"Collaborative Research: Studying Science Curiosity and Computational Thinking in an eTextile Upward Bound Curriculum"

“合作研究：在电子纺织品向上发展课程中研究科学好奇心和计算思维”

• 批准号: 2241701
• 负责人: Jennifer Weible
• 金额: $ 13.79万
• 依托单位: Central Michigan University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-08-01 至 2025-07-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2241701&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Studying; Science; Curiosity

This project will examine and iteratively improve the design of a youth-centered 30-hour summer school curriculum that will engage high school students in making e-textiles (i.e., wearable technologies). The research builds on an existing curriculum (STEAM-Maker) that, when piloted, showed a promising capacity to improve participants' computational thinking. In addition to studying the impact of the revised curriculum on computational thinking, the current project will assess the curriculum’s impact on: science curiosity; affinity for science, technology, and engineering; youths' self-perceptions as computational professionals; and increased knowledge of and/or interest in STEM-related careers and pursuits. This work will solidify a research-practice partnership in two states with the youth-serving organization, Upward Bound. The project will work with 60 youth in Upward Bound summer camps in Pennsylvania and Michigan, and employ computer science and engineering graduates involved in wearable technology industries (e.g., biomedical devices, fitness trackers, robotics, and smart fabrics) as near-peer mentors during the program. The mentors have been recruited to challenge typical stereotypes about who can create technology, and will be trained in anti-racist and equity-based mentorship practices. The project will produce a refined curriculum which will be shared with high school summer camp providers, with the intent to broaden participation of Black and Hispanic/Latinx youth in STEAM-Maker camps.The research will support further theorization around the linkages between curiosity, computational thinking, STEM career interest, and science curiosity. Data will include video of youths' engagement with activities; learners' artifacts; validated surveys of science curiosity, STEM career interest, and computational thinking; and surveys of post-program engagement with making. Analysis includes qualitative coding of artifacts, micro-ethnographic analysis of youth engagement, learning and innovation, and statistical analysis of quantitative data including affect surveys (using location, gender, and race/ethnicity as variables). The intellectual merit of the project rests in the development of design principles for encouraging science curiosity, career interest, and computational thinking in youth-centered making experiences. 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 youths' knowledge and interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and information and communication technology (ICT) careers. This project is co-funded by the CS for All: Research and RPPs program.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.

该项目将检查并迭代地改进以青年为中心的30小时暑期学校课程的设计，该课程将吸引高中生制作电子纹理（即可穿戴技术）。该研究基于现有的课程（Steam-Maker），该课程驾驶时显示了提高参与者计算思维的承诺能力。除了研究修订课程对计算思维的影响外，当前的项目还将评估课程对：科学好奇心的影响；对科学，技术和工程的亲和力；年轻人作为计算专业人员的自我认知；并增加对与STEM相关的职业和追求的了解和/或兴趣。这项工作将巩固与青年服务组织的两个州的研究实践伙伴关系。该项目将与60名青年在宾夕法尼亚州和密歇根州的向上夏令营一起工作，以及涉及可穿戴技术行业的员工计算机科学和工程毕业生（例如，生物医学设备，健身追踪器，机器人和智能面料）作为该计划期间的接近人指导。招募了导师，以挑战有关谁可以创建技术的典型刻板印象，并将接受反种族主义和基于股票的指导实践的培训。该项目将提供精致的课程，该课程将与高中夏令营提供者共享，并打算扩大黑人和西班牙裔/拉丁裔青年在Steam-Maker Camp中的参与。该研究将支持有关好奇心，计算思维，STEM职业兴趣和科学好奇心之间联系的进一步理论。数据将包括青年参与活动的视频；学习者的工件；经过验证的科学好奇心调查，STEM职业兴趣和计算思维；以及对制作后编程参与的调查。分析包括对伪影的定性编码，青年参与度的微观以人类志分析，学习和创新以及定量数据的统计分析，包括影响调查（使用位置，性别和种族/种族作为变量）。该项目的智力优点在于开发设计原则，以鼓励以青年为中心的经验来鼓励科学的好奇心，职业兴趣和计算思维。该项目由针对学生和教师（ITEST）计划的创新技术经验资助，该计划支持对实践，计划要素，环境和过程的理解的项目，从而有助于增加年轻人对科学，技术，工程和数学和数学（STEM）以及信息和通信技术（ICT）职业的知识和兴趣。该项目由CS共同资助：研究和RPPS计划。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并使用基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的影响审查标准，被认为值得通过评估来获得支持。