The Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI), in partnership with the Native American Youth Association (NAYA), Intel Oregon, the National Park Service, and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, will the expand the existing Salmon Camp Research Team (SCRT), a youth-based ITEST project targeting Native American and Alaskan Native youth in middle and high school. SCRT uses natural resource management as a theme to integrate science and technology and provide students with opportunities to explore local ecosystems, access traditional American Indian/Native Alaskan knowledge, and work closely with researchers and natural resource professionals. The project is designed to spark and sustain the interest of youth in STEM and IT careers, provide opportunities to use IT to solve real world problems, and promote an understanding of the complementary nature of western and native science. The original SCRT project included summer residential programs, spring field experiences, weekend enrichment sessions, parental involvement, college preparatory support, and internship placement. The renewal will increase the IT content for participants by adding an afterschool component, provide opportunities for greater parental involvement, enhance the project website, and develop a SCRT toolkit. Students are exposed to a variety of technologies and software including Trimble GeoExplorer XM GPS units, PDAs with Bluetooth GPS antennae, YSI Multi-Probe Water Quality Field Meters, GPS Pathfinder, ArcMap, ArcPad, Terrasync, and FishXing. It is anticipated that this project will serve 500 students in Oregon, Washington, California, Idaho, Montana, and Alaska, proving them with over 132 contact hours.
DATE:
-
TEAM MEMBERS:
Travis Southworth-NeumeyerSteven TritzDaniel CalvertNicole Croft
This proposal, the "Dan River Information Technology Academy (DRITA)," is a request for a three-year program for high school students from underserved populations who are interested in pursuing IT or STEM careers. The overall goal of DRITA is to provide opportunities for promising African American or Hispanic youth to (1) develop solid Information Technology skills and (2) acquire the background and encouragement needed to enable them to pursue higher education in STEM fields, including IT itself and other fields in which advanced IT knowledge is needed. A total of 96 students will be recruited over the course of the three years. Each DRITA participant will receive 500 hours of project-based content. The project includes both school-year modules and a major summer component. Delivery components will include a basic IT skills orientation; content courses in areas such as animation, virtual environment modeling, advanced networking, programming, GIS, robotics, and gaming design; externships; a professional conference/trade show "simulation," and college/career counseling. Parent involvement is an integral part of the program and includes opportunities for parents to learn from participants, joint college visits, and information sessions and individual assistance in the college admission process.
DATE:
-
TEAM MEMBERS:
Julie BrownElizabeth NilsenMaurice Ferrell
Discusses the objectives of Outdoor Biology Instructional Strategies (OBIS), one aspect of the program (lawn communities) and the evaluation of this activity. Includes resultant recommendations. The evaluation criteria are suggested as a model to be used in either designing or in evaluating curricula.
DATE:
TEAM MEMBERS:
University of California-BerkeleyJohn H Falk
Free-choice learning, a new paradigm for the learning that youth and their families engage in outside school, can play an important role in the healthy development of youth, their families, and communities.
What motivates kids to take multiple programs at the Minnesota Zoo? What makes Minnesota Zoo programs so comfortable and engaging that some kids just keep coming back? How do these experiences support kids’ interest in animals and wildlife conservation? The Minnesota Zoo (MN Zoo) offers over a dozen educational programs for youth tailored to encourage exploration of “what makes the MN Zoo tick.” After 10 years of programming for hundreds of youth, a cluster of youth return again and again to learn more about animal care, wild wildlife conservation, zoo work, and volunteer opportunities
In this study, the authors describe a conceptual framework addressing culturally based ways of knowing, and provide a brief description of their efforts to design a community-based summer science program with a Native American tribe using this framework. To address the call to attract culturally diverse students to STEM fields, the authors advocate supporting students in their navigation of multiple and perhaps conflicting epistemologies, and using the student community as resources to be built upon, rather than pushing them toward replacing their personal epistemologies with canonical
Using Gee’s (2004) notion of ‘affinity spaces’ – places where people collaboratively interact in response to a common interest or affinity – this paper examines how a week-long astronomy camp can shape student self-identities. The paper also examines the design of the camp and notes that it successfully blends the ‘student-led research’ approach with the ‘cognitive-apprenticeship model’.
The Koshland Youth Research Lab (Research Lab) began as an eight-month pilot program funded by the DEK Family Fund at the San Francisco Foundation. The project (initially implemented in 2011) used frontend and formative evaluation to develop the program in line with the needs and interests of its target audience of Hispanic youth. The summative evaluation took place in the last month of the program (December 2011). Researchers from UXR Consulting, Inc. were engaged to conduct all phases of the evaluation. This report includes the interview protocol and surveys used in the study.
DATE:
TEAM MEMBERS:
Jes A. KoepflerKoshland Science Museum
In 2009, Insight Evaluation Services conducted a summative evaluation of Junior Zoo Crew (JZC), a summer service program at the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore (MZB) for teens ages 14 through 17. The goal of the evaluation was to assess the long-term impact of the JZC Program on its past participants in four main areas: 1. How and why participants are attracted to the Program and what support they get from their parents. 2. The extent to which the Program meets participants' expectations, as well as offers a satisfactory volunteer experience that also increases their appreciation for the value of
This front-end study aimed to capture baseline information about students' science interests and skills in support of the development of a new program called the Koshland Youth Research Lab. Specifically, the evaluation was driven by the following questions: 1) What are students' current attitudes and interests toward four selected science topics: adolescent sleep needs, teen sexuality and risky behaviors, water quality in your community, and adolescent health and nutrition? 2) What are students' current knowledge and skills with regard to scientific research methods and research design? Data
DATE:
TEAM MEMBERS:
Jes A. KoepflerMarian Koshland Science Museum
The Salmon Camp Research Team (SCRT) project was created to address the under-representation of Native Americans in information technology (IT) and IT-intensive professions in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). The Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) partnered with the Native American Youth and Family Association (NAYA) under renewed National Science Foundation funding to strengthen community involvement and work directly with students year round. The 2007-2008 evaluation of the project found evidence of effective implementation and data on important student
DATE:
TEAM MEMBERS:
Phyllis AultOregon Museum of Science and Industry
The Salmon Camp Research Team (SCRT) project was created to address the under-representation of Native Americans in information technology (IT) and IT-intensive professions in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). The Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) is partnering with the Native American Youth and Family Association (NAYA) under the renewed National Science Foundation (NSF) funding to strengthen community involvement and work directly with students year round. An SCRT program website is under development with program information and a social networking page
DATE:
TEAM MEMBERS:
Phyllis AultOregon Museum of Science and Industry