Understanding the Impact of Outdoor Science and Environmental Learning Experiences Through Community-Driven Outcomes

通过社区驱动的成果了解户外科学和环境学习体验的影响

• 批准号: 2314075
• 负责人: Melissa Collins
• 金额: $ 214.94万
• 依托单位: University of California-Berkeley
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2024
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2024-01-01 至 2027-12-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2314075&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Understanding; Impact; Outdoor; Science; Environmental

Scientific and environmental literacy are valuable outcomes linked to academic learning, career pathways, and broader engagement in science and environmental fields and causes. However, while current tools for measuring these concepts are useful for measuring some dimensions of impact, they are aligned with dominant views that can marginalize, exclude, and erase the knowledge and expertise of communities of color. This project will employ a community-driven process, centering the voices of communities of color, to identify meaningful and relevant outcomes and develop research tools to measure scientific and environmental literacy. We will then conduct a national study to measure the impact of outdoor science and environmental learning (OSEL) experiences on students' scientific and environmental literacy. This study will contribute new understandings of how race and culture influence learning, as well as how racism and biases have shaped research to date. This project will produce a suite of psychometrically tested tools that are driven by communities of color, improving the field's ability to measure learning outcomes while also taking one step to counteract a long history of marginalization in research. The work will contribute to existing bodies of literature on the benefits of outdoor learning and the role OSEL experiences can play in developing science and environmental literacy. The research will explore four questions across three phases. Phase 1 (Defining Outcomes) will explore: (1) What do scientific literacy and environmental literacy mean to communities of color? and (2) What outcomes are most meaningful for youth of color who engage in outdoor science learning experiences, and how can they be measured? A Community Research Network (CRN) composed of youth, educators, leaders, and community members of partnering OSEL organizations will engage in an iterative process of idea generation, data collection, and sensemaking to articulate and co-develop a set of outcome measures. These measures will be piloted with heterogeneous organizations serving diverse communities and will result in finalized items and scales. In Phase 2 (Measuring Impact) will explore: (3) In what ways do OSEL programs influence scientific and environmental outcomes for youth, particularly youth of color? (4) How do youth of color make meaning of these experiences? Phase 2 will include a quantitative study, using the instruments developed in Phase 1, at OSEL programs across the country, while also seeking to understand how youth of color make meaning of these experiences through a focal student case study approach at selected case sites. Finally, in Phase 3, the research team and the CRN will collaborate to share findings with the field, including through a conceptual framework that articulates the outcomes and structures within and adjacent to OSEL organizations that enable youth to thrive. Built on the premise that both research and praxis in OSEL have reinforced the oppression and marginalization of people of color, this project holds the goal that our community-driven approach and our creation of new community-driven measures will push researchers and practitioners to grapple with what it means to move towards more just and equitable practices in research and practice. This Integrating Research and Practice project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which supports projects that: (a) contribute to research and practice that considers informal STEM learning's role in equity and belonging in STEM; (b) promote personal and educational success in STEM; (c) advance public engagement in scientific discovery; (d) foster interest in STEM careers; (e) create and enhance the theoretical and empirical foundations for effective informal STEM learning; (f) improve community vibrancy; and/or (g) enhance science communication and the public's engagement in and understanding of STEM and STEM processes.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.

科学和环境素养是与学术学习，职业道路以及在科学和环境领域和事业中更广泛的参与有关的宝贵成果。但是，尽管目前用于衡量这些概念的工具对于衡量影响的某些影响很有用，但它们与可以边缘化，排除和消除有色社区的知识和专业知识的主导观点保持一致。该项目将采用社区驱动的流程，以有色社区的声音为中心，以确定有意义和相关的结果，并开发研究工具来衡量科学和环境素养。然后，我们将进行一项国家研究，以衡量户外科学与环境学习（OSEL）经验对学生科学和环境素养的影响。这项研究将对种族和文化如何影响学习以及种族主义和偏见如何塑造迄今为止研究的新理解。该项目将生产一套经过心理测试的工具，这些工具是由有色人种群体驱动的，提高了该领域的衡量学习成果的能力，同时还迈出了一步，以抵消研究中边缘化的悠久历史。这项工作将有助于现有的文献机构，以了解户外学习的好处，以及Osel经验在发展科学和环境素养中所扮演的角色。该研究将探讨三个阶段的四个问题。第1阶段（定义结果）将探索：（1）科学素养和环境素养对有色社区意味着什么？ （2）哪些结果对于从事户外科学学习经验的有色青年最有意义，如何被衡量？由青年，教育工作者，领导者和伙伴组织组织成员组成的社区研究网络（CRN）将参与迭代的想法产生，数据收集和有感觉的过程，以表达并共同开发一系列结果措施。这些措施将由服务于不同社区的异质组织进行试验，并将导致最终的项目和规模。在第2阶段（测量影响）中将探索：（3）OSEL计划如何影响青年，尤其是有色青年的科学和环境成果？ （4）有色青年如何使这些经历的意义？第2阶段将包括一项定量研究，使用在全国各地OSEL计划中开发的工具，同时还试图通过选定的案例站点的重点学生案例研究方法来了解有色人种的含义。最后，在第3阶段，研究团队和CRN将合作与该领域分享发现，包括通过一个概念框架，该框架阐明了与Osel组织内部和邻近的成果和结构，这些框架和结构与Osel组织内部以及使青年蓬勃发展。该项目建立在OSEL中的研究和实践都加强了有色人种的压迫和边缘化的前提下，该项目的目标是，我们的社区驱动的方法以及我们创建新的社区驱动措施的创造将促使研究人员和实践者努力努力迈向研究和实践中更多公正和公平实践的意义。该整合研究和实践项目由前进的非正式STEM学习（AISL）计划提供资金，该计划支持：（a）有助于研究和实践，这些研究和实践考虑了非正式的STEM学习在股权中的作用，并且属于STEM； （b）在STEM中促进个人和教育成功； （c）提高公众参与科学发现； （d）促进对STEM职业的兴趣； （e）为有效的非正式STEM学习创建和增强理论和经验基础； （f）改善社区活力；和/或（g）增强科学传播以及公众对STEM和STEM过程的参与和理解。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并被认为是值得通过基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的影响来通过评估来支持的。