenerational learning methods and informal STEM design challenges. This Pilot & Feasibility study is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which 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 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.