INFEWS/T3 RCN: Cultivating a National Collaborative for Research on Food, Energy, and Water Education (NC-FEW)

当今社会面临着与满足粮食-能源-水关系（FEW-Nexus）日益增长的需求有关的全球可持续性挑战。将复杂的食物、能源和水（FEW）相互作用概念化为一个联系，提供了一种整体的方式来解释和平衡FEW组件内部和之间的权衡。为了培养科学素养，满足科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）以及食品、农业、自然资源和人文科学（FANH）方面的劳动力需求，需要持续和系统地致力于以FEW-Nexus为基础的教育和教育研究。研究人员将培养一个新的、跨学科的社区，即国家食品、能源和水教育研究合作组织（NC-FEW），该组织将成为多个层次（K-12、高等教育、成人）和环境（正式和非正式）的FEW-Nexus教育项目的教育研究创新中心。该项目将直接影响来自不同机构的约600名教育工作者和教育研究人员（高等教育教师、K-12教师、非正规教育工作者），以及各种教育环境中的各种学习者。这个研究协调网络（RCN）将加强以FEW-Nexus为基础的教育项目。RCN将通过围绕重要的可持续性挑战进行教育创新和能力建设，提高STEM/FANH的科学素养，从而造福社会。21世纪及以后最大的可持续性挑战是自然系统与人类系统之间复杂的相互作用。食物-能源-水关系（FEW-Nexus）为理解这种相互作用提供了一个框架。虽然FEW-Nexus在科学研究中受到越来越多的关注，但以FEW-Nexus为基础的教育规划和教与学研究却没有得到足够的重视。有必要在过去工作的基础上，以跨学科的方式推进基于few - nexx的教育努力。这个研究协调网络（RCN）将培养一个教育工作者和教育研究人员的社区，他们的工作重点是关于FEW-Nexus的教学和学习。国家食品、能源和水教育研究合作（NC-FEW）将包括邀请会议、信息网络研讨会、科学交流和教学资源的开发，以及教育工作者和教育研究人员的教育和培训机会。它将利用现有的努力，帮助建立一个新的跨学科教育工作者和学者社区的能力，共同关注教育研究和规划。通过系统的能力建设活动和协作，项目活动将推进关于FEW-Nexus中教与学的知识和实践，包括教学实践、学生学习、评估和评估，重点是FEW-Nexus和动员跨学科专业知识，以促进围绕创新教育计划的教育研究。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。

Societies today face global sustainability challenges related to meeting growing needs at the Food-Energy-Water-Nexus (FEW-Nexus). Conceptualizing complex Food, Energy, and Water (FEW) interactions as a nexus provides a holistic way to account for and balance tradeoffs within and across FEW components. In order to foster scientific literacy, meet workforce demands in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and food, agriculture, natural resources, and human sciences (FANH), there is a need for a sustained and systematic effort focused on education and education research grounded in the FEW-Nexus. The investigators will cultivate a new, transdisciplinary community, the National Collaborative for Research on Food, Energy, and Water Education (NC-FEW), which will serve as a hub of innovation for education research on FEW-Nexus educational programs at many levels (K-12, postsecondary, adults) and settings (formal and informal). The project will directly impact an estimated 600 educators and education researchers (postsecondary faculty, K-12 teachers, informal educators) from diverse institutions, as well as a variety of learners in an array of educational settings. This Research Coordination Network (RCN) will enhance educational programs grounded in the FEW-Nexus. The RCN will benefit society by improving STEM/FANH science literacy through educational innovation and capacity building around an important sustainability challenge. The greatest sustainability challenges of the 21st Century and beyond are defined by complex interactions between natural and human systems. The Food-Energy-Water-Nexus (FEW-Nexus) provides one framework for understanding such interactions. While the FEW-Nexus has received increasing attention in scientific research, educational programming and research on teaching and learning grounded in the FEW-Nexus has been underemphasized. There is a need to build upon past work to advance FEW-Nexus-based educational efforts in a transdisciplinary manner. This Research Coordination Network (RCN) will cultivate a community of educators and education researchers whose work focuses on teaching and learning about the FEW-Nexus. The National Collaborative for Research on Food, Energy, and Water Education (NC-FEW) will involve invited meetings, informational webinars, science communication, and development of instructional resources, as well as education and training opportunities for educators and education researchers. It will leverage existing efforts to help build capacity of a new transdisciplinary community of educators and scholars with a shared focus on educational research and programming. Through systemic capacity-building activities and collaboration, project activities will advance knowledge and practice about teaching and learning in the FEW-Nexus, including pedagogical practices, student learning, and evaluation and assessment, with a novel focus on the FEW-Nexus and mobilization of transdisciplinary expertise to catalyze education research around innovative educational programs.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.