Science Sprouts 2.0: Extending and replicating a longitudinal investigation of the roots of scientific literacy and interests

与科学相关的机会和成就的社会人口差异出现在儿童早期，并可能导致长期参与和代表STEM领域。以这些现实为背景，本项目旨在更好地了解科学素养和兴趣的起源和发展。儿童在家里的经历，他们对因果关系的早期适应，以及相关认知技能的发展，正在从3岁到13岁进行纵向评估。特别强调低收入和代表性不足的少数民族家庭，以便为早期干预措施的制定提供信息，这些干预措施可以缩小机会差距，促进所有儿童参与科学并取得成功。总体策略是阐明儿童衡量的因果立场、他们的科学素养和他们对科学的兴趣之间的关系。该项目建立在之前的纵向研究的基础上，该研究确定了学龄前儿童因果立场、因果推理技能和接触科学相关输入的可变性都可以预测随后的科学素养。一个核心目标是通过复制先前研究中最早的两波数据收集（3岁和4岁时）来测试这些先前发现的强度和普遍性。通过特别关注低收入家庭，其中大多数将是黑人或拉丁裔，这种复制将扩大对未充分研究的人群的理解，这些人群在历史上面临着与科学相关的丰富和教育机会的限制。它还将支持对因果推理和科学相关兴趣的早期测量的重测可靠性的评估。第二个目标是通过纵向扩展最初的调查，从中学一直到13岁，明确早期指标能在多大程度上预测科学成果。这个扩展还将追溯态度和中学期间科学成就之间的关系：这是该领域特别戏剧性的发展变化时期。总之，这些调查提高了对科学素养和兴趣根源的认识，并为关于何时以及以何种方式让幼儿接触科学的理论和实践讨论提供了信息。本项目由美国国家科学基金会EDU核心研究（ECR）项目支持。ECR项目强调在该领域产生基础知识的基础STEM教育研究。投资在至关重要、广泛和持久的关键领域：STEM学习和STEM学习环境，扩大STEM参与，以及STEM劳动力发展。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。

Sociodemographic disparities in science-related opportunities and achievement emerge in early childhood, and likely contribute to long-term engagement and representation in STEM fields. With these realities as a backdrop, this project aims to better understand the origins and development of scientific literacy and interests. Children's experiences at home, their early attunement to cause and effect, and the development of related cognitive skills are being evaluated longitudinally from 3 to 13 years of age. A special emphasis is placed on low-income and under-represented minority families in order to inform the development of early interventions that can allay opportunity gaps and facilitate participation and success of all children in science. The overall strategy is to shed light on relationships between children's measured causal stance, their scientific literacy, and their interest in science.The project builds on previous longitudinal work establishing that variability in preschoolers' causal stance, causal reasoning skill, and exposure to science-related input are each predictive of subsequent scientific literacy. One core goal is to test the strength and generalizability of these previous findings by replicating the two earliest waves of data collection (at 3 and 4 years of age) from a previous study. By focusing specifically on low-income families, the majority of whom will be Black or Latine, this replication will extend understanding to understudied populations that have historically faced limited access to science-related enrichment and educational opportunities. It also will support evaluation of the test-retest reliability of early measures of causal reasoning and science-related interests. A second goal is to specify how far early indicators can predict science outcomes by extending the original investigation longitudinally through middle school, to age 13. This extension also will trace relations between attitudes and achievement in science through middle school: a period of particularly dramatic developmental change in this domain. Together, these investigations enhance knowledge of the roots of scientific literacy and interests and inform theoretical and practical discussions regarding when and in what ways to expose young children to science.This project is supported by NSF's EDU Core Research (ECR) program. The ECR program emphasizes fundamental STEM education research that generates foundational knowledge in the field. Investments are made in critical areas that are essential, broad and enduring: STEM learning and STEM learning environments, broadening participation in STEM, and STEM workforce development.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.