The Learning and Youth Research and Evaluation Center (LYREC) is a collaboration of the Exploratorium, Harvard University, Kings College London, SRI International and UC Santa Cruz. LYREC provides technical assistance to NSF AYS projects, collects and synthesizes their impact data, and oversees dissemination of progress and results. This center builds on the Center for Informal Learning in Schools (CILS) that has developed a theoretical approach that takes into account the particular strengths and affordances of both Out of School Teaching (OST) and school environments. This foundation will permit strengthening the potential of the NSF AYS projects to develop strong local models that can generate valid and reliable data that can guide future investment, design and research aimed at creating coherence across OST and school settings. The overarching questions for the work are: 1. How can OST programs support K-8 engagement and learning in science, and in particular how can they contribute to student engagement with K-8 school science and beyond? 2. What is the range of science learning outcomes OST programs can promote, particularly when in collaboration with schools, IHE's, businesses, and other community partners? 3. How can classroom teachers and schools build on children's OST experiences to strengthen children's participation and achievement in K-12 school science Additionally, the data analysis will reveal: 1. How OST programs may be positioned to support, in particular, high-poverty, female and/or minority children traditionally excluded from STEM academic and career paths; and 2. The structural/organizational challenges and constraints that exist to complicate or confound efforts to provide OST experiences that support school science engagement, and conversely, the new possibilities which are created by collaboration across organizational fields. Data will be gathered from surveys, interviews, focus groups, evaluation reports, and classroom and school data.
To define the most effective format for the new SCIGIRLS television series, we commissioned Barbara Flagg of Multimedia Research to conduct a series of focus groups to evaluate sample SCIGIRLS TV videos. She presented a video of three girls who explore the wetlands in North Carolina. We created two versions of this video - one 10 minutes long, the other 18 minutes. The results demonstrated that a longer format is more appealing, as it allows the relationships among the girls in the video to unfold, permits viewers to get to know more about them, and allows their science activities to unfold in
Women in Science Scale-Revised (WiSS-R) is a revised version of the original tool - Women in Science Scale (WiSS), a 27-item Likert type scale created by Erb & Smith in 1984. For reference, please see Erb, T. O., & Smith, W. S. (1984). Validation of the Attitude Toward Women in Science Scale for Early Adolescents. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 21, 391–397.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Steven OwenMary Anne ToepperweinCarolyn MarshallMichael LichtensteinCheryl BlalockYan Liuet al.
TEAMS, an exhibit collaborative of seven small science museums, will collaborate with academic researchers to expand knowledge about learning in informal science environments and will apply that knowledge to the creation of eight (two copies of four topics) traveling science exhibitions suitable for small museums and science centers. The research investigations build on recent findings about the nature of socio-cultural learning in museums. This close working collaboration among researchers, museum evaluators and museum exhibition designers provides an innovative opportunity to examine a model for rapid transfer of research knowledge into museum practice. Through this collaborative effort the project builds capacity within the seven small museums, helping address the larger problem of under-served audiences in rural areas. One component of the research supports design guidelines to increase effectiveness for girls visiting STEM exhibitions.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
David GoudyCharles TrautmannSarah WolfMark SinclairCatherine McCarthy