Engaging Young Black and Latino Students in Data Science Through Water Security

全国各地的有色人种社区在获得负担得起的安全饮用水方面面临着越来越多的挑战。使用数据科学探索这种情况发生的原因、地点和方式，以及正在采取的措施，为学生参与科学、技术、工程和数学(STEM)提供了强大的工具，并帮助发展了一支来自受影响社区的具有适当代表性的数字劳动力队伍。美国水教育(AWE)项目将测试数据科学综合课程，以适合年龄的方式使用水数据的可视化、探索和建模/分析，是否能够吸引年轻的黑人和拉丁裔学生，并提高他们对数据科学的兴趣。该项目将包括大约800名8至11年级的学生以及他们的科学和数学老师，他们来自纽约哈莱姆区和皇后区东南部的鹰学院。该项目将寻求：1)增加学生选择数据科学职业的可能性，特别是应用于水安全的可能性；2)通过与丰富的水安全数据项目和水展览相结合的综合核心课程，提高学生的科学、技术和数学能力、自信心和自我效能感；以及3)提高学院教师实施和评估该项目的综合初中和高中核心课程和联合课程的有效性。该项目的首要研究问题是：初高中年轻的黑人和拉丁裔学生如何做好准备，获得数据科学和水安全方面的必要知识/技能，以便如果他们选择，他们将成为满足水依赖型社会需求的下一代数据科学家的一部分？以学生为中心的学习机会将包括可靠、适应性强、耐人寻味和完全可访问的数据平台技术，作为水和数据科学的主要工具。学生将通过选择和操作托管的数据集，如美国地质调查局和美国农业部的公开数据和平台，通过查询和提问来探索和探索信息。将跨越科学和数学的数据与技术联系起来，将导致他们对数据和水安全的理解取得突破。不同年级的系统评估将允许与教育工作者和研究人员分享有意义的结果。AWE的数据平台和数据集及其课程和联合课程教材将向Eagle Academy学校网络的教师和学生以及750多所纽约市和纽约州中学、美国境内的单一性别学校以及对数据科学和/或水安全感兴趣的男女同校教师和学生开放。本地构建的数据集和可访问的国家数据集将使内容在全国范围内具有相关性和趣味性。该项目由学生和教师创新技术体验计划(ITEST)资助，该计划支持的项目是建立对实践、计划要素、背景和过程的理解，有助于提高学生对STEM和信息通信技术(ICT)职业的知识和兴趣。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。

Communities of color across the nation face increasing challenges with affordable access to safe drinking water. Using data science to explore why, where and how this is happening, and what is being done about it, provides a powerful vehicle for the engagement of students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), and to help develop a digital work force with appropriate representation from the affected communities. The America’s Water Education (AWE) project will test whether a data science integrated curriculum, using visualization, exploration, and modeling/analysis of water data in an age-appropriate way, can engage young Black and Latino students and increase their interest in data science. The project will comprise approximately 800 8th through 11th-grade students and their science and mathematics teachers from the Eagle Academies of Harlem and Southeast Queens, New York. The project will seek to: 1) increase students’ likelihood of choosing a data science career, generally, or applied to water security, specifically; 2) improve students’ science, technology, and mathematics competencies, senses of confidence, and self-efficacy through an integrated core curriculum, aligned to co-curricular water security data-rich projects and water exhibitions; and 3) increase the effectiveness of the academies’ teachers to implement and assess the project’s integrated middle and high school core curriculum and co-curriculum. The project's overarching research question is: How can middle and high school young Black and Latino students be prepared to acquire the necessary knowledge/skills in data science and water security so that, if they choose, they become part of the next generation of data scientists meeting the needs of the water-dependent society? Student-centered learning opportunities will involve reliable, adaptable, intriguing, and wholly accessible data platform technologies as staple tools for water and data sciences. Students will explore and probe information through inquiry and questioning by selecting and manipulating the hosted data sets, like publicly available data and platforms of the U.S. Geological Survey and U.S. Department of Agriculture. Linking data across science and mathematics with technology will lead to breakthroughs in their understanding of both data and water security. A systematic assessment at different grade levels will allow for meaningful findings to be shared with educators and researchers. AWE’s data platforms and data sets, along with its curricular and co-curricular educational materials, will be accessible to teachers and students across The Eagle Academy Network of Schools and with 750+ New York City and New York State secondary schools; single-gender schools within the US; and teachers and students in co-educational settings who are interested in data science and/or water security. Locally constructed data sets and accessible national data sets will make the content relevant and interesting across the country. 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 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.