The Science Museum of Minnesota will create a 450-square-foot version of its award-winning "RACE: Are We So Different?" exhibition for distribution to rural areas and communities in Minnesota, and adjacent regions in Iowa, eastern North and South Dakota, and northern Wisconsin. The museum will produce four replicas of the exhibition for museums and partner organizations, and collaborate with community groups to develop supporting programming specific to identified community needs. Programs will include facilitated reflective dialogues for groups of adults and students; a leadership institute with representatives from each host community; an educator guide for secondary school teachers; and a variety of workshops and arts presentations to extend conversations about race and racism. Like the original RACE exhibition, these condensed exhibitions will encourage visitors to explore the science, history, and everyday effects of race and racism through a combination of artifacts, historic and contemporary photography, multimedia components, and interactive activities.
This NSF INCUDES Design and Development Launch Pilot will increase the recruitment, retention, and matriculation of racial and ethnic minorities in STEM Ph.D. programs contributing to hazards and disaster research. Increasing STEM focused minorities on hazards mitigation, and disaster research areas will benefit society and contribute to the achievements of specific, desired societal outcomes following disasters. The Minority SURGE Capacity in Disasters (SURGE) launch pilot will provide the empirical research to identify substantial ways to increase the underrepresentation of minorities in STEM disciplines interested in hazards mitigation and disaster research. Increasing the involvement of qualified minorities will help solve the broader vulnerability concerns in these communities and help advance the body of knowledge through the diversity of thought and creative problem solving in scholarship and practice. Utilizing workshops and a multifaceted mentorship program SURGE creates a new model that addresses the diversity concerns in both STEM and disaster fields, and make American communities more resilient following natural disasters. This project will be of interest to policymakers, educators and the general public.
The Minority SURGE Capacity in Disasters (SURGE) NSF INCLUDES Design and Development Launch Pilot will enhance the social capital of racial and ethnic minority communities by increasing their networks, connections, and access to disaster management decision-making among members of their community from STEM fields. The four-fold goals of SURGE are to: (1) increase the number of minority graduate researchers in STEM fields with a disaster focus; (2) develop and guide well-trained, qualified disaster scholars from STEM fields; (3) provide academic and professional mentorship for next generation minority STEM scholars in hazards mitigation and disaster research; and (4) develop professional and research opportunities that involve outreach and problem solving for vulnerable communities in the U.S. The SURGE project is organized as a lead-organization network through the University of Nebraska at Omaha and includes community partners. As a pilot project, SURGE participation is limited to graduate students from research-intensive universities across the country. Each student will attend workshops and training programs developed by the project leads. SURGE investigators will conduct project evaluation and assessment of their workshops, training, and mentorship projects. Results from evaluations and assessments will be presented at STEM and disaster-related conferences and published in peer-reviewed academic journals.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
DeeDee BennettLori PeekTerri NortonHans Louis-Charles
As part of its overall effort 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 science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (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. In alignment with these aims, the STEM + Digital Literacies (STEM+L) project will investigate science fiction as an effective mechanism to attract and immerse adolescents (ages 10-13) from diverse cultural backgrounds in environmental and human health content and socio-scientific issues. This work is particularly novel, as the current knowledge base is limited, and largely addresses the high school level. Therefore, the results of the proposed effort could yield important findings regarding the feasibility of this activity as an effective platform for science learning and engagement for younger students. As such, STEM+L would not only advance knowledge in the field but would also contribute to a growing AISL portfolio on digital literacy and learning.
STEM+L is an early stage Innovations in Development project that will engage thirty middle school students in out of school time experiences. Over a twenty-four-week period, students will work collaboratively in groups in-person and online with their peers and field experts to design, develop, and produce STEM content rich, multimedia science fictions. The in-person learning experiences will take place on the University of Miami campus during the summer and academic year. Culminating activities include student presentations online and at a local Science Fiction Festival. The research component will employ an iterative, design-based approach. Four research questions will be explored: (a) How do students learn science concepts and multimodal digital literacies through participating in the STEM+L Academy? (b) How do students change their views in STEM related subject matter and in pursuing STEM related careers? (c) How do students participate in the STEM+L Academy? (d) How do we best support students' participation and learning of STEM+L in face-to-face and online environments? Data collection methods include video records, student-generated artifacts, online surveys, embedded assessments, interviews, and multimodal reflections. Comparative case analysis and a mixed methods approach will be employed. A rigorous evaluation will be conducted by a critical external review board. Inclusive and innovative dissemination strategies will ensure that the results of the research and program reach a broad range of audiences including both informal and formal STEM and literacy educators and researchers, learning scientists, local communities, and policy makers through national and international conference presentations, journal publications, Web2.0 resources, and community outreach activities.
