RISES (Re-energize and Invigorate Student Engagement through Science) is a coordinated suite of resources including 42 interactive English and Spanish STEM videos produced by Children's Museum Houston in coordination with the science curriculum department at Houston ISD. The videos are aligned to the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills standards, and each come with a bilingual Activity Guide and Parent Prompt sheet, which includes guiding questions and other extension activities.
We present the assets that collaboration across a land grant university brought to the table, and the Winterberry Citizen Science program design elements we have developed to engage our 1080+ volunteer berry citizen scientists ages three through elder across urban and rural, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, and formal and informal learning settings.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Katie SpellmanJasmine ShawChristine VillanoChrista MulderElena SparrowDouglas Cost
The project team published a research synopsis article with Futurum Science Careers in Feb 2023 called “How Can Place Attachment Improve Scientific Literacy?”
This is a poster that was presented at the 2014 AISL PI meeting in Washington, DC. It describes a project that takes advantage of the charismatic nature of arachnids to engage the public in scientific inquiry, dialogue, and exploration.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
University of Nebraska LincolnEileen Hebets
This poster was presented at the 2014 AISL PI Meeting held in Washington, DC. It discusses the second season of SciGirls, a multimedia project designed to encourage and empower more girls to pursue careers in STEM.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Twin Cities Public TelevisionRita Karl
This CRPA award addresses the issue of multidisciplinary science and the public's awareness of the ideas. The PIs believe that the prevalence of multidisciplinary science is high and growing fast. Thus, the public and particularly the younger generations need to understand these concepts and to begin thinking in those terms. Thus, they will derive hands-on modules for three age groups that are age appropriate. The project team includes 7 NSF funded researchers who do multidiscipline-based research in biology, mathematics and engineering. These modules will be tested at the Boy and Girls Club of Dane County prior to being exhibited at the Madison Children's Museum and the Aldo Leopold Nature Center. Further, the local PBS TV station (WPT) will air some of the demonstrations giving the project more visibility and impact. Each set of modules designed for the three age groups shall be evaluated separately using age specific goals and objectives. The project is a collaboration between 7 scientists and engineers, the Boys and Girls Club of Dane County, the Aldo Leopold Nature Center, the Madison Children's Museum, and the Wisconsin Institutes of Discovery of the University of Wisconsin.
This project takes advantage of the charismatic nature of arachnids to engage the public in scientific inquiry, dialogue, and exploration. The project has two specific programs: (1) The development, implementation, and assessment of an informal museum event entitled 'Eight-Legged Encounters' which now has more than 25 associated activity stations. These activities encompass stations relating to (a) classification and systematics (e.g., 'What is an Arthropod', 'Create a Chelicerate', and 'Assemble an Arachnid'), (b) spider-specific stations focused on silk (e.g., 'Build a Burrow', 'Cribellate vs. Ecribellate Silk', 'Weave a Web', and 'Catch a Moth'), and (c) research related stations (e.g., 'Microscope Madness' and 'Community Experiment'). In addition, there is a stand-alone module entitled the 'Path of Predators' that includes an activity booklet and eleven stations that walk participants through the eleven living arachnid orders. Each stations has original artwork backdrops, clay sculptures, trading cards, and collectible stamps (participants place stamps on a phlylogenetic tree depicting the current hypothesis of evolutionary relationships among the eleven orders). Most stations have live animals and prizes are given to participants that complete their stamp booklet. 'Eight-Legged Encounters' has been hosted at the Nebraska State Museum (Morrill Hall) twice, with record-breaking attendance (>800 people in
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TEAM MEMBERS:
University of Nebraska-LincolnEileen Hebets
This Pathways project from the Ocean Discovery Institute (ODI) seeks to develop and pilot a program model designed to fill an identified gap in citizen science research and practice literature: how to effectively engage and better understand how to foster participation among people from under-represented groups in citizen science research. The ODI model is designed around six principles: (1) leaders who are reflective of the community, (2) science that is locally relevant, (3) guided, as opposed to self-guided, experiences, (4) direct interactions with scientists, (5) progressively increasing responsibilities for participants who express interest, and (6) removing barriers to participation, such as transportation, language, family involvement and access to technology. The project addresses environmentally degraded, crime-ridden local canyons, a locally relevant STEM-related issue, and leverages the Southern California Coastal Water Research Project's (SCCWRP) regional citizen science effort focused on identifying the sources and pathways of trash through regional watersheds. The