The Northwest Passage Project explored the changing Arctic through an innovative expedition aboard the Swedish Icebreaker Oden to conduct groundbreaking ocean science research, while it actively engaged 22 undergraduate and graduate students from the project’s five Minority Serving Institution (MSI) partners and 2 early career Inuit researchers in the research at sea. Over 35 hours of training in Arctic research techniques, polar science, and science communication was provided to these participants, who were engaged in the Northwest Passage expedition and worked with the onboard science team
The Ice Worlds media project will inspire millions of children and adults to gain new knowledge about polar environments, the planet’s climate, and humanity’s place within Earth’s complex systems—supporting an informed, STEM literate citizenry. Featuring the NSF-funded THOR expedition to Thwaites glacier, along with contributions of many NSF-supported researchers worldwide, Ice Worlds will share the importance of investments in STEM with audiences in giant screen theaters, on television, online, and in other informal settings. Primary project deliverables include a giant screen film, a filmmaking workshop for Native American middle school students that will result in a documentary, a climate storytelling professional development program for informal educators, and a knowledge-building summative evaluation. The project’s largest target audience is middle school learners (ages 11-14); specific activities are designed for Native American youth and informal science practitioners. Innovative outreach will engage youth underserved in science inspiring a new generation of scientists and investigative thinkers. The project’s professional development programs will build the capacity of informal educators to engage communities and communicate science. The Ice Worlds project is a collaboration among media producers Giant Screen Films, Natural History New Zealand, PBS, and Academy Award nominated film directors (Yes/No Productions). Additional collaborators include Northwestern University, The American Indian Science and Engineering Society, the Native American Journalism Association, a group of museum and science center partners, and a team of advisors including scientific and Indigenous experts associated with the NSF-funded Study of Environmental Arctic Change initiative.
The goals of the project are: 1) to increase public understanding of the processes and consequences of environmental change in polar ecosystems, 2) to explore the effectiveness of the giant screen format to impart knowledge, inspire motivation and caring for nature, 3) to improve middle schoolers’ interest, confidence and engagement in STEM topics and pursuits—broadly and through a specific program for Native American youth, and 4) to build informal educators’ capacity to share stories of climate change in their communities. The main evaluation questions are 1) to what extent does the Ice World film affect learning, engagement, and motivation around STEM pursuits and environmental problem solving 2) what is the added value of companion media for youth’s giant screen learning over short and longer term, and 3) what are the impacts of the culturally based Native American youth workshops.
The evaluation work will involve a Native American youth advisory panel and a panel of science center practitioners in the giant screen film’s development and evaluation process. Formative evaluation of the film will involve recruiting youth from diverse backgrounds, including representation of Native youth, to see the film in the giant screen theater of a partner site. Post viewing surveys and group discussions will explore their experience of the film with respect to engagement, learning, evoking spatial presence, and motivational impact. A summative evaluation of the completed film will assess its immediate and longer term impacts. Statistical analyses will be conducted on all quantitative data generated from the evaluation, including a comparison of pre and post knowledge scores. An evaluation of the Tribal Youth Media program will include a significant period of formative evaluation and community engagement to align activities to the needs and interests of participating students. Culturally appropriate measures, qualitative methods and frameworks will be used to assess the learning impacts. Data will be analyzed to determine learning impacts of the workshop on youth participants as well as mentors and other stakeholder participants. Evaluation of the community climate storytelling professional development component will include lessons learned and recommendations for implementation.
As part of its overall strategy to enhance learning in informal environments, the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program seeks to advance new approaches to, and evidence-based understanding of, the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments. This includes providing multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM learning experiences, advancing innovative research on and assessment of STEM learning in informal environments, and developing understandings of deeper learning by participants. This EAGER seeks to explore the state of research ethics in practice in science and, specifically, how ethics plays out in informal STEM institutions, through lenses of multiple cultural traditions and perspectives. By means of producing a documentary, Decolonizing Science, the project will engage scientists and informal STEM educators in considering how informal STEM institutions could re-envision their work to fundamentally embrace inclusivity and belonging. The exploratory process will challenge and inform informal STEM learning institutions and the scientists with whom they work to consider how to navigate contemporary social tensions, support research that values diverse perspectives, and promote decolonizing practices. A significant component of the project includes screenings, workshops, and difficult conversations, in conjunction with informal learning institutions that are already on the front lines of new language and knowledge creation. The project will be a collaborative process as participants' thoughts, views, and arguments will shape the project from the beginning. Once the film is made, collaboration will continue by engaging science-based practitioners at institutions that serve communities of color and that are invested in working towards greater diversity, inclusivity, equity, and access. Discussions related to the film's screenings will inform how informal learning institutions can radically re-imagine their work and their spaces, including teaching, curation, research, communication, and knowledge and literature production.
The film will explore the origins, creation, and evolution of Western science as an enterprise that can sublimate, marginalize and re-narrativize the practices, procedures, ethics, and contributions of the underrepresented people of color in science. Through focus groups, interviews, and facilitated discussions, this EAGER will document and share the interactions among scientists, informal STEM educators, and filmmakers as they explore how to practice more ethical science in communities of color, on their lands, and within their nations, as well as how science can be portrayed and enacted within informal STEM learning institutions. The project seek to challenge and shift both informal STEM learning institutions and the sciences, through a yet-untested, well-considered, and humane approach to ethical practices of science and their implementation in informal STEM learning institutions through a film and by envisioning possible futures.
This project is jointly funded by Directorate for Education and Human Resources/Advancing Informal STEM Learning Program, the Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences Ethical and Responsible Research program and the Directorate for Geosciences Education and Diversity program.
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.