Stories of Fire: Integrative Informal STEM Learning through Participatory Narratives

作为加强非正式环境中学习的总体战略的一部分，推进非正式STEM学习(AISL)计划寻求促进非正式环境中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，推进对非正式环境中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。这项试点和可行性研究的目标是通过火的故事增加爱达荷州农村地区非正式STEM学习的参与，这是一个基于个人对野地火灾的叙述的项目。爱达荷州是一个农村州，平均人口仅为每平方英里19人，人口密度在美国排名第四。该州正在经历日益严重的野火，有效应对这种环境变化需要更好地理解基础科学。在科学学习的背景下，在日常生活和地方感之间建立联系，可以吸引学习者，并带来对野火的更好理解。这个项目将汇集一名科学传播者、一名叙事学家、一名火灾生态学家和一名情感和公共土地专家。他们将与爱达荷州农村地区的非正式教育工作者合作，在STEM领域代表性不足。农村地区基于多年的累积观察、文化信仰和通过社区网络共享的做法，拥有丰富的知识。该项目建立在这些农村资产的基础上，同时解决农村人口面临的挑战。该项目旨在通过叙事实践扩大对STEM的参与，鼓励以更多样化的方式认识、存在和代表科学。本研究将探索：1)什么样的叙事(讲故事)机制最有效地将个人的个人经历和STEM的准确内容结合在一起，以及2)什么样的以受众为中心的方法最有利于非正式STEM学习的叙事方法。该项目在研究和规划的四个阶段涉及四个层次的参与者：1)研究团队将采访和分析来自西北内陆地区、具有野火第一手经验的40名前线人员(例如，荒地消防员和疏散人员)的叙述。2)他们将举办一个叙事研讨会，培训来自全州各地的20名非正式STEM教育者，了解以观众为中心的方法，以促进参与者讲述有关火灾的故事。3)教育工作者将与他们在全州农村家庭社区的项目参与者一起试行他们自己的基于叙事的非正式科学学习项目；4)专业播客将模仿我们的研究成果，为通过媒体接触到的公众受众制作两个播客。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 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. The goal of this pilot and feasibility study is to increase participation in informal STEM learning in rural Idaho through Stories of Fire, a program based on personal narratives of wildland fire. Idaho is a rural state, with an average population of just 19 people per square mile, the fourth lowest population density in the United States. The state is experiencing increasingly severe wildfire, and effective responses to such environmental change require a better understanding of the underlying science. Contextualizing science learning, making connections between everyday lives and a sense of place can engage learners and bring about a better understanding of wildfire. This project will bring together a science communicator, a narratologist, a fire ecologist, and a specialist on emotions and public lands. They will work collaboratively with informal educators based in rural areas of Idaho underrepresented in STEM fields. Rural areas are rich in knowledge based on years of cumulative observations, cultural beliefs, and practices shared through community networks. This project builds on these rural assets while addressing the challenges rural populations face. The project addresses broadening participation in STEM through narrative practices that encourage more diverse ways of knowing, being, and representing science.This research study will explore: 1) what mechanisms of narrative (storytelling) most effectively integrate individuals’ personal experiences and accurate STEM content in fire science communication, and 2) what audience-centered approaches best facilitate narrative approaches to informal STEM learning. This project engages four levels of participants over four phases of research and programming: 1) The research team will interview and analyze the narratives of 40 Frontliners (e.g., wildland firefighters and evacuees) from the inland Northwest region with first-hand experience with wildfire. 2) They will conduct a narrative workshop to train 20 informal STEM Educators from across the state on audience-centered approaches that facilitate participant storytelling about fire. 3) Educators will pilot their own narrative-based informal science learning programs with program participants in their rural home communities across the state, 4) A professional podcaster will create two podcasts modeled on our research findings for public audiences reached through media.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.