Acknowledging and Shifting the Dynamics of Power: Building Equitable Partnerships Among Informal STEM Learning Practitioners, Researchers, and Communities

承认并改变权力动态：在非正式 STEM 学习从业者、研究人员和社区之间建立公平的伙伴关系

• 批准号: 2313994
• 负责人: Elysa Corin
• 金额: $ 14.32万
• 依托单位: Institute for Learning Innovation
• 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: 2023-09-01 至 2025-02-28
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2313994&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Acknowledging; Shifting; Dynamics; Power; Building

The National Science Foundation, particularly the Directorate for STEM Education, has long funded work to support collaborations between researchers and practitioners, and to promote the application of research to improve learning outcomes in formal and informal learning environments. Popular and successful approaches have included the development of online repositories that help practitioners access, understand, and apply research knowledge to their work. Increasingly, these efforts involve partnerships that require [1] acknowledging and navigating boundaries by being open and curious to learn about each other and [2] working across these boundaries since effective partnerships work at these intersections as ideas are exchanged and mediated. This project will enhance understanding of how practitioners and researchers can and should form equitable partnerships in service of supporting lifelong STEM learning in informal learning environments. It will also examine how "community" intersects with partnerships, and the different levels or scales of community with which an ISL partnership of researchers and practitioners may intentionally and equitably engage. This two-phase Partnership Development and Planning project is conducted by the Institute for Learning Innovation and Pueblo Collab LLC, a community-centered consulting organization focused on shifting organizational culture to build better relationships with communities. This project will focus on initial processes of building equitable ISL partnerships between practitioners and researchers by engaging in intentional exercises for co-thinking around issues of equity and power in ISL work. Grounded in Ferrell and colleagues' equity-in-mission and equity-in-process, these efforts are designed to build trust and shared understanding among partners while also confronting systemic power dynamics (and their roles in the team's prior partnerships). In Phase one, the core project members will test and refine the processes examining their own and each other's practices before widening the lens. In Phase two, an expanded group of ISL and ISL-adjacent researchers and practitioners will be engaged. Several claims will be scrutinized using co-constructed process evaluation: 1) Providing sufficient time and space for self-reflection and co-reflection conversations about power in ISL researcher-practitioner relationships can support the development of trust. 2) Providing such time and space to engage in this work is central to the co-creation of a shared research agenda. and 3) Iteratively addressing issues around power and trust is essential to creating a healthy, equitable, and lasting ISL researcher-practitioner partnership. By the end of this project the team will have a) created a strong and expanded partnership; b) developed a collection of conversation prompts and exercises specifically useful for developing equitable partnerships between researchers and practitioners in ISL contexts, c) considered how researcher-practitioner partnerships engage with the communities/public audiences, and d) identified future project ideas that ensure reciprocal benefits for the partners and communities involved. Processes will be shared broadly though a co-written blog series.This Partnership Development & Planning 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. By examining the foundational and sometimes problematic practices in the ISL field that must be interrogated to make meaningful change in this space, the project supports AISL's goal for broadening participation in STEM.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.

美国国家科学基金会，特别是 STEM 教育理事会，长期以来一直资助支持研究人员和从业者之间的合作，并促进研究应用以改善正式和非正式学习环境中的学习成果。流行且成功的方法包括开发在线存储库，帮助从业者访问、理解研究知识并将其应用到他们的工作中。这些努力越来越多地涉及伙伴关系，这些伙伴关系需要[1]通过开放和好奇地相互了解来承认和跨越界限，[2]跨越这些界限进行工作，因为有效的伙伴关系在这些交叉点上发挥作用，因为思想是交流和调解的。该项目将加深对从业者和研究人员如何能够并且应该建立公平伙伴关系的理解，以支持非正式学习环境中的终身 STEM 学习。它还将研究“社区”如何与伙伴关系相交叉，以及研究人员和从业者的 ISL 伙伴关系可能有意和公平地参与的不同级别或规模的社区。这个分为两个阶段的合作伙伴关系发展和规划项目由学习创新研究所和 Pueblo Collab LLC 共同开展。Pueblo Collab LLC 是一家以社区为中心的咨询组织，致力于转变组织文化以与社区建立更好的关系。该项目将侧重于通过有意识地围绕 ISL 工作中的公平和权力问题进行共同思考，在从业者和研究人员之间建立公平的 ISL 伙伴关系的初始过程。这些努力以费雷尔及其同事的使命公平和过程公平为基础，旨在在合作伙伴之间建立信任和共同理解，同时应对系统性权力动态（以及他们在团队先前合作伙伴关系中的角色）。在第一阶段，核心项目成员将测试和完善流程，在扩大视角之前检查自己和彼此的实践。在第二阶段，将有更多的 ISL 和 ISL 相关研究人员和从业人员参与其中。将使用共同构建的过程评估来仔细审查一些主张：1）提供足够的时间和空间来进行有关 ISL 研究者与实践者关系中权力的自我反思和共同反思对话，可以支持信任的发展。 2) 提供这样的时间和空间来从事这项工作是共同创建共享研究议程的核心。 3) 反复解决围绕权力和信任的问题对于建立健康、公平和持久的 ISL 研究人员与实践者伙伴关系至关重要。到该项目结束时，团队将 a) 建立强大且扩大的合作伙伴关系； b) 开发了一系列对话提示和练习，特别有助于在 ISL 背景下研究人员和从业人员之间建立公平的伙伴关系，c) 考虑研究人员与从业人员的伙伴关系如何与社区/公众受众互动，以及 d) 确定未来的项目想法，以确保互惠互利为相关合作伙伴和社区带来好处。流程将通过共同撰写的博客系列广泛共享。该合作伙伴关系发展和规划项目由推进非正式 STEM 学习 (AISL) 计划资助，该计划支持以下项目：(a) 为考虑非正式 STEM 学习的研究和实践做出贡献STEM 中公平和归属感的作用； (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。通过检查 ISL 领域的基本实践（有时是有问题的实践）（必须对其进行审问才能在该领域做出有意义的改变），该项目支持 AISL 扩大 STEM 参与的目标。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过评估被认为值得支持利用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准。