This National Science Foundation grant was designed to expand NACME's existing information program to reach more teachers, counselors and parents of minority students at the junior and senior high school levels and, ultimately, to provide more and better information to the students themselves. Materials produced under the grant to convey the message that minority students can find rewarding, attainable careers in mathematics and science-based fields, that financial aid is available to help students prepare for such careers, that there are specific academic prerequisites for students interested in studying engineering at the college-level, and that there is a growing network of programs to encourage the study of engineering and related technical fields among under represented minority students. Specifically, this funding was used to develop, produce and distribute: "Engineering, Your Key to the 21st Century" 30,000 brochures with companion posters targeting junior high school students, parents and teachers. "Financial Aid Unscrambled: A Guide for Minority Engineering Students" 30,000 books targeting high school seniors, teachers, guidance counselors and parents. "Students Guide to Engineering Schools" 30,000 books targeting high school students, teachers, guidance counselors and parents. "MEPs/USA: The Directory of Precollege and University Minority Engineering Programs" 5,000 directories for guidance counselors, teachers, program directors and other participants in the field.
Future Scientists and Engineers of America (FSEA) is a structured after-school program to promote math and science through engineering applications among American youth, grades 4 through 12. FSEA has hands-on projects at increasing levels of complexity which provide student members with practical engineering applications of science and mathematics. Students advance through categories similar to the Scouts based on Satisfactory completion of projects. They enter as a technician and advance to levels of scientist and engineer. Chapters are sponsored by businesses, professional societies and community organizations which provided mentors and funding for FSEA projects. Each Project is conducted by a team consisting of a volunteer teacher and a volunteer mentor. A mentor must have a technical background in a scientific or engineering field. Mentors can be volunteers recruited from industry, retired scientists and engineers or engineering students. In less than a year, mentors and teachers have attended start- up workshops and 24 chapters have been successfully organized. Increasing demand for chapter development, with continuing emphasis on minority and female youth, has created the need for further development of projects kits, parent involvement and continuity among feeder schools. The proposal intends to develop the procedures, structure and organization that would enable FSEA to develop an additional 35 chapters in Southern California and become a national after-school program and expand to other states.
This planning grant deals with helping people in a flood prone area, Lehigh Valley, understand climate change and the impacts it can have on their livelihood. Through a series of town hall type meetings and distributed materials, the Nurture Nature Foundation and scientists will provide perspective on climate change and options now available to them. The target audience will range from teenagers to adults. During these discussions STEM concepts shall be integrated into the materials. An important aspect of this planning project is devising strategies for interactions with the local groups in meetings and for effective displays and exhibits that not only address the flooding/climate change issues but also reflect the STEM principles and concepts that are involved.
This Communicating Research to Public Audiences (NSF 03-509) project is based on the PI's current NSF award: SBE-0545361- ADVANCE: Determining national science faculty demographics in order to empower women and guide solutions. This project will help address the need for underrepresented female faculty as role models and mentors in science and engineering. Although the number of female under-represented minority students (URM) in college has been increasing, there are astonishingly low numbers of female URM faculty in each science discipline. This project would produce a series of female URM faculty biographical videos to substitute for the lack of personal contact young women have with these role models. The videos would be widely disseminated through schools, colleges, and minority serving organizations to reach young women.
National Geographic Television is creating multi-platform media to communicate the scientific and engineering stories unfolding in the Gulf region due to the major oil spill. The Deepwater Horizon oil spill is one of the worst environmental disasters to occur in the U.S., and though traditional news outlets continue to report on the spill, there is little discussion about the scientific factors at play. They include the technology and engineering skills needed to stop the leak and contain the oil; the scientific and engineering efforts to mitigate its effects; and the potential impacts on the Earth system. Communicating these scientific and engineering concepts to the public is both critical and urgent. National Geographic is uniquely positioned to take the lead in reporting on the science and engineering behind the spill and its implications. Deliverables will include: a 60-minute "Explorer" documentary television program to air on the National Geographic Channels in September 2010; 16 weekly online "Science Journal" segments featuring interviews with scientists, engineers, and other experts, promoted through National Geographic's social media channels; ongoing online news coverage and blog reports from the Gulf region; and online content for children. Funding from the National Science Foundation will specifically support coverage of the yet-to-be-filmed science and engineering segments for the television program and digital content. The television program and digital content will reach a broad public audience with critical science and engineering concepts. The entire project is designed to communicate scientific messages from the Gulf in real time and over the longer term, and in so doing, to enhance public understanding of science and engineering as it relates to the oil spill crisis.
