The National Science Foundation has awarded a three-year, $1.3 million grant to a transdisciplinary team of researchers from the Lynch School of Education and Human Development and the Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences for a project to engage low-income families in a participatory educational program involving restorative gardening practices and 人工智能.
这个项目, “Empowering Youth in STEM and Technological Careers through AI-enhanced Sustainable and 社区-focused Urban Gardening,” builds on three recent NSF awards to the Lynch School totaling nearly $5 million, which have previously supported low-income high school students in similar agricultural technology projects, 以及环境科学教师的培训. 林奇学院的教员, 以及工程系和社会学系, 将共同领导项目的管理团队.
教师 members involved in the “Empowering Youth in STEM and Technological Careers” project include (L-R) Lacee Satcher, 莫林肯尼, G. 迈克尔·巴内特, Avneet希拉和海伦张. (李Pellegrini)
“We are indebted to the NSF for its ongoing support,” said G. 迈克尔·巴内特, Lynch School professor of science education and technology, 也是该项目的首席电子游戏正规平台员. “这项提议建立在多年工作的基础上, and continues our focus to support youth to be leaders and changemakers in their own communities where they are learning and applying their scientific and technological knowledge to address issues of social and food justice.”
这个项目 was boosted through receipt of a Schiller Institute Grant for Exploratory Collaborative 电子游戏正规平台 (SI-GECR), which supports intra-University joint research and creative activities in the institute’s principal focus areas of energy, 自然环境, 和健康. The SI-GECR enabled the team to build the additional relationships, 收集试验数据, 并为这项工作培养必要的伙伴.
In collaboration with the Louisiana School to Farm Program, 和波士顿, 沃尔瑟姆, 和斯普林菲尔德(马萨诸塞州).)公立学校, the project will engage 180 historically marginalized youth and their families from the Bay State and Louisiana in the design and construction of artificially intelligence-enhanced farming robots that enable youth to learn how to maintain a garden, and how to use physical computing tools to successfully manage the growth and production of nutritious food.
These automated urban gardens developed by partner company FarmBot, 开源的, 精准农业项目, offer an opportunity to bridge traditional gardening and 21st-century technological skills while fostering 社区 engagement by using emerging technologies to address food security issues.
学校到农场项目, based at Louisiana State University’s College of Agriculture in Baton Rouge, 为学生提供资源, 父母, and teachers to find educational materials related to agriculture and nutrition at both school and home. An additional partner includes Louisiana’s Helical Farms, 它的产量很高, high-yield crops in a small and controlled hydroponic environment that mitigates the risks of weather, 害虫, 微粒, 和病原体, and needs just 10 percent of the water required by soil-grown produce.
“这些花园将成为年轻人的纽带, 社区, and younger peers to come together to learn and share how evolving knowledge and tools can be used to support and advance improvements in urban farming,巴内特说。. “This project also offers an innovative way to support students’ examination of careers across the disciplines of agriculture and computation through near-peer mentoring, particularly to re-engage youth who are opting out of STEM career paths.”
“这些花园将成为青年的纽带, 社区, and younger peers to come together to learn and share how evolving knowledge and tools can be used to support and advance improvements in urban farming. This project also offers an innovative way to support students’ examination of careers across the disciplines of agriculture and computation through near-peer mentoring, particularly to re-engage youth who are opting out of STEM career paths. ”
Avneet希拉, 工程系的助理教授, noted that this project is a prime example of the types of interdisciplinary scholarship that an institution like BC can produce.
“通过我们在教育领域的集体努力, 工程, 环境科学, 和社会学, we conceived a unique project idea that would not have been possible if we were working in our departmental silos,”她说。. “We’re excited to work with our project partners in Massachusetts and Louisiana to center the voices and work of youth from minoritized communities in STEM, 采用以社区为基础的参与性方法.”
Assistant Professor of Sociology and Environmental Sciences Lacee A. Satcher说, “作为一名社会科学家, I was so happy for the invitation to join this important project with colleagues from the Lynch School and Engineering. I’m looking forward to doing some great work with the Boston 社区 on behalf of BC and NSF.”
海伦Z. 张, 林奇学院的高级电子游戏正规平台员, 重点关注项目的青年发展方面.
“This program will build the capacity of our youth participants to work on transdisciplinary projects of computational science, 人工智能, 和工程, as well as develop youth leaders who will become role models in their 社区 through near-peer mentorship,”她说。. “We are very grateful to the NSF for its support of our project.”
Maureen E补充道. 肯尼, 林奇学院的心理咨询教授, developmental and educational psychology: “This work is critical to prepare youth for the future of work and support youth in understanding the role that STEM can play to improve and make their communities more just."
Phil Gloudemans | University Communications | May 2023