Examining the Efficacy of a Co-Designed Culturally Sustaining STEM Learning Ecosystems Model for Youth, Their Families, and Informal Educators in Rural Communities

尽管大约四分之一的美国学生居住在农村社区，但农村青年接受和参与校外STEM体验的可能性比城市同龄人低50%。此外，在了解和改善城市环境中的非正式经验方面的投资明显多于农村环境。因此，人们对农村社区非正式环境中支持青年STEM学习的学习生态系统和项目的特征知之甚少。“服务于实践的研究”项目旨在通过探索专门为农村青年及其家庭设计的具有文化相关性和可持续性的STEM项目的可行性，来应对这一挑战。父母和照顾者通过自己的参与，并通过将他们与STEM机会、STEM相关领域和职业道路联系起来，在培养青少年对STEM的兴趣和坚持方面发挥着关键作用。通过俄勒冈州高沙漠博物馆、学习创新研究所、缅因州数学与科学联盟、JKS咨询公司和三家非正式科学教育机构之间的合作，农村社区成员、非正式STEM教育者、和STEM专业人员，并在参与非正式科学教育机构的农村社区实施-卡多丘国家历史遗址哭泣玛丽（TX），高沙漠博物馆（OR），俄勒冈海岸水族馆和野生中心（NY）。每个系列都将反映每个农村社区特有的文化知识、联系和资源。此外，非正式的STEM教育工作者和STEM专业人员将接受有关促进文化维持讲习班和经验的培训。学习创新研究所和缅因州数学与科学联盟的研究人员将与JKS咨询公司的评估人员一起采用基于协作设计的研究方法来确定和研究STEM学习实践和支持，以促进青少年对STEM的兴趣和坚持。研究结果将为该领域提供基于证据的见解，以指导如何更好地参与、反映和为不同的农村社区提供机会。最终，本研究有可能推进目前的理解，从而加强农村STEM学习生态系统，扩大农村社区青年对STEM的参与。在为期四年的项目期间，将采用基于协作设计的研究方法来解决以下研究问题：(1)农村社区家庭在文化上保持非正式STEM计划如何有助于提高青少年对STEM的坚持？（1a）这与家庭和社区因素有什么关系？(2)文化上可持续的非正式家庭STEM规划如何增加农村社区非正式和正式学习环境中STEM相关资源和机构之间的社区连通性，从而形成更强大、更包容的STEM学习生态系统？（2a）参与家庭、非正式STEM教育者、STEM专业人员和社区合作伙伴在增加这种连通性方面各自发挥了多大的作用？研究样本将包括所有四个站点的300个有8-11岁青少年的家庭、非正式科学教育工作者和STEM专业人员。调查、访谈和观察将是主要的数据来源。定量数据的分析将采用方差分析和简单的描述性统计分析。定性数据将通过NVivo使用主题编码进行分析。此外，为了补充研究数据，JKS咨询公司将对该项目进行形成性和总结性评估，以制定有效的做法，培训非正式科学学习实践者在农村社区开发和实施基于地的、基于探究的家庭学习，并有效和可持续地让农村家庭参与基于地的STEM。研究结果将通过出版物、会议报告以及为家长和照顾者、非正式科学教育者、STEM专业人员和整个非正式教育领域设计的由多部分组成的“从研究到实践工具包”提供并广泛分发。这项服务于实践的研究项目由推进非正式STEM学习（AISL）计划资助，该计划旨在推进非正式环境中STEM学习的设计和开发的新方法和基于证据的理解。这包括提供多种途径，扩大STEM学习经验的获取和参与，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度学习的理解。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。

Although approximately one-quarter of U.S. students reside in rural communities, rural youth are fifty percent less likely to receive and engage in out-of-school STEM experiences than their urban counterparts. In addition, there has been significantly more investment in understanding and improving informal experiences in urban settings than in rural settings. As a result, there is less known about the characteristics of learning ecosystems and programs that support STEM learning for youth in informal contexts within rural communities. This Research in Service to Practice project aims to address this challenge by exploring the feasibility of a culturally relevant and sustaining STEM program designed specifically for rural youth and their families. Parents and caregivers play a critical role in fostering youths’ interests and persistence in STEM through their own engagement and by connecting them to STEM opportunities and STEM-related fields and career pathways. Through a partnership between the High Desert Museum in Oregon, the Institute for Learning Innovation, Maine Mathematics and Science Alliance, JKS Consulting, and three informal science education institutions, a year-long series of STEM-based workshops and experiences for youth and their families will be co-designed by members of the rural community, informal STEM educators, and STEM professionals and implemented within the rural communities of the participating informal science education institutions—Caddo Mounds State Historic Site Weeping Mary (TX), High Desert Museum (OR), Oregon Coast Aquarium, and The Wild Center (NY). Each series will reflect the cultural knowledge, connections, and resources specific to each rural community. In addition, the informal STEM educators and STEM professionals will receive training on facilitating the culturally sustaining workshops and experiences. Researchers at the Institution for Learning Innovation and the Maine Mathematics and Science Alliance together with the evaluator at JKS Consulting will employ a collaborative design-based research approach to identify and study the STEM learning practices and supports that occur within the program to promote youths’ interests and persistence in STEM. The findings will offer evidence-based insights to the field on how to better engage, reflect, and provide opportunities for diverse rural communities. Ultimately, this research has the potential to advance the current understanding thereby, strengthening rural STEM learning ecosystems and broadening STEM participation among youth in rural communities. Over a four-year project duration, a collaborative design-based research approach will be employed to address the following research questions: (1) How does culturally sustaining informal STEM programming for families in rural communities contribute to increases in youth STEM persistence? (1a) How might this vary in relation to family and community factors? (2) How does culturally sustaining informal family STEM programming increase community connectivity between STEM-related resources and institutions across informal and formal learning contexts in rural communities leading to a more robust and inclusive STEM learning ecosystem? (2a) To what extent do participating families, informal STEM educators, STEM professionals, and community partners each play a role in increasing this connectivity? The research sample will include 300 families with youth ages 8-11, informal science educators, and STEM professionals across all four sites. Surveys, interviews and observations will be the primary data sources. Analysis of Variance and simple descriptive statistical analysis will be used to analyze the quantitative data. The qualitative data will be analyzed using thematic coding through NVivo. In addition, to complement the research data, JKS Consulting will conduct the formative and summative evaluations of the project to hone effective practices for training informal science learning practitioners in developing and implementing place-based, inquiry-based family learning in rural communities and effective and sustainable practices for engaging rural families in place-based STEM. Findings from the research will be made available and widely distributed in publications, conference presentations, and a multi-part Research to Practice Toolkit designed for parents and caregivers, informal science educators, STEM professionals, and the informal education field at large.This Research in Service to Practice 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 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.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.