Science Learning +: Broadening Participation in STEM through Transdisciplinary Youth Development Activities

该项目由华盛顿大学和都柏林科学画廊共同领导，旨在推动和改变下一代扩大参与的努力，目标是来自历史上在STEM领域代表性不足的社区的青少年青年。本项目研究了校外时间（OST）计划如何将艺术、科学、计算机科学和其他学科的认知实践结合起来，在相应的活动（如创建广播节目、设计博物馆展览或构建在线游戏）的背景下，更广泛地吸引和吸引那些尚未确定为STEM学习者的年轻人。stem相关的技能和能力（如计算思维、设计、数据可视化和数字叙事）是未来许多公民和工作场所活动中富有成效和创造性参与的关键，并且正在推动美国30个增长最快的职业。但是，许多新工作将需要多种技能的混合，比如编程和设计技能，许多脱离STEM学术途径的学生可能已经拥有这些技能，并渴望进一步发展。目前还没有强有力的基于研究的证据来指导跨学科项目的设计、实施和评估——在这些项目中，STEM技能被嵌入为有意义参与的工具——或者这些方法与长期结果的关系。假设在青少年时期有效吸引青少年参与的OST项目可以显著影响青少年长期的STEM学习轨迹，该项目将包括：1)五项为期三年的研究，记录不同技术丰富背景下的学习情况：课后制作、媒体制作、博物馆展览设计、数字艺术项目和Pop-Up/街头科学项目；2)对来自上述项目的100名青少年进行为期4年的纵向研究；3)创建一些实用的测量工具，用于监控项目如何利用艺术和科学的交叉点来支持学生的参与和学习；4)在欧盟和美国的非正式科学教育会议上进行的专业发展计划，以使非正式STEM领域与新兴发现相结合。该项目由“科学学习+”项目资助，该项目是由美国国家科学基金会（NSF）、惠康基金会和英国经济与社会研究委员会共同发起的国际合作项目。这项联合资助工作的目标是采取转型步骤，改善非正式STEM经验的知识库和实践，以更好地理解、加强和协调STEM参与和学习。在NSF内部，科学学习+是推进非正式STEM学习（AISL）计划的一部分，该计划旨在加强非正式环境中的学习。跨学科、以公平为导向的OST项目可以提供支持性的社会环境，在这种环境中，STEM概念和实践被视为有意义参与有价值活动的手段，以促进学生未来学术、职业和终身学习选择的方式培养STEM技能。该项目将建立关于这些新兴的21世纪跨学科方法的知识库，以扩大参与调查：1)跨一系列学科（艺术，科学，计算，设计）的认识交叉点，这些交叉点旨在为代表性不足的年轻人扩大吸引力和有意义的参与；2)在后续学习的背景下进行的跨学科活动（例如，制作广播节目，为公众设计展览）如何阐明STEM与年轻人的生活，关注点和未来的相关性；3)参与此类项目如何推动学生的长期人生选择和STEM学习轨迹。该项目是华盛顿大学、都柏林科学画廊、印第安纳大学、加州奥克兰青年广播电台、纽约和伦敦游击队科学以及伦敦经济学院的合作项目。

Co-led by the University of Washington and Science Gallery Dublin, this project aims to drive and transform the next generation of broadening participation efforts targeting teen-aged youth from communities historically underrepresented in STEM fields. This project investigates how out-of-school time (OST) programs that integrate epistemic practices of the arts, sciences, computer science, and other disciplines, in the context of consequential activities (such as creating radio segments, designing museum exhibitions, or building online games), can more broadly appeal to and engage youth who do not already identify as STEM learners. STEM-related skills and capacities (such as computational thinking, design, data visualizations, and digital storytelling) are key to productive and creative participation in many future civic and workplace activities, and are driving the 30 fastest-growing occupations in the US. But many new jobs will entail a hybrid blend of skills, such as programming and design skills that many students who have disengaged with academic STEM pathways may already have and would be eager to develop further. There is not currently a strong foundation of research-based evidence to guide the design, implementation, and evaluation transdisciplinary programs - in which STEM skills are embedded as tools for meaningful participation - or how such approaches relate to long-term outcomes. Hypothesizing that OST programs which effectively engage youth during their high-leverage teenage years can significantly impact youths' longer-term STEM learning trajectories, this project will involve: 1) Five 3-year studies documenting learning in different technology-rich contexts: Making Afterschool, Media Production, Museum Exhibition Design, Digital Arts Programs, and Pop-Up/Street Science Programs; 2) A 4-year longitudinal study, involving 100 youth from the above programs; 3) The creation of a number of practical measurement tools that can be used to monitor how programs are leveraging the intersections of the arts and sciences to support student engagement and learning; and 4) A Professional Development program conducted at informal science education conferences in the EU and US to engage the informal STEM field with emerging findings. This project is funded through Science Learning+, which is an international partnership between the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Wellcome Trust with the UK Economic and Social Research Council. The goal of this joint funding effort is to make transformational steps toward improving the knowledge base and practices of informal STEM experiences to better understand, strengthen, and coordinate STEM engagement and learning. Within NSF, Science Learning+ is part of the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program that seeks to enhance learning in informal environments.Transdisciplinary, equity-oriented OST programs can provide supportive social contexts in which STEM concepts and practices are taken up as the means for meaningful participation in valued activities, building students' STEM skills in ways that can propel their future academic, career, and lifelong learning choices. This project will build the knowledge base about these emerging 21st century transdisciplinary approaches to broadening participation investigating: 1) The epistemic intersections across a range of disciplines (art, science, computation, design) that operate to broaden appeal and meaningful participation for underrepresented youth; 2) How transdisciplinary activities undertaken in the context of consequential learning (e.g., producing a radio segment, designing an exhibition for the general public) can illuminate the relevance of STEM to young people's lives, concerns, and futures; and 3) How participation in such programs can propel students' longer-term life choices and STEM learning trajectories. The project is a collaboration of the University of Washington, Science Gallery Dublin, Indiana University, Youth Radio in Oakland California, Guerilla Science in New York and London, and the London School of Economics.