NASA's Universe of Learning provides resources and experiences that enable diverse audiences to explore fundamental questions in astronomy, experience how science is done, and discover the universe for themselves. Using its direct connection to science and science experts, NASA's Universe of Learning creates and delivers timely and authentic resources and experiences for youth, families, and lifelong learners. The goal is to strengthen science learning and literacy, and to enable learners to discover the universe for themselves in innovative, interactive ways that meet today's 21st century needs. The program includes astronomical data tools, multimedia resources, exhibits and community programs, and professional learning experiences for informal educators. It is developed through a unique partnership between the Space Telescope Science Institute, Caltech/IPAC, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, and Sonoma State University.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Denise SmithGordon SquiresKathy LestitionAnya BifernoLynn Cominsky
resourceprojectProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
The Center for Advancing the Societal Impacts of Research (CASIR) will advance the rigor, relevance, and practice of broader impacts (BI) by (a) cultivating and strengthening the existent and emerging BI expert community; (b) building capacity of researchers and educators to enhance and articulate the broader impacts of their work; and (c) creating socio-technical infrastructure able to adapt to stakeholder needs as BI continues to grow and evolve. CASIR builds on the foundational work of the National Alliance for Broader Impacts and will advance the practice of translating scientific research for public understanding and meet the growing demand for innovative BI training and resources.
The Center will develop resources and provide professional development to diverse audiences across multiple institution types and settings, including research-intensive universities, minority-serving institutions, technical and community colleges, and primarily undergraduate institutions in the jurisdictions of the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research. CASIR will directly enhance BI capacity at the individual, departmental, institutional, and national levels. Particular focus will be given to individual researchers and institutions representing and serving traditionally under-served populations. In addition, CASIR will facilitate dialogue and collaboration around evidence-based approaches to enhancing, evaluating, and documenting research impacts. Overall, the work will be valuable to the community of researchers driving discovery, the community of professionals who provide BI support and collaboration with researchers, and the public which stands to benefit from research and education projects that are well-designed and executed in a way that enhances their broader impacts.
NSF-wide support for this Center augments the Foundation's current efforts to educate research communities about the importance of the broader impacts criterion in the review process and to communicate the societal benefits of fundamental science and engineering research. CASIR's emphasis on documentation, evidence, and best practices will support an evidence-building approach to investing in discovery and innovation.
This award is co-funded by the Office of Integrative Activities (OIA) and the following Directorates: Biological Sciences (BIO), Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE), Education and Human Resources (EHR), Engineering (ENG), Geosciences (GEO), Mathematical and Physical Sciences (MPS), and Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences (SBE).
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
This project, a collaboration of faculty at Pratt Institute and Oregon State University, will explore how people with low to no affinity for science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) can be introduced to STEM ideas in ways that are appropriate for their cultural identity and designed to achieve reasonable outcomes that allow for continued STEM engagement. This project will study a new model, as a small scale exemplar of how science learning can be integrated into cultural events that attract audiences who do not identify themselves as interested in science or broader concepts associated with STEM. The model integrates science with art, music and play, producing live events, games, hands-on workshops, and interactive theater productions that are intended to inspire wonder and excitement. The basic principles are: to create unique opportunities for audiences to experience science in unorthodox ways, to connect with audiences at these events, and to help scientists engage a public they do not normally reach.
The goal of this project is to formally study and improve upon the practices that have been explored to date by carefully examining the implementation at two annual FIGMENT arts festivals in New York City and to determine outcomes based on three theoretical frameworks: the six strands of science engagement proposed by the National Research Council, the concept of follow-up activity, and subsequent reinforcing experiences. Initial evaluation results indicate the model is effective in advancing informal STEM learning and providing valuable public engagement with science training and experience for scientists. Participating scientists succeed in creating interest and attentiveness in audiences that do not normally engage in science, thereby opening the door for subsequent experiences. The research will be a quasi-experimental approach to test the degree to which encounters with model's learning experiences create a higher probability to actively seek subsequent science experiences. Project deliverables include a how-to guide for professionals on expanding STEM audiences targeted at cultural institutions who want to incorporate science content into their activities, and for other institutions who want to integrate their activities into cultural settings. The how-to guide will be based on the body of research and evaluations developed that will illuminate the principles behind the model.
This work is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which seeks to advance new approaches to, and evidence-based understanding of, the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments.
