Various measures exist to assess learning outcomes from informal science, technology, engineering, or math (STEM) education programming, especially for youth audiences. Although there has been growing interest in the field among practitioners, researchers and evaluators for the development and implementation of shared, common STEM measures and frameworks, informal STEM learning (ISL) institutions (e.g., museums, zoos, aquaria, botanic gardens, and the like) face a unique challenge when they design and evaluate educational programs. By nature of the broad-ranging topic areas these institutions emphasize, programming seeks to reach audiences that vary in age, ability, cultural background, interest, and more. Participation also varies--for example, participants choose which in a series of exhibits they attend and how much time they spend at each. Given this planned-for variance, how do educators target appropriate learning outcomes? To what extent do outcomes map to activity complexity? How does programming success link to institutional goals? One solution may be a framework of outcome progressions. Progressions are within outcome categories (e.g., interest, attitude, knowledge, skills, behavior, science capital, etc.), the ordinal series of effects that can be mapped to programming that ranges from short duration with simple content (e.g. a hallway cart demonstration can trigger situational interest) to extended duration with complex content (e.g. a youth internship can generate well-developed personal interest). STEM educators, evaluators and researchers working in or with ISL institutions will come together to consider the utility and feasibility of an outcome progressions framework. With this framework STEM learning institution educators may be better equipped to understand the impact of their programming and how to design for it. This work will be undertaken by the COSI Center for Research and Evaluation in conjunction with the Office of Education, Outreach, and Visitor Services of the National Museum of Natural History and the PEAR Institute.
The primary aim of this multi-day virtual convening is to inform future development of the framework for outcome progressions. These progressions will reflect and accommodate outcomes targeted by existing and shared evaluation measures. The framework will provide informal educators and evaluators with (1) a way of aligning outcome expectations with programming depth and dosage; (2) outcome choices achievable with various depths of programming; (3) a strategic tool for planning institution-wide targeted outcomes across a full portfolio of institution educational programming; and (4) a tool for documenting an education department's varied outcomes across the full range of possible outcomes. To create rich and informed critical discussion, the conference will involve research consultant experts representing each outcome category; practitioners representing diverse programming; and evaluation theorists familiar with the broad needs of informal learning institutions. A conference subcommittee with expertise in culturally responsive and equitable program development and evaluation will ensure the agenda contains flexibility to generate emergent equitable and inclusive conversations. Conference participants will review and contribute to the soundness and utility of these categorizations as well as the progressions within them. These insights and inputs will inform future development of the framework as a valid and reliable tool. Deliverables include a paper summarizing the findings from the convenings and a related webinar that describes the framework and recommendations for its use. These will be shared broadly via the informalscience.org website and other professional venues.
This conference is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which 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 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.
Across the country, educators and mentors in informal settings have provided youth with opportunities to persist and thrive along STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) trajectories. Unfortunately, the current COVID-19 pandemic may limit youths' opportunities to continue pursuing STEM pathways by removing their access to important resources, such as mentors in science labs and other STEM learning spaces. The impact of the pandemic may be especially harmful for youth from underrepresented groups whose families have been disproportionately affected by this crisis. The purpose of this project is to study the impact of COVID-19 on the STEM trajectories of teenagers from underrepresented groups who had previously worked with scientists as mentors before the pandemic. A survey, which will be administered to hundreds of teenagers, will identify the supports that they used to successfully navigate disruptions as they continued to pursue college and career pathways in STEM. For teenagers who decided not to actively pursue STEM pathways during the pandemic, this survey will illuminate how loss of supports and new challenges discouraged their active pursuit of STEM. By identifying supports and challenges that encouraged or discouraged STEM pursuits, this project will advance knowledge on how informal learning programs can support underrepresented teenagers in persisting along STEM pathways during national crises and emergencies.
