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

科学萌芽2.0：扩展和复制对科学素养和兴趣根源的纵向调查

• 批准号: 2300024
• 负责人: Amy Booth
• 金额: $ 164.53万
• 依托单位: Vanderbilt University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-07-15 至 2027-06-30
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2300024&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Science; Sprouts; 2.0; Extending; replicating

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.

与科学相关的机会和成就的社会人口差异在幼儿期就出现了，并可能有助于长期参与 STEM 领域并获得代表性。以这些现实为背景，该项目旨在更好地了解科学素养和兴趣的起源和发展。儿童的家庭经历、他们早期对因果关系的协调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族裔家庭，以便为制定早期干预措施提供信息，从而缩小机会差距并促进所有儿童参与科学并取得成功。总体策略是阐明儿童的因果立场、科学素养和科学兴趣之间的关系。该项目建立在之前的纵向工作基础上，确定了学龄前儿童因果立场、因果推理技能和科学接触的可变性。相关的输入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（其中大多数是黑人或拉丁裔），这种复制将扩大对历史上获得科学相关丰富和教育机会有限的未受研究人群的了解。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。第二个目标是通过将最初的调查纵向延伸到中学至 13 岁，明确早期指标可以在多大程度上预测科学成果。这一延伸还将追踪中学阶段科学态度与成就之间的关系：这是一个发展尤为引人注目的时期。在此域中发生变化。总之，这些调查增强了对科学素养和兴趣根源的了解，并为有关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。该项目得到了 NSF 的 EDU 核心研究 (ECR) 计划的支持。 ECR 项目强调基础 STEM 教育研究，产生该领域的基础知识。投资针对重要、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 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力评估进行评估，被认为值得支持。优点和更广泛的影响审查标准。