Collaborative Research: SBP: Increasing Social Equality in STEM through Children's Structural Reasoning

合作研究：SBP：通过儿童的结构推理提高 STEM 中的社会平等

• 批准号: 2317714
• 负责人: Jamie Amemiya
• 金额: $ 25.02万
• 依托单位: Occidental College
• 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 2026-08-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2317714&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; SBP; Increasing; Social

There are major gender and racial inequalities in who pursues Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) careers, and these disparities take root in early childhood. STEM inequalities are largely caused by structural factors, which are systemic societal barriers such as negative societal stereotypes and unequal educational opportunities. The present research addresses STEM inequalities by encouraging children to recognize structural constraints as a primary cause. A structural understanding may help children from disadvantaged groups realize that current inequalities do not reflect any deficiencies inherent about their groups and thus empower them to pursue STEM. Moreover, structural thinking may encourage children to include their marginalized peers in STEM activities. The proposed project thus tackles issues of STEM disparities by addressing three interrelated questions: (1) How to increase children’s structural reasoning about STEM inequalities? (2) Does structural reasoning increase children’s motivation to persist in STEM and to include marginalized children in STEM activities? (3) How can parents promote children’s structural reasoning and STEM motivation? Findings from this research will provide new insights on how to promote structural reasoning to increase STEM equality from early on, and will help to develop educational materials for educators and parents. The project also directly addresses STEM inequalities by including research training opportunities for students from underrepresented backgrounds in STEM. Using cognitive and behavioral experimental methods with 5- to 8-year-old children, the present research is a systematic investigation of structural reasoning in childhood and its behavioral consequences. Specifically, the research tests two approaches to promoting structural reasoning: (1) between-group comparisons that emphasize differential structural barriers between advantaged and disadvantaged groups, and (2) within-group comparisons that show that how the removal of structural barriers make a difference for the disadvantaged group. In addition, the research examines how increasing structural reasoning can have downstream consequences for children’s STEM motivation and inclusion of marginalized children. The project also informs the socialization of structural reasoning by examining the role of parents in transmitting structural information to children. The proposed research advances the field by applying theoretically-novel approaches to increase children’s structural reasoning about real-world inequalities. Additionally, by studying the effects of structural reasoning on STEM pursuits and inclusion, this research informs how structural reasoning can diversify STEM participation in childhood. Ultimately, this project can transform our understanding of the early-developing barriers underlying systemic inequalities in STEM.This project is also supported by the Racial Equity in STEM Education activity in the Directorate for STEM Education (EDU Racial Equity). This activity supports projects that advance racial equity in STEM education and workforce development through research and practice.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.

从事科学、技术、工程和数学 (STEM) 职业的人存在严重的性别和种族不平等，而这些差异在幼儿期就已根深蒂固，这些不平等很大程度上是由结构性因素造成的，这些因素是系统性的社会障碍，例如消极的社会障碍。本研究通过鼓励儿童认识到结构性限制是主要原因来解决 STEM 不平等问题，结构性理解可以帮助弱势群体的儿童认识到当前的不平等现象并不反映任何不平等。此外，结构性思维可能会鼓励儿童将边缘化的同龄人纳入 STEM 活动，从而通过解决三个相互关联的问题来解决 STEM 差异问题：（1）如何增加。 (2) 结构推理是否会增加孩子坚持 STEM 的动力并让失去孩子参与 STEM 活动？ (3) 家长如何促进孩子的结构推理和 STEM 动机？这项研究将为如何促进结构推理以从早期提高 STEM 平等提供新的见解，并将有助于为教育工作者和家长开发教育材料。该项目还通过为来自弱势背景的学生提供研究培训机会来直接解决 STEM 不平等问题。 STEM。本研究使用 5 至 8 岁儿童的认知和行为实验方法，对儿童时期的结构推理及其行为后果进行系统调查。具体来说，该研究测试了两种促进结构推理的方法：（1） ) 组间比较强调优势群体和弱势群体之间不同的结构性障碍，以及（2）群体内比较，表明消除结构性障碍如何对弱势群体产生影响。此外，该研究还探讨了增加结构性推理如何产生下游后果。该项目还通过研究父母在向儿童传递结构性信息方面的作用，通过应用新颖的理论方法来增强儿童的结构性推理，从而促进结构性推理的社会化。现实世界通过研究结构推理对 STEM 追求和包容性的影响，这项研究揭示了结构推理如何使儿童时期的 STEM 参与多样化，最终，该项目可以改变我们对 STEM 中系统性不平等的早期发展障碍的理解。该项目还得到了 STEM 教育理事会的 STEM 教育种族平等活动（EDU 种族平等）的支持。该活动支持通过研究和实践促进 STEM 教育和劳动力发展中种族平等的项目。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，NSF 的法定使命被认为值得支持。