Polar STEAM: Where Curiosity Thrives

极地激发了人们的好奇、敬畏和迷恋。但它们也是脆弱性的象征，为全球观众提供了令人难忘的冰川融化、永久冻土萎缩以及土著社区面对北极气候变化的弹性的图像。极地的科学活动致力于解决这些紧迫的全球性挑战，探索地球历史、太阳系和宇宙的奥秘，并研究极端环境中生命的奇迹。俄勒冈州州立大学（OSU）将促进极地STEAM（科学，技术，工程，艺术和数学）计划，旨在通过将艺术和教育元素整合到极地科学研究环境中来增加极地科学的影响力和知名度。该计划的总体目标是提高研究的影响力和公众（普通观众和学生）对极地环境和人民的参与度，并增加少数民族服务机构和两年制学院的教师和学生接触极地科学的机会。极地教育者计划促进了北极和南极的部署，并为正式和非正式教育者提供了与极地探险相关的虚拟体验。该计划旨在激发跨学科教学和跨学科科学关于极地地区，整合以艺术为基础和以科学为基础的方法，以促进批判性思维，参与和概念访问的广泛的学习者。该计划与来自K-12机构，两年制学院和少数民族服务机构（MSIs）以及非正式科学机构的教育工作者合作，让来自STEM代表性不足的群体的学生参与，以增加代表性不足的群体和/或极地科学的不同受众的参与。二.南极艺术家和作家计划为艺术和人文领域的创意从业者与极地研究人员互动提供了便利。该计划旨在通过由此产生的作品增加公众对南极和人类在最南端大陆上的努力的理解和欣赏。该计划还旨在激发艺术家和创意思想家为科学研究环境带来的批判性交流，即使是像南极洲这样偏远的地方。俄勒冈州立大学对这两个项目的促进集中在通过创建项目参与者的部署前和部署后社区来整合科学，艺术和教育-无论是在两个单独的项目内还是在AAW和极地教育工作者团体内。在每一步都强调包容性，从申请人的招聘到部署后的互动，该计划为好奇心的蓬勃发展创造了条件-不仅仅是因为环境本身是奇妙的，而是通过丰富的艺术家社区，科学家和教育工作者，计划基础设施将创造。通过指导组件，参与者的面对面和虚拟会议，艺术展览机会，强大且内容丰富的门户网站以及长期关系建设，OSU将管理Polar STEAM计划，以使参与者能够相互学习独特的优势，实践和了解方式。 在这种方法中，极地环境的力量和独特的脆弱性将被激活，交流和全面研究，结果和资源将提供给尽可能广泛的受众。 极地蒸汽计划的评估将由卡尔顿学院的科学教育资源中心（SERC）领导。该奖项是一项合作协议，由地球科学局极地项目办公室和教育和人力资源局（EHR）内的三个部门资助，包括人力资源开发部（HRD），本科教育部（DUE）和正式和非正式环境中学习研究（DRL）。 该项目部分由推进非正式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，以扩大获得和参与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。该项目也得到了EHR人力资源开发部门的部分支持，该部门的使命是通过支持目前在STEM和为他们服务的机构中代表性不足的个人的更广泛参与和成功，来培养创新和有竞争力的美国STEM劳动力，这对维持和促进国家繁荣至关重要。DUE的IUSE计划支持研究和开发项目，以提高所有学生STEM教育的有效性，也为该项目提供部分资金。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。

The polar regions inspire wonder, awe, and fascination. But they are also icons of fragility that have provided global audiences with unforgettable images of glacial melt, shrinking permafrost, and the resiliency of Indigenous communities in the face of changing Arctic climates. Scientific activity at the poles addresses these urgent global challenges, explores the mysteries of our earth’s history, our solar system and the universe, and investigates the wonder of life in extreme environments. Oregon State University (OSU) will facilitate a Polar STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) program that aims to increase the impact and visibility of polar science by integrating arts- and education-based elements into the polar science research setting. The program’s overarching goal is to increase the impact of the research and the engagement of the public – general audiences and students – with polar environments and peoples and to increase access to polar science for faculty and students from minority serving institutions and two-year colleges.Two programs define Polar STEAM: i. The Polar Educators program facilitates deployments to both the Arctic and the Antarctic and virtual experiences connected to the polar expeditions for both formal and informal educators. The program aims to inspire transdisciplinary teaching and transdisciplinary science about the polar regions, integrating art-based and science-based methods to promote critical thinking, engagement, and conceptual access for a broad swath of learners. The program works with educators from K-12 institutions, two-year colleges, and Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) as well as informal science institutions to engage students from groups underrepresented in STEM with the goal of increasing participation by underrepresented groups and/or diverse audiences in polar science. ii. The Antarctic Artists and Writers program facilitates deployments to the Antarctic for creative practitioners within the arts and humanities to interact with polar researchers. The program aims to increase the public’s understanding and appreciation of the Antarctic and human endeavors on the southernmost continent through the resulting works. The program also seeks to inspire the critical exchanges that artists and creative thinkers bring to science research settings, even those as remote as Antarctica. OSU’s facilitation of the two programs centers on integrating the sciences, arts, and education by creating pre- and post-deployment communities of program participants – both within the two individual programs and across the AAW and Polar Educators groups. Emphasizing inclusivity at each step, from the recruitment of applicants through post-deployment interactions, the program creates the conditions for curiosity to thrive – not just because the environments are themselves wondrous, but through the rich community of artists, scientists, and educators that program infrastructure will create. Through mentoring components, in-person and virtual meetings of participants across the programs, arts exhibition opportunities, a robust and content-rich web portal, and long-term relationship building, OSU will manage the Polar STEAM programs with an eye to enabling participants to learn from one another’s unique strengths, practices, and ways of knowing. In this approach, the power and unique vulnerability of polar environments will be activated, communicated, and studied holistically, and the results and resources will be made available to the widest possible audience. Evaluation of the Polar STEAM program will be led by the Science Education Resource Center (SERC) at Carleton College. This award is a Cooperative Agreement, funded by the Office of Polar Programs within the Geoscience Directorate and by three divisions within the Education and Human Resource Directorate (EHR) including the Division of Human Resource Development (HRD), the Division of Undergraduate Education (DUE), and Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Environments (DRL). This project is partially 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 project is also partially supported by EHR’s Division of Human Resource Development, whose mission is to grow the innovative and competitive U.S. STEM workforce that is vital for sustaining and advancing the Nation's prosperity by supporting the broader participation and success of individuals currently underrepresented in STEM and the institutions that serve them. The IUSE Program in DUE, which supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students, is also partially funding this project.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.