The American Museum of Natural History will conduct mixed-methods research to explore the impact of the pandemic on the STEM trajectories of underrepresented teenagers. They will administer surveys to 560 teenagers from underrepresented groups who previously participated in the New York City Science Research Mentoring Consortium. The survey will ascertain whether and how the youth found access to new supports or lost access to former supports; whether they face new challenges and how they have responded to those challenges; and whether and how their feelings about pursuing STEM in college and beyond have changed. Teenagers who complete the survey will identify adults in their lives who have been important in supporting their pursuits in STEM, and two adults per teenager will also be invited to complete surveys on perceived disruptions. Latent class analyses, cognitive interviews, and consultation with youth and survey experts will be used to establish survey validity, while the survey results will be analyzed via two-mode social network analysis. Additionally, 16 teenagers will participate in in-depth interviews regarding the impact of the pandemic on their STEM trajectories. Findings and implications for practice will be disseminated widely to researchers, educators, and mentors in informal science education. These findings will help stakeholders to provide better supports for underrepresented youth during the current pandemic and during future national emergencies. This project is funded by the Advanced Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program. As part of its overall strategy to enhance learning in informal environments, the 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 RAPID 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.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Preeti GuptaTimothy PodkulKaren Hammerness
This RAPID project will study connections between children's hygiene habits and learning about science, such as the science of disease transmission. It builds upon findings from the investigator's prior research of parent-child interactions observed in children's museums and will extend this research to home settings. This research will focus on understanding how goal-setting, whether it is parent-directed, child-directed, or jointly-directed, affects children's engagement with a handwashing activity and their subsequent learning about handwashing behavior and preventing the spread of disease. More specifically, the intent is to examine how goal-setting during an interactive demonstration between parents and children relates to children's recollection of the activity and their handwashing behavior afterwards. This project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program which seeks to advance new approaches to, and evidence-based understanding of, the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments.
During a pandemic, it is vital that children establish good hygiene habits and understand the importance of handwashing for the prevention of disease transmission. What is most important is that young children wash their hands frequently and follow good hygiene habits, such as using soap, when doing so. This study examines the role parents might play in engaging children to wash their hands. The project team has developed a short 10 minute intervention that parents and children can participate in while using everyday household items. Utilizing remote technology, parents and children will be guided through this intervention while video recording their behavior. Families will be presented with a structured activity for parents and children to participate in together. This activity will be focused on how handwashing, and particularly the use of soap during handwashing, helps prevent the spread of germs. Parent-child interactions will be coded using schemes for goal setting that the investigator developed in prior work. Directly after their participation and one week later, children will be asked to reflect on the activity to understand what they remember about it, and to understand whether they have encoded the importance of handwashing for preventing the transmission of disease. Parents will also be asked to track their children's handwashing to see whether aspects of these reflections, as well as individual differences in how parents and children interact during the activity, promote better engagement with handwashing. The data generated will allow researchers to develop best practices for interventions centered on children's handwashing and the prevention of disease transmission. Knowing such practices is critical for reintegrating children into social settings such as schools and children's museums.
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.
Well-designed out-of-school time experiences can provide youth with rich opportunities to learn. However, to design effective out-of-school time experiences, it is critical to have a research basis that clarifies the features of programs that support increased youth engagement that then leads to better outcomes for youth. This project explores the features of programming that integrates sports, mathematics and science concepts, and growth mindset for 4th through 8th grade aged Latinx and African American youth. To accomplish this, the investigators refine curricular resources for out-of-school time programs and develop a model for professional learning experiences for informal educators and facilitators to support their implementation of integrated sports and STEM programming. To identify critical features of the programming, the researchers explore the ways that the program activities are implemented in two different contexts as well as the impact of the programming on youth participants' mindset, understanding of science and mathematics concepts, STEM interests, and self-perceived science and mathematics abilities. Additionally, researchers will explore the ways that the sports-themed programming supports (or could better support) girls' engagement.