As part of its overall strategy to enhance learning in informal environments, the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program funds innovative research, approaches and resources for use in a variety of settings. Informal STEM educational activities have proliferated widely in the US over the last 20 years. Additional research will further validate the long-term benefits of this mode of learning. Thus, elaborating the multitude of variables in informal learning and how those variables can be used for individual learning is yet to be defined for the circumstances of the learners. Thus, the primary objective of this work is to produce robust and detailed evidence to help shape both practice and policy for informal STEM learning in a broad array of common circumstances such as rural, urban, varying economic situations, and unique characteristics and cultures of citizen groups. Rather than pursuing a universal model of informal learning, the principal investigator will develop a series of comprehensive models that will support learning in informal environments for various demographic groups. The research will undertake a longitudinal mixed-methods approach of Out of School Time/informal STEM experiences over a five-year time span of data collection for youth ages 9-19 in urban, suburban, town, and rural communities. The evidence base will include data on youth experiences of informal STEM, factors that exert an influence on participation in informal STEM, the impact of participation on choices about educational pathways and careers, and preferences for particular types of learning activities. The quantitative data will include youth surveys, program details (e.g. duration of program, length of each program session, youth/facilitator ratio, etc.), and demographics. The qualitative data will include on-site informal interviews with youth and facilitators, and program documentation. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
This pilot study will examine the effectiveness of an innovative applied social change, community and technology based program on marginalized youths' access, interest, efficacy and motivation to learn and engage in digital technology applications. Using stratified near-peer and peer-to-peer mentoring approaches, the pilot builds on extant literature that indicates that peer-supported hands-on mentoring and experiences can alleviate some barriers to youth engagement in digital technologies, particularly among underrepresented groups. In this project, undergraduate students will mentor and work collaboratively with high school youth primarily of Hispanic descent and community-based organizations to develop creative technology-based solutions to address social issues and challenges within their local communities, culminating in events called Impactathons. These community-hosted local and state-wide events set this pilot project apart from similar work in the field. The Impactathons not only provide a space for intellectual discourse and problem-solving among the undergraduate-youth-community partners but the Impactathons will also codify expertise from scientists, social scientists, technologists, community leaders, and other stakeholders to develop technology-based solutions with real world application. If successful, a distal outcome will be increased youth interest in digital technologies and related fields. In the short term, favorable findings will provide preliminary evidence of success and lay the foundation for a more extensive study in the future.
This pilot project is a collaboration between the Everett Program, a student-led program for Technology and Social Change at the University of California Santa Cruz - a Hispanic Serving Institution - and the Digital NEST, a non-profit, high-tech youth career development and collaboration space for young people ages 14-24. Through this partnership and other recruitment efforts, an estimated 70-90 individuals will participate in the Impactathon pilot program over two years. Nearly two-thirds of the participants are expected to be undergraduate students. They will receive extensive training in near-peer and peer-to-peer mentoring and serve as mentors for and co-innovation developers with the high school youth participants. The undergraduates and youth will partner with local community organizations to identify a local social challenge that can be addressed through a technology-based solution. The emergent challenges will vary and could span the spectrum of STEM and applied social science topics of interest. Working in informal contexts (i.e., afterschool. weekend), the undergraduate-youth-community partner teams will work collaboratively to develop practical technology-based solutions to real world challenges. The teams will convene three times per year, locally and statewide, at student and community led Impactathons to share their work and glean insights from other teams to refine their innovations. In parallel, the research team will examine the effectiveness of the Impactathon model in increasing the undergraduate and youths' interest, motivation, excitement, engagement and learning of digital technologies. In addition to the research, the formative and summative evaluations should provide valuable insights on the effectiveness of the model and its potential for expansion and replication.
