Using drone technology, communal motivation, and strength-based approaches to engage middle school female students from rural areas in STEM

该项目使用中学科学、职业和技术教育课堂上的无人机作为一种机制，以提高女学生对STEM职业的认识、多个STEM学科的知识和技能，以及追求STEM职业的动力。这个项目面对的是社会传递的信息和学生自己对“谁可以、谁应该、谁擅长STEM”的看法，这种看法往往因为有一条通往STEM的单一途径的概念而得到强化。该项目将鼓励来自新罕布夏州和缅因州农村地区的女学生制定自己的STEM职业目标，在社区目标(合作或无私的目标)和STEM成功之间建立明确的联系。该项目通过在中学课堂上明确将STEM与职业和技术教育联系起来，并通过研究无人机的多学科和公共特征与女学生的优势和兴趣之间的一致性，增加了对无人机项目的了解。它还增进了关于如何通过干预来优化动机的知识，这种干预既通过强调STEM目标的共同性来增加STEM目标的方法，又通过将通用学习设计框架应用于课程材料和课堂活动来减少因刻板印象威胁而避免STEM目标。该项目将开发和研究一种模式，使用基于力量的策略和公共动机来减少刻板印象威胁，并增加追求STEM目标的动力。该项目以下列研究问题为指导：(1)与对照教室中的同龄人相比，干预教室中的女中学生在多大程度上会增加她们追求STEM目标的动机？(1)(A)与对照教室中的同龄人相比，干预教室中的女中学生是否会降低她们在追求STEM目标时对刻板印象威胁的易感性？(1)(B)刻板印象威胁的减少在多大程度上与女性学生追求STEM目标的动机的增加有关？(1)(C)项目参与之间的关系在多大程度上(1)(D)与对照教室中的同龄人相比，干预教室中的中学生是否会提高他们在STEM领域的共同(合作或利他)目标的意识？(1)(E)在多大程度上，共同STEM目标的意识的提高与女性学生追求STEM目标的动机的增加有关？(1)(F)参与项目与增强女性学生追求STEM目标的动机之间的关系在多大程度上是通过提高她们对STEM目标的认识来实现的共同STEM目标？(2)干预教室中女生追求STEM目标的动机的增加在多大程度上预测了她们在高中选择STEM选修课的增加？(3)与对照教室中的同龄人相比，干预教室中的中学生在多个STEM学科上的知识和技能会在多大程度上增加？(4)在多个STEM学科中，学生的知识和技能的增加在多大程度上预测了他们在高中选择STEM选修课的增加？开展研究活动的计划包括试行测试、根据已确定的来源使用影响仪器以及利用外部评估员提供的定性数据进行三角测量。在第一阶段，课程将与4名教师共同开发，并将调整Impact工具。在第二阶段，团队将与7名教师和175名学生进行试点测试，并制定专业发展计划和实施措施的保真度。第三阶段将包括一项有50名教师和1250名学生(625名女孩)参加的准实验实地测试，以及对试点研究学生10年级STEM入学的跟踪调查。交付内容包括行动手册(课程、专业发展计划、招聘战略和视频)，构成了一个可扩展的模型。这项研究增加了对支持中学职业探索的有效策略的重要见解和亟需的研究，是第一个明确研究在扩大STEM参与的背景下，接近和回避动机路径相结合的研发项目之一。该项目由学生和教师创新技术体验计划(ITEST)资助，该计划支持建立对实践、计划要素、背景和过程的理解的项目，这些项目有助于提高学生对科学、技术、工程和数学(STEM)以及信息和通信技术(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。

The project uses drones in middle school science and career and technical education classrooms as a mechanism to increase female students’ awareness of STEM occupations, knowledge and skills in multiple STEM disciplines, and motivation to pursue STEM careers. This project confronts society’s messaging and students’ own perceptions of “who can be, should be, and is good at STEM” which is often reinforced by the notion of there being a single path into STEM. The project will encourage female students from rural areas in New Hampshire and Maine to develop their own STEM career goals by establishing a clear link between communal goals (those that are collaborative or altruistic) and success in STEM. The project adds to knowledge about drone-based projects by explicitly linking STEM and Career and Technical Education in middle school classes and by studying the alignment between the multidisciplinary and communal characteristics of drones and female students’ strengths and interests. It also advances knowledge about how to optimize motivation through an intervention that both increases the approach of STEM goals by highlighting their communal nature and decreases the avoidance of STEM goals due to stereotype threat by applying the Universal Design for Learning framework to the design of the curriculum materials and classroom activities.The project will develop and research a model that uses strength-based strategies and communal motivation to reduce stereotype threat and increase motivation to pursue STEM goals. The project is guided by the following research questions: (1) To what extent will female middle-school students in intervention classrooms increase their motivation to pursue STEM goals compared to their peers in comparison classrooms? (1)(a) Will female middle-school students in intervention classrooms reduce their susceptibility to stereotype threat for pursuing STEM goals compared to their peers in comparison classrooms? (1)(b) To what extent are decreases in stereotype threat associated with increases in the motivation of female students to pursue STEM goals? (1)(c) To what extent is the relationship between program participation and increased motivation of female students to pursue STEM goals mediated by susceptibility to stereotype threat? (1)(d) Will middle-school students in intervention classrooms increase their awareness of communal (collaborative or altruistic) goals in STEM fields compared to their peers in comparison classrooms? (1)(e) To what extent are increases in the awareness of communal STEM goals associated with increases in the motivation of female students to pursue STEM goals? (1)(f) To what extent is the relationship between program participation and increased motivation of female students to pursue STEM goals mediated by increases in their awareness of communal STEM goals? (2) To what extent do increases in the motivation of female students in intervention classrooms to pursue STEM goals predict increases in their choice of elective STEM classes in high school? (3) To what extent will middle-school students in intervention classrooms increase their knowledge and skills in multiple STEM disciplines compared to their peers in comparison classrooms? (4) To what extent do increases in students’ knowledge and skills in multiple STEM disciplines predict increases in their choice of elective STEM classes in high school? The plan for carrying out research activities includes pilot testing, the use of impact instruments based on established sources, and triangulation with qualitative data from the external evaluator. In Phase 1, the curriculum will be co-developed with 4 teachers, and impact instruments will be adapted. In Phase 2, the team will conduct a pilot test with 7 teachers and 175 students and develop the professional development program and fidelity of implementation measure. Phase 3 will comprise a quasi-experimental field test with 50 teachers and 1250 students (625 girls), plus follow up with pilot study students on their 10th grade STEM enrollment. Deliverables include a Playbook (curriculum, professional development program, recruitment strategies, and videos), constituting a scalable model. This research adds critical insights and much-needed research into effective strategies for supporting career exploration in middle school and is one of the first R&D projects to explicitly study the combination of approach and avoidance motivational pathways in the context of broadening STEM participation. The 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 science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (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.