The project builds on the University of Arizona researchers' existing partnerships with Major League Baseball (MLB) and Boys/Girls Club programs and an existing school-based MLB program for schools to (a) expand and refine Science of Baseball activities to enhance engagement among girls and incorporate growth mindset experiences that focus on the value of effort, determination, and learning from mistakes in both athletics and STEM; (b) study the enactment and outcomes of the program with 4th-8th grade aged youth in the two distinct informal learning settings; and (c) develop and refine a model for professional learning that includes in-person and on-line components for training informal STEM learning facilitators. The work will focus on two study contexts: afterschool programs of Boys and Girls Clubs in AZ, CA, and MO and summer programs of MLB in CA and MO. Participants will include 300 youth and up to 28 informal STEM learning facilitators split across the two contexts. Design-Based Implementation Research (DBIR) will be used to a) iteratively refine the activities and professional development model, and b) study the enactment and outcomes of the program. Research questions focus on outcomes for youth participants (i.e., impact on growth mindset, STEM dispositions, and understanding of science/math concepts), and the elements of effective professional development for informal STEM educators. Outcomes of the project include empirical evidence of what works and what doesn't work in the design, implementation, and professional development for STEM learning programs that integrate sports and growth mindset principles. In addition, outcomes of the project will advance knowledge of how different out-of-school program structures with similar sports-focused STEM programming can similarly (or differentially) support youth learning.
This project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which 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 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.
Computing and computational thinking are integral to the practice of modern science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM); therefore, computational skills are essential for students' preparation to participate in computationally intensive STEM fields and the emerging workforce. In the U.S., Latinx and Spanish speaking students are underrepresented in computing and STEM fields, therefore, expanding opportunities for students to learn computing is an urgent need. The Georgia Institute of Technology and the University of Puerto Rico will collaborate on research and development that will provide Latinx and Spanish speaking students in the continental U.S. and Puerto Rico, opportunities to learn computer science and its application in solving problems in STEM fields. The project will use a creative approach to teaching computer science by engaging Latinx and Spanish speaking students in learning how to code and reprogram in a music platform, EarSketch. The culturally relevant educational practices of the curriculum, as a model for informal STEM learning, will enable students to code and reprogram music, including sounds relevant to their own cultures, community narratives, and cultural storytelling. Research results will inform education programs seeking to design culturally authentic activities for diverse populations as a means to broaden participation in integrated STEM and Computing. This Broad Implementation project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which seeks to advance new approaches to, and evidence-based understanding of, the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments, including multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM learning, advancing innovative research on and assessment of STEM learning in informal environments, and developing understandings of deeper learning by participants.
As part of the technical innovation of the project, the EarSketch platform will be redesigned for cultural and linguistic authenticity that will include incorporating traditional and contemporary Latin sound beats and musical samples into the software so that students can remix music and learn coding using sounds relevant to their cultures; and developing a Spanish version of the platform, with a toggle to easily switch between English and Spanish. Investigators will also develop an informal STEM curriculum using best practices from Culturally Relevant Education and Cultural Sustaining Pedagogy that provides authentic, culturally and linguistically rich opportunities for student engagement by establishing direct and constant connections to their cultures, communities and lived experiences. The curriculum design and implementation team will work collaboratively with members of Latinx diverse cultural groups to ensure semantic and content equivalency across diverse students and sites. Validating the intervention across students and sites is one of the goals of the project. The model curriculum for informal learning will be implemented as a semester long afterschool program in six schools per year in Atlanta and Puerto Rico, and as a one-week summer camp twice in the summer. The curricular materials will be broadly disseminated, and training will be provided to informal learning practitioners as part of the project. The research will explore differences in musical and computational engagement; the interconnection between music and the computational aspects of EarSketch; and the degree to which the program promotes cultural engagement among culturally and linguistically heterogenous groups of Latinx students in Atlanta, and more culturally and linguistically homogenous Latinx students in Puerto Rico. Investigators will use a mixed method design to collect data from surveys, interviews, focus groups, and computational/musical artifacts created by students. The study will employ multiple case study methodology to analyze and compare the implementation of the critical components of the program in Puerto Rico and Atlanta, and to explore differences in students' musical and computational thinking practices in the two regions. Results from the research will determine the impact of the curriculum on computer science skills and associated computational practices; and contribute to the understanding of the role of cultural engagement on educational outcomes such as sense of belonging, persistence, computational thinking, programming content knowledge and computer science identity. Results will inform education programs designing culturally authentic and engaging programming for diverse populations of Latinx youths.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Diley HernandezJason FreemanDouglas EdwardsRafael Arce-NazarioJoseph Carroll-Miranda
