Developing underserved elementary students’ systems thinking and economic literacy through investigations of local ecological-economic systems

通过对当地生态经济系统的调查，培养服务不足的小学生的系统思维和经济素养

• 批准号: 2048828
• 负责人: Amanda Dickes
• 金额: $ 47.71万
• 依托单位: Gulf of Maine Research Institute
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-01-01 至 2023-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2048828&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Developing; underserved; elementary; students; systems

This project will advance efforts to better understand and promote practices that broaden access to and interest in regionally relevant science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) occupations for underrepresented youth in the state of Maine. This project will engage students in investigations of local marine ecosystems through the construction and revision of computational models of those systems. Students will further explore human-nature interactions through participation in simulated gameplay modeling the social and ecological impact of economic decision-making within resource-driven economies. Maine’s aquaculture industry will serve as the context for this work, providing both a setting to study relationships within marine ecosystems through hands-on learning experiences at active farms, but also the context within which relationships between economic and ecological systems are identified, tested, and understood. Key contributions of this project include (1) elucidating a model for local school districts to connect participating youth with a regional workforce through industry and community partnerships, (2) broadening participation in Maine’s growing aquaculture industry, (3) providing Maine elementary students with a foundation of systems thinking and economic reasoning, and (4) supporting a future citizenry who understand how particular decisions based on anticipated futures can achieve or not achieve certain environmental goals.This investigation will prepare 250+ elementary students from rural and immigrant/refugee communities within the state of Maine to participate in Maine’s growing aquaculture industry through the design of an integrated suite of learning experiences that will include hands-on field experiences at active aquaculture farms, mentorship with local farmers, and classroom-based activities which foreground the affordances of scientific modeling as a means to represent, test, and understand relationships within the natural world. The goal is to establish a bridge between the classroom and a regional workforce, and to develop multiple areas of skill and knowledge – including systems thinking and economic reasoning – that can be flexibly deployed across a students’ entire academic career and across evolving future work environments. This project will use a mixed methods approach to explore the impact of the learning innovations on the experiences and understandings of both teachers and students. Instruments used will include teacher and student interviews, surveys measuring learner identity and interest in STEM careers, and classroom observations of the curriculum in practice. The understandings that result from the project’s research will elucidate a model for connecting local youth with regionally relevant careers and contribute to the understanding of how a learning model connecting students with a local workforce can support the development of STEM knowledge and identities, particularly in those from underrepresented backgrounds. 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 students' knowledge and interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and information and communication technology (ICT) careers.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.

该项目将促进努力，以更好地理解和促进实践，从而扩大了缅因州代表性不足的年轻人的对区域相关科学，技术，工程和数学（STEM）的兴趣。该项目将通过构建和修订这些系统的计算模型来吸引学生对当地海洋生态系统进行调查。学生将通过参与模拟游戏玩法来进一步探索人类的互动，从而建模资源驱动经济中经济决策的社会和生态影响。缅因州的水产养殖行业将作为这项工作的背景，这两者既可以通过活跃农场的动手学习经验来研究海洋生态系统中的关系，也提供了对经济和生态系统之间的关系进行确定，测试和理解的环境。该项目的关键贡献包括（1）阐明当地学区通过行业和社区伙伴关系将参与年轻人与区域劳动力联系起来的模型，（2）扩大参与缅因州不断增长的水产养殖行业的参与，（3）为缅因州基本学生提供基于系统思维和经济推动力的基础，并为未来的公民提供依据，以实现一定的决策，并为未来的公民提供指导，以实现一定的决策。通过设计一套综合的学习经验，包括在缅因州的不断发展的水产养殖行业中，准备250多名小学生参加缅因州不断增长的水产养殖行业，其中包括在活跃的水产养殖农场的动手实地经验，与当地农场和基于课堂的活动的活动，以及基于课堂的活动，这些活动能够实现自然建模的能力，并以自然的方式来理解，并在领域中构建了一体，并在领域中构成了一体的关系。目的是在课堂和区域劳动力之间建立桥梁，并开发多个技能和知识领域（包括系统思维和经济推理），可以灵活地在学生的整个学术职业中以及不断发展的未来工作环境中进行灵活地部署。该项目将使用一种混合的方法来探索学习创新对教师和学生的经验和理解的影响。所使用的仪器将包括教师和学生访谈，测量学习者身份的调查和对STEM职业的兴趣以及在实践中对课程的课堂观察。该项目研究所产生的理解将阐明将当地青年与地区相关职业联系起来的模型，并有助于理解如何将学生与当地劳动力联系起来的学习模型如何支持STEM知识和身份的发展，尤其是在代表性不足的背景的人中。该项目由学生和教师（ITEST）计划的创新技术经验资助，该计划支持对实践，计划要素，环境，环境和过程的理解，从而有助于增加学生对科学，技术，工程和数学和数学（STEM）的知识和兴趣的促进知识和兴趣（STEM）以及通过评估NSF的INFORLICTIONT INFRATIONT INTERCTAUTION INFINCTIRAL。和更广泛的影响审查标准。