Supporting Science Inquiry, Interest, and STEM Thinking for Young Dual Language Learners

STEM（科学、技术、工程、数学）知识和技能对于满足21世纪的生活和工作需求至关重要。尽管所有的幼儿都是好奇的、高度积极的探索者和问题解决者，但来自边缘化社区的儿童，包括拉丁双语学习者（dll），在学校和教师不承认其家庭的STEM知识和实践的情况下，面临着早期和持续的机会差距，限制了他们参与支持和维持其早期STEM倾向、身份和兴趣的科学体验类型。为了解决这一问题，正式和非正式的科学学习环境必须为年轻的dll、他们的家庭和教师提供包容性的高质量科学和STEM体验，以尊重语言在科学探究和学习中的作用。这意味着以家庭和社区成员为中心，让他们成为儿童STEM的倡导者和榜样；建立和维持相互尊重和反应迅速的家-学校-社区STEM伙伴关系；培养教师创造课堂探究文化的能力，支持英语和家庭语言的发展；强调不同背景、文化和观点在STEM教育和劳动力中的重要性。儿童生活中所有重要的成年人都需要共同努力，培养儿童的STEM倾向和信心，以激发和维持他们追求未来STEM机会的兴趣。支持科学探究、兴趣和STEM思维的年轻双语学习者项目将通过家庭、教师和社区的支持，为学前班（PreK）拉丁语dll建立有关STEM学习系统的知识。该项目旨在提高幼儿园学生对高质量、语言丰富的科学探究的参与，促进他们的科学/素养学习，提高他们对STEM的兴趣和自信。该项目由教育发展中心领导，与康涅狄格州科学中心和康涅狄格州新不列颠联合学区合作，将带来创新技术和学习经验，与该地区的指导游戏和家庭参与方法相一致，作为扩大PreK latin dls STEM机会的途径。该项目的目标是：(1)提高DLL家庭对自己作为孩子科学学习关键伙伴的认识；(2)培养PreK DLL教师提供丰富的科学/素养体验和与家庭合作的能力；(3)提高儿童、家庭和教师对STEM职业的认识；(4)提高幼儿的科学、语言和读写能力，提高他们从事科学研究的兴趣和自信心。该项目包括家长/教师合作研讨会、Play Lab旁听会议、科学/扫盲工具包和数字资源、教练和专业学习社区，以及STEM社区助手。项目团队将采用迭代研究设计方法，根据家庭、教师和内容专家的意见，开发和完善项目的每个组成部分，并开展一项准实验设计试点研究，以评估参与项目活动对家长、教师和DLL PreK儿童的影响。该项目将为该领域提供知识，了解以探究为基础、知识丰富的科学如何提高dll的认知和非认知结果。研究结果将有助于了解家庭、教师和社区成员如何合作，以丰富dll的科学探究。该项目明确关注PreK dll，将扩大参与范围，并为dll积极参与未来的STEM劳动力提供潜力。它也有可能积极影响家长和教师对自己有能力做、学习和谈论科学和STEM的感觉。该项目由“面向学生和教师的创新技术体验”（ITEST）项目资助，该项目支持有助于提高学生对科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）以及信息和通信技术（ICT）职业的知识和兴趣的实践、项目要素、背景和过程的理解。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。

STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) knowledge and skills are essential for navigating the demands of life and work in the 21st century. Although all young children are curious and highly-motivated explorers and problem-solvers, children from marginalized communities, including Latinx Dual Language Learners (DLLs), face early and persistent opportunity gaps that limit their participation in the types of science experiences that support and sustain their early STEM dispositions, identities, and interests when schools and teachers do not recognize the STEM knowledge and practices of their families. In order to address this issue, formal and informal science learning settings must provide inclusive high-quality science and STEM experiences for young DLLs, their families, and teachers that honor the role of language in science inquiry and learning. This means centering family and community members as children’s STEM advocates and role models; creating and sustaining mutually respectful and responsive home-school-community STEM partnerships; building teachers’ capacity to create classroom cultures of inquiry that support English and home language development; and addressing the importance of diverse backgrounds, cultures, and perspectives in STEM education and the workforce. All of the important adults in children’s lives need to work together to nurture children’s STEM dispositions and confidence in ways that will spark and sustain their interests in pursuing future STEM opportunities. The Supporting Science Inquiry, Interest, and STEM Thinking for Young Dual Language Learners project will build knowledge about STEM learning systems for prekindergarten (PreK) Latinx DLLs through family, teacher, and community supports. The project is designed to increase PreK DLLs’ participation in high-quality, language-rich science inquiry that promotes their science/literacy learning and increases their STEM interest and self-confidence. In collaboration with the Connecticut Science Center and the Connecticut Consolidated School District of New Britain, this project led by the Education Development Center will bring innovative technologies and learning experiences that align with the district’s approach of guided play and family engagement as pathways to expanding STEM opportunities for PreK Latinx DLLs.The goals of the project are to: (1) increase DLL families’ perceptions of themselves as critical partners in their children’s science learning; (2) build PreK DLL teachers’ capacity to provide rich science/literacy experiences and partner with families; (3) increase children’s, families’, and teachers’ knowledge of STEM careers; and (4) improve PreK DLLs’ science, language, and literacy skills and their interest and self-confidence in doing science. The program includes collaborative parent/teacher workshops, Play Lab drop-in sessions, science/literacy kits and digital resources, coaching and professional learning communities, and STEM community helpers. Using an iterative research design approach, the project team will develop and refine each of the project components with input from families, teachers, and content experts and conduct a quasi-experimental design pilot study to assess how participation in project activities affects parents, teachers, and DLL PreK children. The project will contribute knowledge to the field about how inquiry-based, literacy-rich science increases DLLs’ cognitive and non-cognitive outcomes. Research findings will provide an understanding of how families, teachers, and community members can collaborate in ways to enrich DLLs’ science inquiry. With its explicit focus on PreK DLLs, this project will broaden participation and provide potential for DLLs’ active participation in the STEM workforce of the future. It also has the potential to positively impact parents’ and teachers’ own sense of themselves as capable of doing, learning, and talking about science and STEM. This project is funded by the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program, which supports projects that build understandings of practices, program elements, contexts and processes contributing to increasing students' knowledge and interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and information and communication technology (ICT) careers.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.