Research shows that algebra is a major barrier to student success, enthusiasm and participation in STEM for under-represented students, particularly African-American students in under-resourced high schools. Programs that develop ways to help students master algebra concepts and a belief that they can perform algebra may lead to more students entering engineering careers. This project will provide an online engineering program to support 9th and 10th grade Baltimore City Public Schools students, a predominantly low-income African-American cohort, to develop concrete goals of becoming engineers. The goals of the program are to help students with a growing interest in engineering to maintain that interest throughout high school. The project will also support students aspire to an engineering career. The project will develop in students an appreciation of requisite courses and skills, and increase self-efficacy in mathematics. The project will also develop a replicable model of informal education capable of reinforcing the mathematical foundations that students learn during the school day. Additionally, the project will broaden participation in engineering by being available to students during out-of-school time and by having relaxed entrance criteria compared to existing opportunities in supplemental engineering curricula. The project is a collaboration between the Baltimore City Public Schools, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Northrop Grumman Corporation, and Expanded School-Based Mental Health programs to support students both during and after participation. The project will benefit society by providing skills that will allow high school students to become members of tomorrow's highly trained STEM workforce.
The research will test whether an informal, scaffolded online algebra-for-engineering program increases students' mastery and self-efficacy in mathematics. The research will advance knowledge regarding informal education by applying Social Cognitive Career Theory as a framework for measuring program impact. The theoretical framework will aid in identifying mechanisms through which students with interest in engineering might persist in maintaining this interest through high school via algebra skill mastery and increased self-efficacy. The project will recruit 200 youth from the Baltimore City Public Schools to participate in the project over three years. Qualitative data will be collected to assess how student and school socioeconomic factors impact implementation, student engagement, and outcomes. The research will answer the following questions: 1) What effect does program participation have on math mastery? 2) What direct and indirect effects do program completion and supports have on students' mathematics self-efficacy? 3) What direct and indirect effects do program components have on engineering career goals by the end of the program? 4) What direct and indirect effects does math self-efficacy have on career goals? 5) To what extent are the effects of program participation on engineering career goals mediated by math self-efficacy and engineering interest? 6) How do school factors relate to the implementation of the program? 7) What socioeconomic-related factors relate to the regularity and continuation of student participation in the program? The quantitative methods of data analysis will employ descriptive and multivariate statistical methods. Qualitative data from interviews will be analyzed using an emergent approach and a coding scheme guided by theoretical constructs. Project results will be communicated to scholars and practitioners. The team will also share information through school newsletters and parent communication through Baltimore City Public Schools.
This project is funded by the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program, which supports projects that build understandings of practices, program elements, contexts and processes contributing to increasing students' knowledge and interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and information and communication technology (ICT) careers.
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.
A long history of research suggests that early informal STEM learning experiences such as block play, puzzles, visiting zoos and science museums can build a strong foundation for STEM learning and which leads to later STEM success. Yet, children from low-income and historically underserved communities have less access to these opportunities due to scarce resources and barriers to access such as transportation and cost. To address these challenges, this project will endeavor to infuse public urban spaces such as local parks, bus-stops, and grocery stores with playful and engaging informal STEM learning opportunities in low-income Latinx neighborhoods as a strategy for understanding how public spaces, when co-designed with community partners and informed by the science of learning, can foster rich, informal STEM learning experiences for young children in neighborhood places where families naturally spend time. This project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which 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.