The middle-school and high-school years are a period of change and crystalization in terms of life goals, disciplinary and course preferences, and social and political attitudes. The literature provides a number of cross-sectional descriptions and models concerning cognitive and attitudinal development during adolescence and young adulthood, but there are no longitudinal data available to study these processes. The proposed longitudinal study will examine the (1) development of interest in science and mathematics, (2) the growth of scientific literacy, (3) the development of attentiveness to science and technology issues, and (4) the attraction to careers in science and engineering among two national cohorts of adolescents and young adults. One cohort will begin with a national sample of 3,000 seventh graders and follow them through the 10th grade. The second cohort will begin with a national sample of 3,000 10th graders and follow them for the next four years through the first full year after high school. Data will be collected from students, teachers, counselors, principals, and parents. A purposive sample of two or three school districts with exemplary elementary school science and mathematics education programs will be selected and comparable data will be collected in these districts. The analysis will consist of a series of expanding multivariate developmental models that will seek to understand cognitive and attitudinal growth and change in the context of family, school, and peer influences. Each wave of data collection will provide an opportunity to examine cognitive and attitudinal change measures in an increasingly rich context of previous measures. Periodic reports will be issued with each cycle of data collection and the data will be made available to other scholars on a timely basis. The first phase of the project, being funded at this time, provides approximately 15 months for instrument development and pilot testing, for sample selection, for monitor selection and training, and for working with the research advisory committee.
Over a three year period, the Museum of Science, Boston will develop a national traveling exhibition and associated programs that will support the goals and standards for technological literacy that were recently articulated in reports by the National Academy of Engineering and the International Technology Education Association. Intellectual Merit. The exhibit will take advantage of the widely known characters and images of future technology from the Star Wars movies to attract visitors and to engage them in learning about potential technologies that may impact our lives. It incorporates new and adapted interactive devices that will involve visitors in inquiry-based learning about technologies related to frictionless land vehicles, robotic mobility mechanisms, and habitats for living underwater and in space. Broader Impact. The exhibition will reach a large national audience by traveling to the members of the Science Museum Exhibit Collaborative as well as other institutions. Use of popular culture, science fiction and futuristic technology will help attract those who may not be traditional science center visitors. Educational impact will be extended through programming for the public and school groups, including materials for institutions that do not host the exhibition, along with a website.
Radio Lab will produce 20 hour-long interdisciplinary science programs and 30 shorter features to be aired on NPR news magazine programs on a wide range of core STEM topics exploring how research is done as well as what the scientific results mean to the listener. The programs are co-hosted by Robert Krulwich, science reporter for NPR, and Jared Abumrad, WNYC radio producer and music composer. The programs are using a new, unorthodox format with music, live sounds and conversations between the hosts designed to appeal to young adult listeners who previously thought they did not like science. Each episode is crafted around a scientific finding and aims to connect the scientific inquiry to philosophical and universal implications. Program topics will include biology and neuroscience as well as physics, genetics, chemistry, math and engineering. The program carriage goal is to have the hour-long programs airing on 100 stations reaching three to four million listeners by the end of the project. The shorter segments will be distributed by NPR in its regular news magazine programs. Programs will also be podcast on NPR and WNYC's web sites, as well as through iTunes. The project will also train NPR science reporters on this new approach to science news content.