The project is co-funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) Program and STEM +C. The AISL program seeks to advance new approaches to, and evidence-based understanding of, the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments. STEM + C focuses on research and development of interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approaches to the integration of computing within STEM teaching and learning for preK-12 students in both formal and informal settings.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
As part of its overall strategy to enhance learning in informal environments, the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program seeks to advance new approaches to, and evidence-based understanding of, the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments. This includes providing multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM learning experiences, advancing innovative research on and assessment of STEM learning in informal environments, and developing understandings of deeper learning by participants. This Innovations in Development project will develop and test a model for audience assessment that STEM professionals can use during their public engagement efforts. These on-the-spot assessments will allow scientists to monitor audience understanding and use this to make immediate improvements to their activity. This project fills a critical gap in the field of public science communication as expressed by outreach scientists and by the professional and academic organizations that train them. Project partners include The Astronomical Society of the Pacific, Oregon State University, Pacific Science Center, and the National Radio Astronomy Observatory. Research questions include: (1) How and under what conditions can scientists, regardless of discipline, learn to build assessment into outreach activities? (2) To what degree are scientists willing and able to change their outreach activities to include assessment to ascertain audience attentiveness or understanding? (3) To what degree will scientists be able to adjust their outreach and engagement efforts based on audience feedback, and what support do they need to do so? (4) With constraints on their time and resources, how can the model help scientists conduct audience assessment on their own? (5) Are audience members finding events more enjoyable and fruitful that use assessment techniques? Several iterative rounds of R&D will be used in the spiral design-based approach. A group of Design Testers will start each of the iterative cycles for the initial development and testing techniques, associated training, and support. Later phases will use Field Testers using a rubric for usability, validity, and reliability of various strategies. The summative evaluation of the project will begin early and add data over the life of the project. A mixed methods approach will be used including surveys of scientists once each year after they have participated in the Prototype training. Descriptive and inferential statistics will be used to document the extent to which the project has achieved its intended outcomes. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
As part of its overall strategy to enhance learning in informal environments, the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program seeks to advance new approaches to, and evidence-based understanding of, the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments. This includes providing multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM learning experiences, advancing innovative research on and assessment of STEM learning in informal environments, and developing understandings of deeper learning by participants. The theme of this conference project by the New York Hall of Science will be exploring how to better design exhibits to promote "public engagement with science." Here, "public engagement with science" refers to opportunities that go beyond traditional approaches to the public understanding of science. The event will invite professionals to consider how to shift exhibit designs toward engaging visitors with STEM in ways that emphasize the intersection of STEM innovation with visitors' daily lives, their personal agency, and their interdependence with their personal social networks and the institutions that advance STEM knowledge and innovation. The conference and its pre- and post-conference activities will bring together curators, exhibition developers, community outreach professionals, museum administrators, and learning scientists from the United States and Canada. They will work together to identify design principles and key obstacles to designing exhibits that can better help science museums achieve two goals: 1) making visitors' diverse and personal questions, concerns, and perspectives central to their experience of the exhibits; and 2) engaging visitors as contributors to the exhibit experience in ways that make their contributions visible and consequential. During this two-day event attendees will consider how exhibits can support broader and more diverse public participation in critical debates about the roles of STEM discovery and innovation in society. The effort is grounded in recent work on public engagement with science; on reorganizing museums to become sites for participation and contribution by visitors, and particularly by institutions' local communities; and on making and engineering design programming within museums. The goal is to chart a course toward a vision of the future of science museums in which they maintain their status as sources of trusted information, while also fulfilling their potential as sites of genuine participation and social interaction, in which visitors make meaningful contributions to the substance and workings of the museum floor while also engaging with, learning about and holding themselves accountable to the core concepts and practices of the STEM disciplines. The conference will build the capacity and collaborative engagement of a network of science centers whose work is central to achieving the museum field's ultimate goal of engaging the public of all ages in learning STEM in informal environments. The conference and associated activities will be evaluated by staff at the New York Hall of Science, with oversight by an external advisory committee of research and development professionals. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
This project tackles the urgent needs of the nation to engage people of all ages in computational thinking and help them learn basic computer science concepts with a unique and innovative approach of structured in-game computer program coding. Researchers will explore the design and development of a 3D puzzle-based game, called May's Journey, in which players solve an environmental maze by using the game's pseudo code to manipulate game objects. The game is designed to teach introductory but foundational concepts of computer programming including abstraction, modularity, reusability, and debugging by focusing players on logic and concepts while asking them to type simple instructions in a simplified programming language designed for novices. The game design in this project differs from today's block-based programming learning approaches that are often too far from actual computer code, and also differs from professional programming languages which are too complex for novices. The game and its embedded programming language learning are designed to be responsive to the progress of the learner throughout the game, transitioning from pseudo code to the embedded programming language itself. Error messages for debugging are also designed to be adaptive to players' behavior in the game. Using extensive log data collected from people playing the game, researchers can study how people learn computer programming. Such knowledge can advance understanding of the learning processes in computer programming education. Additionally, this work emphasizes the use of games as informal learning environments as they are accessible and fun, drawing attention and retention of many learners of different age groups with the potential to change attitudes towards computer programming across different populations. This project is co-funded by the STEM + Computing (STEM+C) program that supports research and development to understand the integration of computing and computational thinking in STEM learning, and the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program that funds innovative research, approaches and resources for use in a variety of settings with its overall strategy to enhance learning in informal environments.