Using techniques of Community-Based, Participatory Design Research, researchers will collaborate closely with community families and partners in Santa Ana, California to achieve three aims: 1) Co-design a series of outdoor Playful Learning Landscape (PLL) exhibit installations with community partners that reflect the goals, values, and cultural capital of the Latino community. 2) Explore how caregivers and their children experience PLL exhibit installations and examine the development and changes in: a) caregiver-child STEM conversation and interactions, and b) caregiver attitudes about the importance of informal STEM learning and their beliefs about their role in facilitating STEM learning. 3) Leverage existing data from county partners to examine the potential effects of having multiple PLL installations within a specific neighborhood on promoting STEM learning and development across an array of cognitive and socio-emotional outcomes in early-childhood. This project will advance current knowledge on informal STEM learning by demonstrating new ways to understand the cultural assets that Latinx families bring to learning contexts, showing how the unique assets and needs of a local community can be incorporated into public infrastructure, and documenting the STEM-related learning experiences and interactions that occur in these settings. Due to a partnership with the Orange County Children and Families Commission, which collects data on child learning and development on every child in the county, researchers will examine the longitudinal impacts of a cluster of playful STEM-learning exhibit installations in a single neighborhood on children's developmental outcomes compared to matched neighborhoods without access to these installations. By leveraging everyday routines to promote playful STEM learning and caregiver-child STEM-related interactions, this project will: 1) empower caregivers to build a STEM learning foundation for children during early childhood; and 2) serve as a model for how cities can be re-designed to enhance ubiquitous STEM learning across public spaces, with the cultural capital of local families and children at the center of urban design and revitalization.
This Innovations in Development 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.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Andres BustamanteKathy Hirsh-PasekJune Ahn
While museums strive to be as inclusive and welcoming as possible to all visitors, data from many institutions shows that audiences are still disproportionately white, well-educated, and more affluent than the average local population. One contributing factor to the lack of progress is that staff often create programs that work to create inclusivity from their own perspective, rather than grounding the work in a broader vision of the museum experience. This project will allow for a deeper exploration of how visitors, particularly those from groups that visit less frequently, experience a museum visit, and how their sense of belonging is supported or eroded during their visit. The team believes this sense is built up or taken away through specific moments of engagement or alienation and will explore these moments that matter through the work. Through intensive work at one museum, and additional work at three other museums, the project will look for themes and insights that can help all museums to create more positive moments that matter for all audiences. Specifically, the project will result in a) insights for museums in supporting a visitor-based sense of belonging, b) shared methods for working with visitors that could be applied by other researchers to explore specifics in a particular setting, and c) grounding work to develop survey questions for use across the field. This award is funded by the Advanced Informal STEM Learning program which seeks to advance new approaches to, and evidence-based understanding of, the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments.
Building on existing work around exclusion and inclusion in everyday science learning, this project aims to formally define what a sense of belonging means in the science and natural history museum context as a construct for understanding inclusivity. The research team hypothesizes that the majority of experiences in an entire museum visit have a relatively neutral effect on visitor sense of belonging; however, at times, visitors may experience positive or negative moments, and these moments that matter may influence a visitor's STEM engagement, interest, and/or identity. This exploratory work will help to develop and ground the construct of sense of belonging within the museum visitor's experiences, to identify visitor moments that matter using an equity approach that intentionally centers the experiences of visitors from underrepresented groups, and to form the basis for future research that would support the development of a fieldwide measure of sense of belonging. The research study will focus on defining the construct of sense of belonging so it 1) aligns with the research literature and 2) is grounded in the experiences of science/natural history museum visitors. Photovoice data collection method and interviews will be used with visitors ages six and above to identify moments that matter for them during a visit to a science/natural history museum. This project will create new understanding of this construct for not only science/natural history museums and the larger informal science education (ISE) field, but fill a gap in the overall literature around the construct of sense of belonging. The project will also provide new learnings for the ISE field on how to adapt and use the photovoice method to study complex constructs, such as sense of belonging, in science/natural history museums.
This Pilots and Feasibility Studies 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.
