CAREER: Alternative Routes to Technology and Science

In this project, I propose to lay the foundation for a lifetime of integrated contributions to research and education in developing and analyzing learning environments in which students acquire science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) understanding and interest in STEM by engaging in professional practices not traditionally seen as part of STEM education.

Intellectual Merits
The low percentage of students who pursue STEM fields suggests that many young people feel disconnected from and disinterested in traditional STEM learning environments. What kinds of programs and activities can help students develop STEM understanding and interest in STEM? I explore the conjecture that students can develop STEM understanding and interest in STEM using computational tools to participate in professional practices. I hypothesize a causal chain of cognitive and social processes in which (a) computational tools make it possible for students to engage in personally meaningful projects modeled on professional learning practices; (b) such projects connect students with the norms, activities, and patterns of interaction in communities of professional practice; (c) the resulting processes of reflective practice (Schon, 1987) develop students understanding of fundamental STEM concepts and skills; and (d) this process, in turn, creates progressively larger and more stable islands of STEM expertise and thus further interest in STEM learning (Crowley & Jacobs, 2002). Moreover, I hypothesize that such pathways to developing STEM understanding and interest depend on the particular ways of knowing embedded in the practices of these professions.

Methods
The Alternate Route to Technology and Science (ARTS) project will test these hypotheses through design research. The project will develop, analyze, and compare two experimental afterschool programs in which eight- and ninth-grade students develop STEM understanding through technology-supported professional practices. In the first program, Digital Zoo, students will use the practices of biomechanical engineering to learn physics and biology by designing virtual creatures using SodaConstructor, an internet construction game based on a spring-and-mass modeling environment. In the second program, Ecology 2020, students will learn ecology by working as urban planners to develop plans for sustainable urban growth using geographic information systems. These design research experiences will build on the cognitive science theory of communities of practice (Lave, 1991) to understand the processes of learning through which students develop STEM understanding by engaging in professional practices. I will map the specific activities and interactions with tools, peers and experts that enable these processes, thus elaborating the linkages between enactment of professional practices and STEM learning in these contexts.

Broader Impacts
Lack of personally relevant points of connection to STEM ways of thinking leaves students at a significant disadvantage in developing and pursuing interest in STEM fields. The ARTS project addresses this critical problem and significantly contributes to NSF’s educational goals by (a) identifying the processes involved in developing STEM understanding and interest in STEM learning through professional practices that may engage students disaffected from and/or disenfranchised by traditional approaches to STEM, and (b) as a result, developing and testing a theory and method for creating scalable environments that provide a foundation of STEM understanding for all students and increase potential participation in STEM learning.