Let's do science! Promoting the development of beneficial beliefs about science in early childhood

科学成就方面的性别、种族和民族差异根源于儿童早期，对教育成果产生终身影响。通常，这些早期的根源是以有问题的信念的形式出现的，包括认为科学是一群只有经过挑选的人才能成功的东西。对于在科学领域代表性不足的社会群体的儿童，包括女孩和某些种族和少数民族群体的儿童，这些信念尤其令人沮丧。这个项目将揭示这些有问题的信念是如何形成的，以及如何促进更有益的信念——特别是，如何促进科学是人们学习的东西，而不是一个人需要拥有的身份。此外，该项目将测试在儿童早期针对这些信念是否会在儿童从学前班过渡到正式学校教育的过程中创造积极的科学参与轨迹。在这样做的过程中，该项目将开发一种新的方法来传播有关科学的有益信念，并促进来自科学代表性不足的社会群体的幼儿参与科学，同时解决有关信念如何在社区中发展和传播的基本问题。通过与教师合作实施该项目，并使用创新的、基于网络摄像头的实验室进行远程发展研究，该项目将最大限度地提高该研究的机会，从而导致教育实践的快速变化，从而扩大儿童早期科学的参与。该项目由EHR核心研究项目资助，该项目强调STEM教育研究，将在该领域产生基础知识。第一阶段将通过一项对2000名儿童和200名教师进行的大型公共学前教育项目的实地实验研究，揭示儿童早期对科学产生问题或有益信念的机制。这个实地实验将测试一个概念发展和信念传递的模型，在这个模型中，儿童的信念是由他们听到的关于科学的语言的微妙特征塑造的；特别是，教师使用暗示科学家是一种特殊类型的人的语言线索，包括类别标签（例如，“让我们成为科学家！”）以及对科学家的工作或为人的一般性描述（例如，“科学家发现世界上的事物”）。实地实验将测试减少这些以身份为中心的语言线索，并鼓励更多以行动为导向的语言（例如，“让我们做科学！”）的影响。做科学导致发现关于世界的事情”)对儿童科学信念和行为的发展。第二阶段将考察儿童关于在科学上取得成功是否需要特殊身份的发展信念在多大程度上影响了社会对科学的刻板印象的发展，以及儿童在向幼儿园过渡期间对科学的参与和效能的影响（因为科学兴趣的社会差异和对科学家的社会刻板印象开始出现）。这一阶段将需要对来自实地实验的500名儿童进行为期两年的纵向跟踪研究，这将通过一个创新的基于网络摄像头的远程发展研究实验室进行，这将允许在儿童转学后进行纵向跟踪。因此，该项目将通过解决有关早期概念和社会发展本质的基本问题来推进研究，包括语言如何塑造儿童科学信念和行为的发展，儿童信念如何随着时间的推移而变化，以及研究人员和教育工作者如何利用发展机制来促进不同儿童群体科学参与的积极发展轨迹。建立一个公共网站来分享项目材料和发现，将使跨学科的研究人员、课程开发人员、幼儿园前教师和幼儿家庭能够迅速得到传播。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。

The roots of gender, racial, and ethnic disparities in science achievement take hold in early childhood, with lifelong implications for educational outcomes. Often, these early roots are in the form of problematic beliefs, including beliefs that science is something in which only a select group of people can succeed. These beliefs are particularly discouraging for children from social groups that are underrepresented in science, including girls and children from certain racial and ethnic minority groups. This project will reveal how these problematic beliefs develop and how to promote more beneficial ones—in particular, how to promote beliefs that science is something that people learn to do rather than an identity that one needs to have. Further, this project will test whether targeting these beliefs in early childhood creates positive trajectories of science engagement over children’s transition from prekindergarten into formal schooling. In doing so, this project will develop a new approach to spreading beneficial beliefs about science and promoting science engagement among young children from social groups that are underrepresented in science, while addressing fundamental questions about how beliefs develop and spread across communities. By partnering with teachers to implement this project and using an innovative, webcam-based lab for remote developmental research, this project will maximize the opportunities for this research to lead to rapid changes in educational practices that will broaden participation in science in early childhood. This project is funded by the EHR Core Research program, which emphasizes STEM education research that will generate foundational knowledge in the field.Phase 1 will reveal the mechanisms by which problematic or beneficial beliefs about science arise in early childhood via an experimental field study with 2,000 children and 200 teachers in a large, public prekindergarten program. This field experiment will test a model of conceptual development and belief transmission wherein children’s beliefs are shaped by subtle features of the language they hear about science; in particular, teachers’ use of linguistic cues implying that scientists are a special kind of person, including category labels (e.g., “Let’s be scientists!”) and generic descriptions of what scientists do or are like (e.g., “Scientists discover things about the world”). The field experiment will test the influence of reducing these identity-focused linguistic cues, and instead encourage more action-oriented language (e.g., “Let’s do science! Doing science leads to discovering things about the world”) on the development of children’s science beliefs and behavior. Phase 2 will examine the extent to which children’s developing beliefs about whether success in science requires a special identity have consequences for the development of social stereotypes about science and for children’s science engagement and efficacy over the transition to kindergarten (as social disparities in science interest and social stereotypes about scientists begin to emerge). This phase will entail a two-year longitudinal follow-up study of a subset of 500 children from the field experiment, which will be conducted via an innovative webcam-based lab for remote developmental research, which will allow for longitudinal tracking after children transition schools. Thus, this project will advance research by addressing fundamental questions about the nature of early conceptual and social development, including how language shapes the development of children’s science beliefs and behavior, how children’s beliefs change over time, and how researchers and educators can harness developmental mechanisms to promote positive developmental trajectories of science engagement across diverse populations of children. Creation of a public website to share project materials and findings will enable rapid dissemination to researchers across disciplines, curriculum developers, prekindergarten teachers, and families of young children.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.