STEM Pathways for Rural Youth: Developing STEM Identity Through the Outdoors

农村青年的 STEM 路径：通过户外培养 STEM 身份

• 批准号: 2213919
• 负责人: Amanda Bastoni
• 金额: $ 30万
• 依托单位: CAST, Inc.
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-08-01 至 2024-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2213919&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: STEM; Pathways; Rural; Youth; Developing

For some rural communities, the outdoor recreation ecosystem is an integral part of the STEM learning ecosystem that connects rural youth with STEM and STEM career pathways. Landowners and forest managers construct and fly drones to inventory, map, and monitor resources. Hatcheries monitor fish levels and sustain populations for recreational fisheries. Backcountry skiers depend on snow science and avalanche forecasts to assess conditions. Outdoor recreation that youth in rural communities are currently engaging in can be sources of opportunities and experiences for cultivating their STEM identities and career aspirations. Existing studies have shown the promise of specific, one-time interventions and discrete activities, none have situated activities in a broader ecosystem framework comprising a nascent and growing economic sector that is currently shaping rural communities.This Pilot and Feasibility project brings together CAST, a non-profit education research organization, the University of New Hampshire (UNH), and outdoor-recreation and informal STEM community-based youth-serving organizations in New Hampshire (NH). In particular, this study will investigate the contributions of youth's participation in (or aversion of) outdoor recreation on developing high school aged students' STEM identities and considerations of careers in STEM through outdoor recreation. Researchers seek to address three questions: How can outdoor recreation be used as an informal STEM learning context to broaden participation for underrepresented rural youth who face known barriers to the traditional learning experiences necessary for developing positive STEM identities? How can outdoor recreation be used to increase the STEM career pathways for underrepresented rural youth? How do people in different positions in the STEM ecosystem view STEM as part of the future OR economy? In this qualitative dominant research study, investigators will employ experience sampling to involve 30 youth and 10 adults in rural communities in collecting their moments of engaging in outdoor recreation, and photovoice to encourage them to examine and reflect on these moments. Another group of 20 youth and 30 adults from the community will be interviewed to consider how members of the community perceives viability of outdoor recreation as a part of future STEM career pathways.This award is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which seeks to advance new approaches to, and evidence-based understanding of, the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments. This includes providing multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM learning experiences.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.

对于某些农村社区而言，户外娱乐生态系统是STEM学习生态系统不可或缺的一部分，它将农村青年与STEM和STEM职业途径联系起来。土地所有者和森林经理建造并飞行无人机以库存，地图和监视资源。孵化场监测鱼类水平并维持休闲渔业的人群。偏远地区的滑雪者依靠雪科和雪崩预测来评估条件。户外娱乐目前正在农村社区中的青年参与培养其茎身份和职业愿望的机会和经验的来源。 Existing studies have shown the promise of specific, one-time interventions and discrete activities, none have situated activities in a broader ecosystem framework comprising a nascent and growing economic sector that is currently shaping rural communities.This Pilot and Feasibility project brings together CAST, a non-profit education research organization, the University of New Hampshire (UNH), and outdoor-recreation and informal STEM community-based youth-serving organizations in New汉普郡（NH）。特别是，这项研究将调查青年参与（或厌恶）户外休闲对发展高中生的STEM身份的贡献，以及通过户外娱乐中STEM的职业的考虑。研究人员寻求解决三个问题：如何将户外娱乐用作非正式的STEM学习环境，以扩大代表性不足的农村青年的参与，他们面临着众所周知的障碍，以迎合发展积极的STEM身份所必需的传统学习经验？如何使用户外娱乐来增加代表性不足的农村青年的STEM职业途径？ STEM生态系统中处于不同位置的人们如何将STEM视为未来或经济的一部分？在这项定性的主要研究研究中，研究人员将采用经验，以涉及30名青年和10名农村社区的成年人，以收集参加户外娱乐的时刻，并进行摄影，以鼓励他们检查和反思这些时刻。将采访另一组20名青年和30名社区的成年人，以考虑社区成员如何将户外娱乐的可行性视为未来STEM职业途径的一部分。该奖项是由前进的非正式STEM学习计划（AISL）计划资助的，该计划旨在提高对STEM学习的新方法，以及对STEM学习的新方法，以及在信息环境中的STEM学习的理解和发展。这包括提供多种途径，以扩大进入STEM学习经验的访问和参与度。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并使用基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的影响评估标准，被认为值得通过评估来获得支持。