In this paper we investigate how people become engaged with open data, what their motivations are, and the barriers and facilitators program participants perceive with regard to using open data effectively.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Jack ShanleyCamillia MatukOded NovGraham Dove
In 2022, Kera Collective partnered with Made By Us to evaluate the impact of its flagship program, Civic Season, in its second year running. Held annually between Juneteenth and July 4th, Civic Season “rolls out the welcome mat” for Young People—the future inheritors of the United States—by connecting them to 150+ museums, historic sites, and historical societies and putting history in their hands as a tool for informed, inspired civic participation.
Our work, and Civic Season’s implementation, came at a time when the gap between Young People (age 18-30) and history organizations was huge
Student engagement is an important predictor of choosing science-related careers and establishing a scientifically literate society: and, worryingly, it is on the decline internationally. Conceptions of science are strongly affected by school experience, so one strategy is to bring successful science communication strategies to the classroom. Through a project creating short science films on mobile devices, students' engagement greatly increased through collaborative learning and the storytelling process. Teachers were also able to achieve cross-curricular goals between science, technology
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Kaitlyn MartinLloyd DavisSusan Sandretto
Peg + Cat is a popular broadcast television series, developed by The Fred Rogers Company and airing on PBS, in which a girl named Peg and her sidekick, Cat, solve everyday problems using mathematics, creativity, persistence, and humor. Peg + Cat: Developing Preschoolers’ Early Math Skills was a three-year project, funded by the National Science Foundation, that aimed to impact children’s interest and engagement with mathematics, as well as their development of positive social-emotional skills. The project supported early math learning via the creation of additional Peg + Cat episodes, online
PEEP Family Science is designed for parents and their three- to five-year-old children, especially those from low-income families who are served by home visiting organizations. A media-based project featuring the preschool public television science program PEEP and the Big Wide World, it includes animated stories, live-action videos with real children, hands-on science activities, and educational resources designed to support parents and home visiting educators. PEEP Family Science comes in the form of four apps, one for each science unit: ramps, colors, sounds, and shadows. Once downloaded
Media can play a critical role in engaging children, parents, and educators in science. Listen in to WGBH’s Executive Producer for PEEP, Marisa Wolsky, and children’s app developer, Jillian Orr, as they talk about the new app, PEEP FAMILY SCIENCE, that can help parents confidently engage in science with their children.
The PEEP Family Science apps were designed specifically for low-income parents and their preschool children to explore science together at home. A major issue we confronted early on in the design and development was how families would be able to access the PEEP media, which included videos from the award-winning children's show, PEEP and the Big Wide World. Many of the families we tested the apps with did not have reliable internet connections. We initially made the decision to choose an app format instead of a website to help bridge the digital divide. But the app format has also enabled us
For at-risk children who cannot attend preschool, accessing science activities depends almost entirely on parents—but many parents have limited skills for supporting such learning. PBS station WGBH has recently launched a series of free family apps based on the Emmy Award-winning preschool science series, PEEP and the Big Wide World. The apps were developed to be used jointly by parent and child for a shared learning experience. Available on Google Play and the App Store in both Spanish and English, PEEP Family Science apps cover the topics of shadows, sound, color, and ramps, respectively.
PBS has a long history of creating award-winning children’s media and has published a wide range of free educational apps. PBS stations often seek organizational partnerships for help in reaching families with the free digital resources they produce. One such collaboration is between WGBH and ALSC as we together introduce a new series of apps developed with National Science Foundation funding. These PEEP Family Science apps feature characters children love from the Emmy Award-winning preschool STEM series on public television, PEEP and the Big Wide World—combining brief, animated stories with
To engage parents and young children in exploring science together, media producers from WGBH (Boston’s public media station) and researchers from Education Development Center (EDC) collaborated with two home-visiting organizations—Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY USA) and AVANCE—to design and test PEEP Family Science, an app-based intervention with science-focused digital media resources and associated supports for diverse, low-income families. Both organizations target families whose children do not attend preschool. These home visiting organizations play a unique
Engaging in science from a young age can provide children with a foundation for school readiness and future academic achievement. Recent research suggests that parents feel responsible for helping their children learn, but only about half of parents—and even fewer low-income parents—feel confident helping their children learn science. Even when parents value early STEM learning, providing enriching science experiences can sometimes be challenging. We know from prior research that educational media, such as videos, apps, and digital games, can play a valuable role in helping parents strengthen
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Megan SIlanderJennifer StilesGay Mohrbacher
NSTA Preschool Blog by Peggy Ashcroft features guest blog post authors, Michelle Cerrone, Gay Mohrbacher, and Megan Silander, who write about using digital media to support children’s interest in science topics, and discuss tips educators can use to support families using media to explore science with their preschool-age children, based on their research and development of the PEEP Family Science series of apps.