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、职业道路以及更广泛地参与科学和环境领域及事业相关的宝贵成果。然而，虽然当前衡量这些概念的工具对于衡量影响的某些方面很有用，但它们与可能边缘化、排除和抹除有色人种社区的知识和专业知识的主流观点是一致的。该项目将采用社区驱动的流程，以有色人种社区的声音为中心，以确定有意义且相关的成果，并开发研究工具来衡量科学和环境素养。然后，我们将开展一项全国性研究，衡量户外科学和环境学习 (OSEL) 经历对学生科学和环境素养的影响。这项研究将为种族和文化如何影响学习，以及种族主义和偏见如何影响迄今为止的研究提供新的理解。该项目将生产一套由有色人种社区驱动的经过心理测量测试的工具，提高该领域衡量学习成果的能力，同时采取措施抵消研究中长期存在的边缘化现象。这项工作将为现有的有关户外学习的好处以及 OSEL 经验在发展科学和环境素养方面发挥的作用的文献做出贡献。该研究将分三个阶段探讨四个问题。第一阶段（定义结果）将探讨：（1）科学素养和环境素养对有色人种社区意味着什么？ (2) 对于参与户外科学学习经历的有色人种青少年来说，哪些结果最有意义？如何衡量这些结果？由 OSEL 合作组织的青年、教育工作者、领导者和社区成员组成的社区研究网络 (CRN) 将参与创意生成、数据收集和意义建构的迭代过程，以阐明和共同开发一套成果衡量标准。这些措施将在服务于不同社区的异构组织中进行试点，并将产生最终的项目和规模。在第二阶段（衡量影响）中，将探讨：(3) OSEL 计划以何种方式影响青少年，特别是有色人种青少年的科学和环境成果？ (4) 有色人种青年如何理解这些经历的意义？第二阶段将包括一项定量研究，使用第一阶段开发的工具，在全国各地的 OSEL 项目中进行，同时也在选定的案例地点通过重点学生案例研究方法，寻求了解有色人种青年如何理解这些经历的意义。最后，在第三阶段，研究团队和 CRN 将合作与该领域分享研究结果，包括通过一个概念框架来阐明 OSEL 组织内部和邻近组织的成果和结构，使青年能够蓬勃发展。该项目的前提是 OSEL 的研究和实践都加剧了有色人种的压迫和边缘化，其目标是我们的社区驱动方法和我们创建新的社区驱动措施将推动研究人员和从业者努力应对在研究和实践中走向更加公正和公平的做法意味着什么。这一研究与实践相结合的项目由推进非正式 STEM 学习 (AISL) 计划资助，该计划支持以下项目： (a) 促进考虑非正式 STEM 学习在 STEM 公平和归属感中的作用的研究和实践； (b) 促进 STEM 方面的个人和教育成功； (c) 促进公众参与科学发现； (d) 培养对 STEM 职业的兴趣； (e) 为有效的非正式 STEM 学习创造和加强理论和实证基础； (f) 提高社区活力； (g) 加强科学传播以及公众对 STEM 和 STEM 流程的参与和理解。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。