Many people with autism are unemployed and isolated because they do not have access to educational opportunities that support them in finding jobs that match their potential. This research seeks to empower adolescents with autism to seek out careers that are well-matched with their strengths and interests. Many people with autism are interested in computing, a marketable skill. This project builds from this interest by developing strategies to effectively engage teenagers with autism. Although people with autism share a diagnosis, each person is unique and has the capacity to become a visionary and transformer in society in their own way. Teenagers with autism will be invited to participate in a game design workshop hosted by an award-winning, not-for-profit Tech Kids Unlimited. Teenagers often enjoy learning how to design games and can learn many useful skills through design. During each workshop, teenagers will rate different teaching strategies using a picture-based survey developed in collaboration with people with autism. It is expected that teenagers with autism who have difficulty focusing to be most engaged by strategies that include multiple types of information (for example, pictures, text, and speech). The team also expects those who are more focused to be most engaged by strategies with fewer sources of information. By developing clear guidelines to help educators match their teaching styles to how different students learn, the project will help them engage youth more effectively. Through an iterative process, the team will revise the game design workshop to make it more engaging for people with different types of autism. New groups of teenagers with autism will participate in improved game design workshops that include an internship in a technology company. An important outcome is to understand which strategies are engaging for young people with autism that help them develop the belief in their skills needed to seek out fulfilling careers. This award is funded by the Advanced Informal STEM Learning program which seeks to advance new approaches to, and evidence-based understanding of, the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments.
This Research in Service to Practice project has the following aims: 1) Identify evidence-based strategies to engage youth with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in informal STEM learning opportunities that are well matched to their attentional profiles, 2) Determine if engaging youth with ASD in informal STEM learning opportunities increases their STEM self-efficacy, and 3) Determine if engagement with STEM internship activities is associated with increased interest in STEM careers and career decision-making self-efficacy. Principles of Universal Design (UD) and Mayer's principles of effective multimedia instruction are frameworks employed to identify instructional strategies that are emotionally engaging for youth with diverse attentional profiles. The degree to which attentional differences contribute to different patterns of emotional engagement with informal STEM learning will be investigated. Guided by assessments of youth's engagement with different learning opportunities, 'diversity blueprints' or specific instructional strategies that help youth with diverse attentional profiles engage will be developed. After identifying strategies to engage neurodivergent (neurologically diverse) youth in informal STEM learning opportunities, the extent to which these strategies generalize to STEM internship sites will be explored. The team will study potential specificity of the types of contexts that promote different types of self-efficacy, with engagement with extracurricular STEM learning opportunities expected to preferentially target STEM self-efficacy while engagement with internships targets career decision-making self-efficacy. Although UD is often endorsed to promote STEM learning among students with disabilities, the proposed research would be the first iterative adaptation of instructional strategies designed to engage neurodivergent teens in informal STEM learning guided by a systematic analysis of how they engage with and feel about instructional strategies. Project deliverables include workshops for local after-school program providers, publications, a project website, and a multimodal guide of the process of developing 'diversity blueprints' and how to apply them for informal STEM educators and researchers.
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.
There is a national need to expand opportunities to learn coding and computational thinking in informal science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. These skills are increasingly needed in STEM disciplines. As young people learn to code, they engage in computational thinking concepts and practices which are problem solving strategies that include repeated process (iterative) design skills. This project promotes innovation by designing and developing activities for tinkering spaces (a space filled with materials for hands-on exploration of STEM) combined with coding in informal learning organizations such as museums, and community centers. The project supports both tinkering and making as methods to meaningfully incorporate computational thinking in STEM learning experiences. The tinkering approach to learning is characterized by hands-on, trial and error engagement. Making is similar to tinkering with additional attention to learning with peer groups. The long-term goal of the project is to enable informal educators to engage in STEM programming with youth and families from underrepresented groups. The project brings together interdisciplinary teams from the Department of Information Science at the University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder), the Tinkering Studio at the Exploratorium, and the Lifelong Kindergarten research group at the Massachusetts Institution of Technology. In collaboration with local partner sites, the project team will design and disseminate a collection of six computational tinkering activity areas that engage learners in creative explorations using a combination of physical objects and computational code. The team will develop visual coding "microworlds" for each of the activity areas, specialized sets of coding blocks designed to provide scaffolding. Additionally, the project team will design and develop facilitation guides to document these activities and facilitation strategies, as well as workshops to better support facilitators in making and tinkering spaces.
