"Collaborative Research: Studying Science Curiosity and Computational Thinking in an eTextile Upward Bound Curriculum"

该项目将审查并反复改进以青年为中心的30小时暑期学校课程的设计，该课程将吸引高中生制作电子纺织品(即可穿戴技术)。这项研究建立在现有课程(蒸汽制造者)的基础上，当该课程试行时，显示出改善参与者计算思维的前景看好的能力。除了研究修订后的课程对计算思维的影响外，目前的项目还将评估课程对以下方面的影响：科学好奇心；对科学、技术和工程的亲和力；年轻人作为计算专业人员的自我认知；以及对与STEM相关的职业和追求的知识和/或兴趣的增加。这项工作将巩固两个州与青年服务组织向上跳跃的研究-实践伙伴关系。该项目将与宾夕法尼亚州和密歇根州向上跳跃夏令营的60名青年合作，并在项目期间聘请从事可穿戴技术行业(如生物医疗设备、健身跟踪器、机器人和智能面料)的计算机科学和工程专业毕业生作为近乎同行的导师。这些导师被招募来挑战关于谁可以创造技术的典型刻板印象，并将接受反种族主义和基于公平的导师实践方面的培训。该项目将制作一个精致的课程，将与高中夏令营提供者分享，目的是扩大黑人和西班牙裔/拉丁裔青年参与蒸汽制造营的范围。这项研究将支持围绕好奇心、计算思维、STEM职业兴趣和科学好奇心之间的联系进行进一步的理论研究。数据将包括青少年参与活动的视频；学习者的人工制品；对科学好奇心、STEM职业兴趣和计算思维的验证调查；以及项目后对Making的参与调查。分析包括对人工制品的定性编码，对青年参与、学习和创新的微观人种学分析，以及对包括情感调查在内的定量数据的统计分析(使用地点、性别和种族/族裔作为变量)。该项目的智力价值在于开发了设计原则，以鼓励以年轻人为中心的制作经验中的科学好奇心、职业兴趣和计算思维。该项目由学生和教师创新技术体验计划(ITEST)资助，该计划支持的项目旨在加深对实践、计划要素、背景和过程的理解，有助于提高年轻人对科学、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。这个项目是由CS for All：Research and RPPS计划共同资助的。这个奖项反映了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。

This project will examine and iteratively improve the design of a youth-centered 30-hour summer school curriculum that will engage high school students in making e-textiles (i.e., wearable technologies). The research builds on an existing curriculum (STEAM-Maker) that, when piloted, showed a promising capacity to improve participants' computational thinking. In addition to studying the impact of the revised curriculum on computational thinking, the current project will assess the curriculum’s impact on: science curiosity; affinity for science, technology, and engineering; youths' self-perceptions as computational professionals; and increased knowledge of and/or interest in STEM-related careers and pursuits. This work will solidify a research-practice partnership in two states with the youth-serving organization, Upward Bound. The project will work with 60 youth in Upward Bound summer camps in Pennsylvania and Michigan, and employ computer science and engineering graduates involved in wearable technology industries (e.g., biomedical devices, fitness trackers, robotics, and smart fabrics) as near-peer mentors during the program. The mentors have been recruited to challenge typical stereotypes about who can create technology, and will be trained in anti-racist and equity-based mentorship practices. The project will produce a refined curriculum which will be shared with high school summer camp providers, with the intent to broaden participation of Black and Hispanic/Latinx youth in STEAM-Maker camps.The research will support further theorization around the linkages between curiosity, computational thinking, STEM career interest, and science curiosity. Data will include video of youths' engagement with activities; learners' artifacts; validated surveys of science curiosity, STEM career interest, and computational thinking; and surveys of post-program engagement with making. Analysis includes qualitative coding of artifacts, micro-ethnographic analysis of youth engagement, learning and innovation, and statistical analysis of quantitative data including affect surveys (using location, gender, and race/ethnicity as variables). The intellectual merit of the project rests in the development of design principles for encouraging science curiosity, career interest, and computational thinking in youth-centered making experiences. 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 youths' knowledge and interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and information and communication technology (ICT) careers. This project is co-funded by the CS for All: Research and RPPs program.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.