An Interdisciplinary Design Program: Incorporating Making and Design Thinking to Enhance Undergraduate STEM Education

在改善本科STEM教育：西班牙裔服务机构（HSI计划）的支持下，这个第一轨道项目旨在提高本科生对科学的兴趣和对STEM项目的保留。它打算通过以项目为基础的学习活动来丰富STEM课程，向学生介绍制作和设计思维，从而实现这一目标。该项目旨在通过皇后学院（HSI）和纽约科学馆（New York Hall of Science）之间的合作来建立教师能力。该项目将借鉴纽约科学馆在非正式学习方面的专业知识，该馆已经制定了一个框架，通过制作、发现和探索来加强STEM学习。该项目将收集证据，证明制作和设计思维如何提高学生对STEM的积极性和兴趣，以及提高学生的学业成绩。该项目旨在扩大代表性不足的群体对STEM学科的参与，并有可能改变纽约市皇后区多元化社区的科学兴趣。该项目旨在将基于项目的教学方法纳入指定课程，向学生介绍制作和设计思维。该项目将为STEM教师开发和支持一个学习社区，这将帮助教师获得如何将设计思维、制作和创客空间设施的使用最好地融入他们的课程的专业知识。该项目旨在为基于项目的学习提供最佳实践，包括STEM课程中的制作和设计思维。此外，该项目还将研究制作和设计思维是否有助于改变学生的动机信念和对STEM的兴趣，深化教师的教学实践，并促进机构间的互动。该项目对本科生的影响将使用与STEM成绩和持久性相关的数据（来自机构记录）和动机感知测量（来自调查）进行调查。为了调查教师的参与和看法，以及对参与机构的影响，纵向混合方法设计将产生有关教师如何随着时间的推移对培训和支持做出反应，以及长期活动如何导致复杂机构发生变化的数据。该项目将举办一个公共论坛，学生们可以在这里展示或演示他们的项目，并通过项目网站分享研究成果。其他传播工作将包括在QC创客空间和课程网站上发布课程手册，在学术出版物和非正式学习从业者出版物上发表论文，在STEM教育会议和纽约科学馆的公共活动上发表演讲。HSI计划旨在加强HSI的本科STEM教育和能力建设。HSI计划支持的项目也将产生关于如何实现这些目标的新知识。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并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，被认为值得支持。

With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 1 project aims to improve undergraduate student interest in science and retention in STEM programs. It intends to accomplish this goal by enriching STEM courses with project-based learning activities that introduce students to making and design thinking. The project seeks to build faculty capacity through a partnership between Queens College, an HSI, and the New York Hall of Science, a science museum. The project will draw from the expertise in informal learning of New York Hall of Science, which has developed a framework that enhances STEM learning through making, discovery, and exploration. The project will gather evidence about how making and design thinking lead to increased student motivation and interest in STEM, as well as improvements in academic outcomes for students. The project seeks to broaden the participation of underrepresented groups in STEM disciplines and has the potential to transform science interest within the diverse community of Queens in New York City.The project aims to incorporate project-based pedagogical approaches in identified courses to introduce students to making and design thinking. The project will develop and support a learning community for STEM faculty, which will help faculty acquire expertise in how to best incorporate design thinking, making, and the use of makerspace facilities into their courses. The project aims to generate best practices in project-based learning that includes making and design thinking in STEM courses. In addition, the project will examine whether making and design thinking supports changes in students' motivational beliefs and interest in STEM, deepens faculty pedagogical practices, and fosters inter-institutional interactions. The project's impact on undergraduate students will be investigated using data linked to STEM achievement and persistence (from institutional records) and measures of motivational perceptions (from surveys). To investigate faculty participation and perceptions, as well as impact on participating institutions, a longitudinal mixed methods design will generate data about how faculty respond over time to training and support, and about how long-term activities lead to change in complex institutions. The project will host a public forum where students can present or demo their projects and will also share findings through a project website. Other dissemination efforts will include course manuals posted on the QC Makerspace and course websites, papers published in both academic publications and informal learning practitioner publications, presentations given at STEM education conferences and at public events at the New York Hall of Science. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.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.