National Science Foundation-Funded Projects With Online Learning Products & Resources
On March 18, 2020 the National Science Foundation released the blog Seven NSF-supported STEM resources that are perfect for at-home learning. In addition to those projects, NSF has funded a wide range of innovative informal STEM education work across a variety of settings, resulting in online learning opportunities and resources that are informed by research, evaluation and best practices. CAISE has curated the sample list below from recent awards and some that have updated their outputs in response to COVID-19.
Please note:
- On March 26, 2020 NSF created a COVID-19 FAQ page for proposers and awardees
- The 2021 NSF Advancing Informal STEM Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) Program Awardee meeting will be held virtually, October 19-21.
Activities
SciStarter created a matchmaking database that has now connected millions of people to thousands of citizen science project and offers resources for libraries to become community hubs for citizen science.
The STAR Library Network project has created a STEM Clearinghouse of vetted activities to do at home.
The My Sky Tonight project created a series of weekly live online story reading events for young children and families.
The Learning in Places project developed a web page with learning tools for families, including one page, 2-sided overviews of outdoor activities.
The Research + Practice Collaboratory project created a website with STEM teaching tools including a guide for supporting learning at home in English, Spanish, Korean, Arabic and Chuukese.
The Science and Math Informal Learning Educators (SMILE) Pathway project recently updated and augmented a collection of over 3,500 activities on the Howtosmile.org website for at home learners.
The Fostering STEAM project developed a series of kits that explore the art and science of nature’s colors.
The Live Science: Co-Creating Investigations with Bird Cams project set up live bird cams that participants can use to observe, collect and analyze data, as well as query and discuss together.
The Arctic Harvest project created a website for citizen scientists with resources for educators with lessons, activities and videos on Alaskan berries.
The STEM Ambassador Program project created a website engagement activities for researchers to use with public audiences, organized by discipline.
The Reflecting on Practice project created a website with resources for professional learning, including module overviews.
Videos and Podcasts
The National Nanotechnology Coordination Office has produced an audio podcast interview with co-Principal Investigator Carol Lynn Alpert where she discusses considerations and strategies for effective science communication.
The Talking Black in America project is producing a documentary video series that chronicles the impact of African American English on American language and culture.
The LabVenture project produced a series of short videos that describe the various strategies and components of the lab field trip program.
The American Spring Live project produced a 3-episode video series in which researchers and citizen scientists investigate how a range of organisms respond to the change of seasons across the country.
The Polar Extremes: Enhancing Experiential Digital Learning project produced a two-hour program that follows the trail of fossils found at the polar extremes of Earth.
The Leap into Science project created a set of videos that demonstrate evidence-based strategies for engaging children and families in science and literacy learning.
The Brains On! project developed a series of podcasts for children and curious adults.
The Chronicling a Major Scientific Breakthrough project produced an eight-part video documentary series available on Vimeo and YouTube of the first direct observation of gravitational waves in 2015.
The Northwest Passage Project created a series 40 short videos from material captured during their 18 day expedition of the Arctic.
The Child Trends News Service project developed a news feed that includes short blogs and videos on positive parenting, based on current research.
Websites with Resources, Apps and other Activities
The Interpreters and Scientists Working On Our Park (iSWOOP) project created a website with resources including interpretive strategies and related scholarship.
The Climate Matters Network project created a Media Library resource page with links to workshops and webinars, community Facebook pages and loop-able backgrounds.
The CryptoClub Afterschool and Online project created a website for middle school students to solve cryptology problems using mathematical thinking, which includes tools, games, and comics.
The AHA! Island project produced a show and a website to engage preschoolers in computational thinking that includes activities for children and tips for parents.
The Combining Craft and Performance to Teach Physical Computing created a website with how-to guides for early middle schoolers to build puppets that involve simple circuits.
The Fluid Earth Viewer (FEVer) project developed an interactive website with an application that allow users to visualize current and past conditions of Earth's atmosphere and oceans.
The Parent-Child STEM Learning Using Interactive Media developed an interactive website media to explore marine science topics that includes videos, games, and activities for children 2-8 years old.
The bioMAKERlab project created a website with a four-unit curriculum and open source building instructions.
Conference Materials and Resources
The Inclusive Science Communication Symposium project created a website with videos and other documentation from its 2018 an 2019 symposia.
The Visualization for Informal Science Education project created a website with videos and proceedings from its 2019 conference.
The Conference on Mobile Position Awareness Systems and Solutions project produced conference proceedings that include talk summaries, case studies and museum mobile technology timeline.
The Generating Engagement and New Initiatives for All Latinos Summit project generated a list of resources including websites, blogs, podcasts and scholarship for engaging Latinx audiences with informal STEM learning.
Reports
The Conference on Informal STEM Learning in Rural Settings project produced a final report for researchers, informal STEM educators, and program developers who work in rural settings.
The STEM Effect project produced a report that includes a draft action agenda for assessing the long term impact of STEM programs for girls, which includes recommendations for further research.
The Head Start on Engineering Program project created a program guide is an introduction for educators and managers at Head Start centers, museums, or other early childhood or informal learning institutions.
The Influencing Millennial Science Engagement project produced a report with infographics on the findings from a national survey on millennial science media habits.