The project enhances knowledge building through investigations of what instructional supports informal educators need to develop effective facilitation practices that engage underrepresented youth and families in STEM computational learning experiences. Study participants will include informal educators in museum, library, and community-based settings with varying backgrounds and experiences facilitating computing activities. The project team will also engage youth and families from underrepresented groups through collaborative efforts with community-based partners. Research questions include: 1) What challenges and barriers do informal learning educator, face to engage their learners in design-based activities with computing? 2) What supports informal learning educators to take on key facilitation practices that support children and families in computational tinkering activities? 3) In jointly engaging in these computational tinkering activities, how do the activities and informal learning educators? facilitation of these activities impact children's and families' development of computational tinkering and identities as creators and learners with computing? To answer these research questions the project will use qualitative ethnographic methods to study the developing interactions between learners and facilitators at three local sites. Comparative case studies of facilitators across the local partner sites will also be used to examine what supports facilitators to take on key facilitation practices. Data sources will include participant observation of facilitators and families, documentation in the form of photos, videos, and audio recordings, project artifacts, bi-monthly short surveys with reflective prompts, and interviews with facilitators and families.
This award is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which 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.
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.
This Pilot and Feasibility project will investigate: a) the kinds of learning outcomes that occur in an informal STEM project utilizing a Critical Environmental Justice-informed Participatory Action Research framework, co-created between researchers and homeless communities, and b) the challenges and opportunities that arise in evaluating such collaborative projects. To address these questions, a team of university and community researchers will work with two self-organized homeless communities, in Portland, OR and Baltimore, MD, to systematically examine air quality at their sites and further develop a multimedia environmental justice toolkit. The toolkit is aimed at equipping homeless communities with STEM-based information and approaches to learn about and address various environmental hazards. Homeless people are disproportionately vulnerable to the impacts of air and soil pollution, rodents, extreme weather, floods, fires, and other hazards. This collaboration will study STEM learning outcomes related to the broader historical socio-political context in which people are living. The project also anticipates finding ways to adapt evaluation processes to better suit the needs of marginalized groups participating in informal STEM projects.
Guided by this integrated framework, the team will undertake participant observation, interviews, focus groups, and document analysis to assess learning. It also anticipates gaining insights into how evaluation processes may be adapted to better suit the needs of marginalized groups participating in informal STEM learning. This project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which 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 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.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Chris HawnMelanie MaloneErin GoodlingDillon MahmoudiAnthony Levenda
An ecosystems model of learning suggests there are critical partners within and across a community that support learning across the lifespan. These school-community partnerships, developed with shared accountability and goals, are essential to rural students given the lack of economic and geographic access to such services. Youth in rural areas may have limited opportunities to engage with professionals. The team proposes to overcome this gap by capitalizing on the wide-spread interest in archaeology to teach critical thinking using STEM concepts and testing components of a partnership program. This project will advance knowledge on multidisciplinary STEM education by iteratively developing and researching an after-school program in which youth engage in multidisciplinary inquiry in the context of archeology. Mentored by archaeologists, rural youth and citizen scientists will use concepts and tools drawn from biology, ecology, geospatial science, mathematics, physics, and data science to identify and answer questions related to the history of their local region. An outcome of this project will be a road map for moving from a feasibility project to a larger implementation project locally and an understanding of community partnerships engaging more broadly.
Researchers at SUNY Binghamton will conduct a mixed-methods research study that examines the ways in which participation in a multidisciplinary after-school archaeology program supports the development of STEM identities among rural youth in sixth through eighth grades. The research team will use content analysis to analyze field notes from observations, as well as transcripts from focus groups and interviews with the youth. They will use inferential statistics to explore changes in the youths' STEM identity using an identity survey, which will be administered to the youth before and after participation in the program. Additionally, the research team will conduct qualitative research that explores shifts in the afterschool program providers' perceptions about supporting middle school youth as STEM learners. The program providers are comprised of graduate and undergraduate archaeology students, citizen scientists, and professional archaeologists. The course modules developed for the after-school program will be disseminated through professional networks and organizations dedicated to archaeologists and informal educators, and empirical findings will be shared widely via peer-reviewed publications. This project is funded by the Advanced Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program. As part of its overall strategy to enhance learning in informal environments, the 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 Pilots and Feasability Studies 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.