The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) contracted Randi Korn & Associates, Inc. (RK&A) to conduct reflective case studies of the Outpost, a mobile art museum that took up temporary residence at a variety of sites across Baltimore from 2014-2016. At each site, visitors to the Outpost had the opportunity to view reproductions of artworks from the museum’s collection, make art, and share their experiences of place, home, and life in Baltimore.
RK&A conducted case studies of 10 former Outpost sites, which the BMA chose because they represented a variety of host organization types (e.g., social
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Stephanie DowneyCathy SigmondBaltimore Museum of Art
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 study will contribute to these goals by providing empirical evidence about how and under what circumstances science museums, science centers, and other designed settings for informal science education (ISE) can change so that they will reach more diverse audiences with the full range of their educational activities. This study will deepen understanding of equity norms and practices at ISE organizations, as well as the internal and contextual factors that shape them. The project builds on a unique opportunity provided by the widely known and critically acclaimed exhibition "RACE: Are We So Different?" After traveling to dozens of museums and science centers, and being seen by over three million people, RACE is returning home to the Science Museum of Minnesota (SMM) where it was created. Strand 1 of this study will examine the processes underlying organizational change at SMM as it attempts to use RACE to leverage organization-wide change. In Strand 2, the project team will compare the experiences of ISE organizations around the country that hosted RACE, focusing on the conditions that influence reflection and lead to (or prevent) lasting impact. These two studies will inform the design of Strand 3: a national survey on equity norms and practices, and the potential for equity-related change, in designed settings for ISE. Four research questions guide all project activities: 1)How can such Informal Science Education organizations leverage an unusual event, such as a traveling exhibition, to catalyze and sustain change in their equity-related norms and practices? 2) How and when does the deep reflection required to change entrenched norms and practices manifest itself in ISE organizations that attempt to change their equity norms and practices? 3) What contextual factors support or oppose the achievement and maintenance of organization-wide changes in equity norms and practices? 4) How common are these supportive and opposing conditions in the institutional field of museums and science centers, and how prevalent are different norms and practices related to equity?
Over 200 zoos and aquariums in North America are accredited members of the Association of Zoos & Aquariums (AZA), with a shared vision of the future: a world where all people respect, value and conserve wildlife and wild places. Through programs & experiences that reach millions of people each year, we hope to encourage caring and empathy towards all living things, but we lack the tools that are needed to assess whether – and how – we’re reaching this goal. The overall goal of this 2 year collaborative project is to create tools that zoos and aquariums can use to assess whether they’re meeting their goal of encouraging caring and empathy towards wildlife. Project partners (Woodland Park Zoo, Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium, & Seattle Aquarium) aim to develop, test and share tools that can be used by accredited zoos & aquariums to assess whether their educational programs are having the desired impact of encouraging children’s empathy towards animals. To better inform our understanding of the empathic experience and the role it plays in human relationships with animals, an advisory team comprised of conservation psychologists and evaluation practitioners in the zoo and aquarium field, has been formed to aid in this two year project.
The World Biotech Tour (WBT) is a multi-year initiative that will bring biotechnology to life at select science centers and museums worldwide. The program, supported by the Association of Science-Technology Centers (ASTC) and Biogen Foundation, is scheduled to run from 2015-2017, with the 2015 cohort in Belgium, Japan, and Portugal. The WBT will increase the impact and visibility of biotechnology among youth and the general public through hands-on and discussion-led learning opportunities. Applications are now open for the 2016 cohort! Learn more and submit an application at http://www.worldbiotechtour.org/become-a-stop
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Association of Science-Technology CentersCarlin Hsueh