SciGirls Strategies is a National Science Foundation–funded project led by Twin Cities PBS (TPT) in partnership with St. Catherine University, the National Girls Collaborative, and XSci (The Experiential Science Education Research Collaborative) at the University of Colorado Boulder’s Center for STEM Learning. This three-year initiative aims to increase the number of high school girls recruited to and retained in fields where females are traditionally underrepresented: technical science, engineering, technology, and math (STEM) pathways. We seek to accomplish this goal by providing career and
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Rita KarlBradley McLainAlicia Santiago
Informal learning opportunities are increasingly being recognized as important for youth participation in authentic experiences at the intersection of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) (Dorsen, Carlson, and Goodyear 2006). These experiences may involve specialized equipment and dedicated time for learners to gain familiarity with the relevant scientific and engineering practices (i.e., designing experiments on their own, struggling to make sense of data, learning from their own mistakes and the results of peers), which often go beyond the classroom. However, the educators who
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Kathryn WilliamsonSue Ann HeatherlyVivian HoetteEva Erdosne TothDavid Beer
Have you ever been to a professional development (PD) session where you sat and listened to someone speak for hours—and likely got a bit bored? As teachers, we know that best practice is to encourage hands-on learning, but we forget to implement this strategy when creating PD experiences. Exploration Place (EP), the Sedgwick County Science and Discovery Center in Wichita, Kansas, partnered with eight rural school districts in neighboring Sumner County, threw out the traditional sage-on-a-stage paradigm, and tried something new.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Jan LuthKimberly McDowellLaurel Zhang
Stephanie Spiris is a 12-year veteran teacher at George Washington High School in Denver, teaching courses in biomedical science (Figure 1). Last year, Spiris spent four weeks in a summer internship at Terumo BCT, a medical device company that focuses on blood processing for medical treatment and care. Decked in full lab gear and ready to learn, Spiris worked in a sterile lab, conducting projects that allowed her firsthand experience with tasks such as separating t-cells from blood and freeze-drying plasma.
The Discovery Research K-12 program (DRK-12) seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) by preK-12 students and teachers, through research and development of innovative resources, models and tools (RMTs). Projects in the DRK-12 program build on fundamental research in STEM education and prior research and development efforts that provide theoretical and empirical justification for proposed projects.
STEM Practice-rich Investigations for NGSS Teaching (SPRINT) is an exploratory project that will research and develop resources and a model for professional learning needed to meet the demand of implementing the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). The Exploratorium Teacher Institute will engage middle school science teachers in a one-year professional learning program to study how familiar routines and classroom tools, specifically hands-on science activities, can serve as starting points for teacher learning. The Teacher Institute will use existing hands-on activities as the basis for developing "practice-rich investigations" that provide teachers and students with opportunities for deep engagement with science and engineering practices. The results of this project will include: (1) empirical evidence from professional learning experiences that support teacher uptake of practice-rich investigations in workshops and their classrooms; (2) a portfolio of STEM practice-rich investigations developed from existing hands-on activities that are shown to enhance teacher understanding of NGSS; and (3) a design tool that supports teachers in modifying existing activities to align with NGSS.
SPRINT conjectures that to address the immediate challenge of supporting teachers to implement NGSS, professional learning models should engage teachers in the same active learning experiences they are expected to provide for their students and that building on teachers' existing strengths and understanding through an asset-based approach could lead to a more sustainable implementation. SPRINT will use design-based research methods to study (a) how creating NGSS-aligned, practice-rich investigations from teachers' existing resources provides them with experiences for three-dimensional science learning and (b) how engaging in these investigations and reflecting on classroom practice can support teachers in understanding and implementing NGSS learning experiences.
The Exploratorium Teacher Institute (TI) is a teacher professional development center that offers comprehensive, multiyear professional learning institutes; classroom coaching and mentoring; and teaching tools to middle and high school science teachers. The TI staff is composed of a team of PhD scientists and veteran secondary science educators who work in concert to provide teachers with resources and experiences that develop the content knowledge and pedagogical skills necessary for teaching authentic science content through student-centered activities (McDermott and DeWater 2000). All of
As a leader in the science museum field, the New York Hall of Science (NYSCI) is a destination for hands-on, interactive exhibitions and innovative programs. NYSCI’s Design-Make-Play (DMP) pedagogical approach to STEM learning recognizes that what is essential is not only the content—what is being taught—but how teaching and learning are imagined through the curriculum. This commitment to practice builds off of interest-based learning research, which emphasizes that all learners should feel a sense of efficacy and possibility. The hallmarks of this approach include deep personal engagement
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Amanda SolarshGina TesorieroMichaela LabrioleTara Chudoba
Science belongs everywhere. Although informal science learning typically takes place in the bright spots of society—our museums, botanical gardens, and science centers—some science educators are creating programs for individuals who live in the darker parts of our communities, such as prisons. Over 2 million people are in prison in the United States, with a national recidivism level of over 70%. Yet men and women who are incarcerated can also participate in science learning and contribute to conservation projects.
National Air and Space Museum, Washington DC
Summative Evaluation for Educational Program, 2016
The National Air and Space Museum (NASM) contracted Randi Korn & Associates, Inc. (RK&A) to conduct a summative evaluation of Science in Pre-K, an onsite and online teacher professional development program that NASM developed for the District of Columbia Public Charter Schools’ (DCPS). The program supports preschool teachers in teaching science through exploration and problem solving. This evaluation is a continuation of a planning and evaluation project initiated in 2013. In 2013, RK&A
The Roads Taken Conference Report provides information and results from the virtual conference held in October and November 2016.
Representatives from ten long-standing youth programs, experts in out-of-school time (OST) youth programming, and researchers participated in the Roads Taken virtual conference in October and November 2016, funded by the National Science Foundation (DRL-1644479). Participants collaboratively developed a Program Profile template with dual purposes: a tool for practitioners and a tool for researchers. As the first phase the three-part plan, Program Profiles will
Many people believe that both public policy and personal action would improve with better access to “reliable knowledge about the natural world” (that thing that we often call science). Many of those people participate in science education and science communication. And yet, both as areas of practice and as objects of academic inquiry, science education and science communication have until recently remained remarkably distinct. Why, and what resources do the articles in this special issue of JRST give us for bringing together both the fields of practice and the fields of inquiry?
The fields of science education and science communication share the overarching goal of helping non-experts and non-members of the professional science community develop knowledge of the content and processes of scientific research. However, the specific audiences, methods, and aims employed in the two fields have evolved quite differently and as a result, the two fields rarely share findings and theory. Despite this lack of crosstalk, one theoretical construct—framing—has shown substantial analytic power for researchers in both fields. Specifically, both fields have productively made use of