The project's formative and summative evaluation methods, including surveys, expert reviews of learners' computer code developed in the game, and interviews, are used to gauge learners' engagement as well as learning. In exploring learning, researchers aim to understand how players build implicit computer science knowledge through gameplay and how that gameplay relates to their performance on external transfer tasks. The project will answer the following three research questions: (1) Can observers reliably detect and label patterns of gameplay that provide evidence of learning or misconceptions regarding the four computer science constructs - abstraction, modularity, debugging and semantics - that learners exhibit playing May's Journey? (2) How does learner's implicit knowledge of these computer science constructs change over time and do those patterns vary by gender and prior programming experiences? (3) Is there a strong correlation between implicit learning measures and transfer of CS concepts: modularity, debugging, semantics, and abstraction? How do these correlations vary across elements of the game? This work will result in several outcomes: game design metaphors tested for their learning and engagement value that can be abstracted and embedded in different games. This project will also contribute patterns and an understanding of how people learn and engage in problem solving using concepts of abstraction, modularity, debugging and semantics. These outcomes will lead to advancement in knowledge in the learning sciences as well as the design of educational games that enrich STEM learning, particularly in programming and computational thinking. In addition, this project will engage female participants and underserved populations through partnering organizations including National Girls Collaborative project.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
This Innovations in Development project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which seeks to advance new approaches to, and evidence-based understanding of, the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments. This includes providing multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM learning experiences, advancing innovative research on and assessment of STEM learning in informal environments, and developing understandings of deeper learning by participants. This Pilot and Feasibility study will investigate strategies for enhancing the mathematics in museum-based making and tinkering activities and lay the foundation for a full research study on broadening family participation in mathematics through making. This proposal builds directly on the NSF-funded Math in the Making convening. During this convening, questions about how to authentically highlight and enhance the mathematics in making and tinkering experiences, and how different math-enhancement approaches might influence learner experiences and outcomes, emerged as critical issues for researchers, educators, and mathematicians alike. The project aims to provide a practical lens to help researchers and educators connect topics across STEM with making and tinkering experiences. The project also seeks to advance theoretical understandings of museum-based learning by exploring ways that activity design and facilitation strategies influence how visitors understand the nature and goals of the experience and, in turn, how these visitor experiences shape learning outcomes. The project is designed to explore the most promising of these math-enhancement strategies in more depth, to propose as a next project and develop a theoretical framework for understanding and describing how these strategies influence how families understand and engage with the mathematics in maker experiences. Through several culturally-responsive approaches developed in collaboration with community-based organizations, the project will research how mathematics in maker experiences influences participant engagement and learning. The project will culminate in the design of a research study. Reports and resources developed by the project will be broadly disseminated to researchers, mathematicians, and educators. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Explore the Science of Spring: A Live Media Event is an Innovations in Development project produced by the signature PBS series Nature. The new primetime series Spring LIVE (working title) will break the frame of a traditional documentary, letting viewers themselves explore the dramatic seasonal changes of spring through the immediacy of live television. On-camera hosts, scientists and naturalists in locations across the U.S., and scores of citizen scientists will use observation and scientific inquiry to explore the workings of nature during this season of rebirth. The unfolding stories of seasonal change will illuminate larger scientific insights--into the biodiversity of species in habitats, the interconnectedness of plants and animals in diverse ecosystems, the global phenomenon of species migration, and how spring "green-up" can be affected by environmental change--while inspiring appreciation for species conservation and habitat preservation. Spring LIVE is conceived as an ongoing series, with this inaugural season composed of three one-hour programs broadcast live on three consecutive nights, along with real-time interactions via Facebook. Reaching long-standing Nature viewers (2.5 million per episode), Spring LIVE will seek to turn mature adults and diverse families into citizen science doers, and leverage younger Nature online audiences through social media and community engagement in partnership with citizen science projects.
