In this article, researchers report on the ways that middle school students positioned themselves as agents of change in their community by using the results of their research into local scientific phenomena and advocating for environmental reforms. This article might be of interest to ISE educators who are exploring how their programs can support the emergence of positive science learning identities in their youth participants.
In 2012, Concord Evaluation Group (CEG) conducted an evaluation of the impact of Peep and the Big Wide World (Peep) resources on Spanish-speaking families with preschool-aged children. The three-pronged evaluation included a National Family Study in which 112 Spanish-speaking families who used the Peep resources were compared to Spanish-speaking families who did not use the Peep resources. It also included an In-Depth Family Study -- an experiment conducted in the metro Boston area in which 36 Spanish-speaking families who used the Peep resources were compared to Spanish-speaking families who
This is the second annual report of the formative evaluation of a three-year project, Community STEM Outreach, funded by the Office of Naval Research. Focus of the project is the Youth Exploring Science (YES) Program at the Saint Louis Science Center. The report addresses the following questions: "Why conduct an evaluation?", "Who are the YES teens?", "What happens in YES?", "What are the program's outputs?", "What are the program's impacts?", ""What are the different points-of-view that stakeholders have about YES?", "What areas are important to stakeholders and program success?", "What
In an effort to prepare female high school students for a college curriculum and achieve gender parity in the engineering industry, WGBH has developed an initiative entitled, Engineer Your Life (EYL). The initiative is targeted toward female high school students, career counselors/educators, and professional engineers. It is designed to: 1) increase these target audiences' understanding of engineering, 2) inspire young women to explore engineering as a career option and 3) help adults encourage young women to investigate engineering opportunities. One component of this initiative involves
“The Fabric of the Cosmos” is a special four-hour NOVA series that takes viewers to the frontiers of physics to see how scientists are piecing together the most complete picture we have ever had of space, time, and the universe. Based on the book of the same title by Columbia University physicist and author Brian Greene, "The Fabric of the Cosmos" explores a world just beneath the surface of our everyday experience that we would hardly recognize a startling world far stranger and more wondrous than anyone expected. Interweaving provocative theories, experiments, and stories with clear
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Pam CastoriWGBHBecky CarrollLaura Stokes
WGBH has produced NOVA scienceNOW (NsN) since 2005, with major funding from the National Science Foundation, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and the Alfred. P. Sloan Foundation. Along with the associated web site and outreach initiative, all NsN resources share the overarching goals of: (a) increasing the public's use of multimedia resources to learn about current science research, (b) increasing public awareness and understanding of cutting edge science content and its relevance to their lives, and (b) increasing public engagement in science-related activities. Goodman Research Group
The Youth Astronomy Apprenticeship (YAA) is a yearlong, out-of-school time initiative that connects urban teenage youth with astronomy as an effective way to promote scientific literacy and overall positive youth development. The program employs the strategies of a traditional apprenticeship model, common in crafts and trades guilds as well as in higher education. During the apprenticeship, youth develop knowledge and skills to create informal science education projects: through these projects they demonstrate their understanding of astronomy and use their communication skills to connect to
WGBH and the Materials Research Society (MRS) collaborated to create Making Stuff, a multi-faceted project about the all-encompassing role that materials play in shaping our lives. The project included a four-episode NOVA mini-series originally broadcast in January, 2011 that was hosted by NY Times columnist David Pogue, a large-scale national outreach campaign with collaborating partnerships funded in 20 locations, web pages on the NOVA website, and an online contest promoted and hosted on Facebook. Across all project components, the overarching goals were to enhance the general public's
One World, One Sky: Big Bird's Adventure (OWOS) is a bi-national, China-US cooperative project to produce and distribute a planetarium show based on popular characters from Sesame Workshop's television productions in each country for preschool- and kindergarten-aged children, as well as accompanying outreach materials for children, parents and teachers to further enhance learning. The project aims to: (1) provide young Chinese and American children aged four to six with an age-appropriate introduction to astronomy; (2) promote positive attitudes toward science among young children in both
Science Cafes are a popular venue for engaging adults in dialogue on issues at the nexus of science and society. A few Cafe programs have been designed specifically for teens. One such program, with a focus on youth leadership and promoting life skills in youth, Cafe Scientifique New Mexico, was the subject of a summative evaluation in the Spring 2010. The summative evaluation used a quasi-experimental design with matched control-treatment groups (N=383) to study the impact of the program on 1) attitudes towards science, scientists, and science careers and 2) Positive Youth Development (PYD)
The Nurture Nature Foundation’s Flood Forum project, funded by a two-year National Science Foundation (NSF) planning grant effective August 1, 2009, explored innovative means to promote science learning by and for local communities. The NSF planning grant allowed Nurture Nature Foundation (NNF) to develop a model of outreach for science centers that engages rural and underserved audiences in public dialogue on the science underlying an issue of high public concern—frequent flooding in Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley. Building on a public forum model used by other science centers such as the
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Alice ApleyNurture Nature Foundation
To prepare for future summative research on the synergy among multiple educational media, the present pilot research explored real-life use of Cyberchase outreach materials. The present pilot study included: a Web survey of 48 outreach providers (representing over 3000 children in 19 states), follow-up phone interviews with 26 of these providers, and in-person observations at two outreach sites, one in New York and one in Massachusetts. With an eye toward future summative research, the resulting data yield conclusions and implications in two broadly defined areas: providers' use of Cyberchase