scientific research components of the project focus on four canyons in the area, employing sampling methods developed by SCCWRP. Youth who are part of other ODI programs and who have demonstrated leadership and interest in science, work with the project team to scaffold family and youth participation in project activities taking place during afterschool and weekend time. Based on continued participation in the project, community participants can become more involved in the project, starting as "new scientists" and moving through "returning scientists" to "expert scientists" roles. The project evaluation seeks to identify the role and importance of the components of the proposed model with respect to participation, retention, and learning by participants from groups under-represented in STEM. The dissemination products of this Pathways project include a white paper describing the model and lessons learned as well as presentations to community groups and education and citizen science practitioners. Based on insights from the iterative approach to the model during this Pathways study, a subsequent full-scale development project would seek to engage citizen science projects around the nation in adapting the model to increase participation of individuals from groups underrepresented in STEM, including building out ODI's citizen science programming.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Lindsay GoodwinRoxanne RuzicTheresa Sinicrope Talley
Backyard Mystery is an NSF-funded curriculum, focused on diseases, pathogens and careers, using interactive paper and physical activities. Content is for middle school participants in afterschool settings, like 4-H and other similar venues. The curriculum engages student interest in genetics and genomics and in the bioSTEM workforce. The curriculum storyline is placed in a familiar setting to students--the backyard--and explores fungi, bacteria, viruses and parasites in a way that is engaging fun and informative. It can be tailored to specific audiences, e.g. participants interested in animal science will gain from focusing on the parasite panel. The curriculum is available in two forms: a combined lesson that brings all of the elements together in one session and another in which the content is broken out into three separate lessons. We would like to share this curriculum with facilitators and educators for both out-of-school time and classroom settings. It is available electronically and free to use. We only ask for users to complete a brief survey to give us feedback, which is helpful for NSF.
Project LIFTOFF works with local, regional, and national partners to engineer statewide systems for Informal Science Education that inspire: YOUTH to pursue STEM education and careers through increased opportunities for quality, hands-on STEM learning. AFTERSCHOOL STAFF to facilitate STEM learning experiences that contribute to the overall STEM education and aspirations of youth in their programs. PROGRAM ADMINISTRATORS to encourage and support staff in the integration of STEM enrichment into the daily programming. STATE LEADERS to sustain and expand afterschool learning opportunities so that all students have access to engaging STEM experiences outside of the regular school day. Project LIFTOFF is dedicated to the development of the following essential elements of statewide systems for informal science education:
Access to appropriate STEM Curriculum for youth of all ages, abilities, and socio-cultural backgrounds that meets the needs and interests of individual community programs
Systematic STEM Professional Development that matches individual skills in positive youth development with abilities to facilitate discovery and science learning
A diverse Cadres of Trainers who will deliver the professional development, technical assistance and curriculum dissemination in their local communities
Authentic Evaluation of informal science efforts that determine the impacts on youth aspirations and the capacity of youth programs to provide quality STEM experiences
Local STEM education leadership to identify the ways in which collaborative education efforts can advance the development of 21st Century Skills and the preparedness for STEM workforce and higher education
Partnerships in support of youth development and informal science education that convene local, regional, and statewide organizations and stakeholders
To advance national initiatives and states' sySTEM engineering efforts, LIFTOFF coordinates an annual convening, the Midwest Afterschool Science Academy, that brings together national informal science experts, system leaders and youth development professionals to elevate the levels of science after school. The 5th MASA will be in the spring of 2014 in Kansas City, MO
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Missouri AfterSchool NetworkJeff Buehler
Listening to the River (LTTR) is a watershed science education project funded by the National Science Foundation. Its aims are to deliver education experiences in the local area, Traverse City, Michigan, and also to develop a model that could be replicated in other locations. Inverness Research was contracted by the Listening to the River project to conduct both formative and summative evaluations. Our work began in 2005 when the project received a planning grant, and continued through the life of the project. Primarily through interviews and product reviews, along with some direct program
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Mark St. JohnHeather MitchellDawn RoblesElizabeth HorschLaura StokesLand Information Access Assocation