Building Capacity to Lead Convergence Research on STEM Learning Processes - Extending the Impact of the Quantitative Ethnography Institute

A key challenge in STEM education research involves analyzing large amounts of learning process data from classroom interactions, collaborative problem solving in lab settings, and interactions with AI pedagogical agents and other learning technologies. To make informed decisions about curricula, teaching, and personalized instruction, educators working in technologically rich environments need learning analytic models that leverage teachers' qualitative insights as well as the large amounts of data that educational settings now generate, including log files from online learning environments and transcripts of conversations with AI agents. Quantitative ethnography (QE) provides a theoretical framework and set of tools to make sense of the natural language interactions common in traditional STEM learning as well as those occurring in rapidly evolving AI-based platforms. The goal of this Quantitative Ethnography Institute is to increase the capacity of STEM education researchers to use quantitative ethnography to address fundamental questions in STEM education research. QE is a set of statistical, computational, and AI-powered techniques that integrate qualitative and quantitative approaches to understand learning. This QE Institute will recruit three cohorts of 30 participants, the majority of whom will be early-career researchers, to engage in a year-long experience designed to support participants in using QE methods independently and train others to do so. Over the three years of this project, the QE Institute will provide intensive training, mentoring, and support to researchers. Participation will include 1) support in developing pilot QE analyses which will 2) be used in a weeklong intensive training in QE theory and methods followed by 3) one-to-one individual research consultations for the rest of the year. After completion of the Institute, participants will be able to conduct QE studies, lead interdisciplinary teams engaged in QE research, mentor and collaborate with junior researchers and colleagues, and lead QE workshops and trainings at their home institutions or at conferences they attend. This project is supported by NSF's EDU Core Research Building Capacity in STEM Education Research (ECR: BCSER) program, which is designed to build investigators' capacity to carry out high-quality STEM education research. The project is also supported through a collaborative NSF activity with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Schmidt Futures, and the Walton Family Foundation. 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.