DATE:
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Ellen HorneJad AbumradRobert KrulwichBarbara Flagg
WGBH Educational Foundation is requesting funds to produce the third and fourth seasons of "NOVA scienceNOW," a multimedia project addressing a wide array of science, technology, engineering and mathematics subjects via multiple platforms including national PBS broadcast, the PBS Web site and innovative outreach initiatives. Project goals are to help the general public understand the value and importance of scientific ressearch and to encourage an interest in STEM careers among younger viewers. INNOVATION/STRAGEGIC IMPACT: The series provides a significant opportunity to develop a new format for science journalism building on brand recognition but potentially reaching a broader and more diverse national audience. The new host will be Dr. Neil deCgrasse Tyson, an accomplished astrophysicist and charismatic science communicator whose partipation will help the series reach out to a broader demographic. NOVA is planning a new scheduling configuration for these future seasons to maximize audience for the six new programs per year, i.e. the programs iwll run consecutively in the NOVA slot during June and July. COLLABORATION: NOVA has developed a new consortium of PBS stations to advise on the series and to contribute editorially to the programs. This will give the program greater geographic coverage and will provide local contacts with researchers at major universities and institutions connected to these stations. The project will also partner with the American Library Association and Sigma Xi and the Astronomical Society of the Pacific in the outreach effort. Multimedia Research, Inc. and Goodman Research Group will conduct formative and summative evaluations, respectively.
Temple University's "Sisters in Science in the Community (SISCOM)" is a constructivist-based, inclusive youth/community project targeting underrepresented urban middle and high school girls in grades 6-10 and their families; it supports inclusion of girls with disabilities. It engages girls and their parents in hands-on, inquiry-based sports science in after-school, Saturday, and summer programs co-hosted by community-based organizations and Temple University. Girls will also be engaged in student-centered research projects guided by female scientists. With regard to intellectual merit, SISCOM is based on previous research done by Temple on methods for engaging girls and their parents in STEM activities. The infrastructure of research and practices in education will be facilitated through the sharing of information between the network of partners and the national community of formal and informal educators
Chabot Space and Science Center seeks support to engage in a six-month planning process for "Imagine That!," a multi-faceted science and technology career exploration program. In partnership with the Columbia River Exhibition of History, Science & Technology (CREHST) and the American Museum of Science & Energy (AMSE), Chabot proposes to fill the gap between well-intentioned and designed programs and the programs' abilities to really influence/affect future career choices by participants. "Imagine That!" will familiarize youth with a wide range of careers in scientific and technical fields through after-school and summer programs that offer in-depth career exploration and guidance activities, hands-on experiences that complement science education in school and an introduction to role models. "Imagine That!" will also provide parents with resources to support their children as they explore potential careers in science, technology and engineering. This planning grant will enable the three major science museums, Junior Achievement and government and business partners to develop the logistics for working together on an ambitious collaborative program of national scope. "Imagine That!" has the potential for broad and significant impact. Not only would it create a national program of career exploration, it will strengthen and diversify the STEM workforce. The national impact of this project is assured by the inclusion of geographically diverse partners, regional advisory councils and a robust dissemination plan.
The St. Louis Science Center, in collaboration with the City College of New York and the Science Museum of Minnesota, will combine their considerable expertise with youth programs to create new opportunities for after-school STEM learning. Teens, ages 14-17, currently participating in the "Youth Exploring Science" program at the St. Louis Science Center and the Youth Science Center at the Science Museum of Minnesota will receive intensive training to prepare them to assume the role of lead designers of Learning Places that will be created in nine-after school programs in St. Louis and St. Paul. "Learning Places" are educational environments supported by hands-on activities and innovative strategies that integrate science, mathematics and technology into after-school programs. In the final year of the grant the project will be disseminated to five museums across the US including the Pacific Science Center (Seattle, WA), Headwaters Science Center (Bemidji, MN), Explora (Albuquerque, NM), and Sciencenter (Ithica, NY). Youth program staff, and staff and administrators in after-school programs and partnering museums will also benefit from training and professional development. Deliverables include 27 "Learning Places," a teen training program, a Resource Guide for implementation and research contributions to the field.