Spring LIVE will build public knowledge of and engagement in phenology and citizen science. The project will also conduct knowledge-building research on the effectiveness of Facebook as a science learning tool. It will experiment with eliciting audience participation via Facebook within the live shows to generate synchronous, second-screen thought and discussion. An exploratory study by Multimedia Research will look at the impact of this feature, addressing the question: To what extent and how does Facebook interactivity within live science shows impact adult engagement, learning and motivation? Spring LIVE will also engage multiple partners to expand reach and impact and build capacity in their fields. National partners include the National Park Service and Next Avenue; citizen science partners include Celebrate Urban Birds, National Phenology Network, Monarch Blitz, and SciStarter, among others. PBS stations will work with these organizations to involve diverse, intergenerational audiences in observation of nature and seasonal change. Project evaluation, implemented by Knight Williams Research Communications, will focus on the impact of live television on science learning, and the success of the integration of citizen science projects on air, online, and in communities. This project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which seeks to advance new approaches to, and evidence-based understanding of, the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments. This includes providing multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM learning experiences, advancing innovative research on and assessment of STEM learning in informal environments, and developing understandings of deeper learning by participants.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
As part of its overall strategy to enhance learning in informal environments, the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program seeks to advance new approaches to, and evidence-based understanding of, the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments. This includes providing multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM learning experiences, advancing innovative research on and assessment of STEM learning in informal environments, and developing understandings of deeper learning by participants. The Exploratorium in San Francisco, in collaboration with social science researchers at Arizona State University and Rutgers University, will conduct a two-year Pilots and Feasibility Studies project that will test a new model for integrating museum exhibits with public participation in scientific research, called Exhibit-Based PPSR (E-PPSR). The team will create a mini-exhibition about social psychology that (a) engages science museum visitors in investigating and reflecting on social factors that promote cooperation or not, (b) builds public awareness of the science of social psychology and (c) generates valid data for academic research in this area.
The Exploratorium will build on its long history of creating participatory exhibits that engage visiting groups in social science learning and in self-reflective metacognition. This expands beyond the typical lab-in-the-museum in which individual visitors interact with researchers' laptops or simple props. The model takes the exhibit experiences further, injecting the dimension of public participation in social psychology research. By voluntarily and anonymously contributing demographic and response data, large numbers of people from mixed-age groups will help social scientists gain new insights into cooperation among a broader sample of humanity than are usually studied in university labs. The E-PPSR lab is always available, rather than open only when a researcher is present. The model also incorporates research on learning and assesses the effect of E-PPSR on social science learning experiences. Do museum visitors build greater conceptual understanding of the social science by contributing to real research and seeing their own responses within the larger dataset? Do they attend more deeply to debriefing activities when they have contributed their own data? The three main deliverables include: 1) a prototype Exhibit-based PPSR laboratory at the Exploratorium comprised of one exhibit for gaining informed consent, three 'Data-Catcher' exhibits modified to record anonymous responses when visitors opt-in to contributing to social psychological research, and one debriefing exhibit. A back-end database will send data to the academic researchers; 2) evaluation studies that test the E-PPSR model. The studies will assess the success of debriefing approaches, the effectiveness of recruitment and the impact of E-PPSR on learning. The team will publish a journal article describing the E-PPSR model and academic research findings. The team will also organize a conference session with others in the museum field who manage in-house academic research laboratories; and 3) a report by the academic partners describing the impact of the project on their research program.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
As part of its overall strategy to enhance learning in informal environments, the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program funds innovative research, approaches and resources for use in a variety of settings. This specific project will advance new knowledge about the nature of and functions for rural libraries as informal STEM learning environments. Research will identify the social contexts and relational capabilities of libraries to acquire new scientific knowledge that exists externally and to integrate it into community knowledge-building and forums. The research outcomes should lead to actionable strategies for library and science communication practitioners about who and how to influence public engagement in citizen science drought monitoring. Furthermore, collaborations with these rural libraries will lead to new resources for rural communities and informal STEM education. This project will focus on the design, development, and evaluation of informal science education programs and educational media for use in rural libraries in drought prone areas of the Great Plains. The target audiences include public librarians in rural communities of Oklahoma, Nebraska, and Colorado, as well as the general public (adults and children) they serve. The project goals are to leverage the professional skills and community knowledge of rural librarians to support local drought monitoring networks. The model prepares librarians to introduce citizen science processes and practices within the context of community dialogue and deliberation about drought. In collaboration with partners at the Community Collaborative for Rain, Hail, and Snow (CoCoRaHS), and the National Drought Mitigation Center (NDMC), the project will increase public participation in citizen science and improve the communication of science-based knowledge about drought. The project deliverables include: (1) a professional development workshop series for rural librarians, (2) a drought infographic booklet and poster series, and (3) co-designed library programs for rural public audiences. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.