Broad Implementation: Expanding a Successful Model of Fully Virtual Professional Learning for Afterschool Educators

该项目将扩大完全虚拟或面对面的STEM专业发展，以城市和农村的课外教育工作者。鉴于许多课外教育工作者很少或根本没有STEM教育背景，因此需要有效，廉价和可访问的专业发展。该项目将通过培养多个州1,500多名教育工作者的STEM技能，建设国家STEM教育能力，最终将影响这些地区31,000多名代表性不足的青年。该项目还将通过免费的开源机制提供强大的材料，供教育工作者随时随地使用。该项目将通过吸引全国农村地区的社区教育工作者来扩大对STEM的参与，农村地区是STEM中代表性严重不足的群体。它还将覆盖三个州和七个城市的低收入城市社区的教育工作者，目标是通过战略网络和伙伴关系，包括基督教青年会、4-H和全国课后协会等组织。这个合作项目正在扩展ACRES模型（STEM反思教育者的课后辅导）。该模型使虚拟体验人性化，使其具有社交性和吸引力，并允许教育工作者学习，分享和实践基本的STEM促进技能，重点是使STEM相关并向青年介绍STEM职业。除了提高农村和城市教育工作者的专业STEM技能外，该项目还将建立一个全国性的教练队伍，这些教练在以下方面具有深厚的专业知识：（i）将青少年的面对面活动转化为高度参与、选择丰富的在线形式，（ii）让孤立的非正式教育工作者参与支持性专业学习社区，以及（iii）指导基于基础研究的STEM促进技能，确保这些活动在教学上是合理的。这个广泛实施项目的一个关键部分涉及研究如何将有效的专业发展计划融入课外组织，包括课外计划如何调整材料，使其在文化上适应当地社区。研究人员还将研究有助于该计划长期可持续性的因素。该研究将使用调查，访谈，直接观察和参与者的案例研究，为该领域提供有价值的见解，以扩大课外世界的计划。该项目由推进非正式STEM学习（AISL）计划资助，该计划旨在推进新的方法，并以证据为基础的理解，在非正式环境中设计和开发STEM学习。这包括提供多种途径来扩大获得和参与STEM学习经验，推进非正式环境中STEM学习的创新研究和评估，以及发展参与者对深入学习的理解。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project will scale up fully virtual or face-to-face STEM professional development to afterschool educators in both urban and rural settings. Given that many afterschool educators have little or no background in STEM education, there is demand for professional development that is effective, inexpensive, and accessible. This project will build national capacity in STEM education by developing the STEM skills of over 1,500 educators across multiple states and will ultimately impact over 31,000 under-represented youth in these areas. The project will also deliver robust materials through a free open-source mechanism, for use by educators anywhere and anytime. The project will broaden participation in STEM by engaging community educators in the rural parts of the nation, a critically under-represented group in STEM. It will also reach educators from low-income urban communities across three states and seven cities, targeted through strategic networks and partnerships, including organizations such as the YMCA, 4-H, and the National Afterschool Association. This collaborative project is scaling the ACRES model (Afterschool Coaching for Reflective Educators in STEM). The model humanizes the virtual experience, making it social and engaging, and allows educators to learn, share, and practice essential STEM facilitation skills with a focus on making STEM relevant and introducing STEM careers to youth. In addition to enhancing the professional STEM skills of rural and urban educators, the project will create a national cohort of coaches with deep expertise in (i) converting in-person activities for youth into a highly engaging, choice-rich online format, (ii) engaging isolated informal educators in supportive professional learning communities, and (iii) coaching foundational research-based STEM facilitation skills that ensure these activities are pedagogically sound. A key part of this broad implementation project involves studying how to integrate an effective professional development program into afterschool organizations, including the ways afterschool programs adapt the materials to be culturally responsive to their local communities. The researchers will also study factors contributing to the longer-term sustainability of the program. The research will use surveys, interviews, direct observations, and case studies of participants to provide the field with valuable insights into scaling a program in the afterschool world.This project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which 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 extending 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.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.