STEAM, the use of art as a context and tool for science education, is currently a hot topic in the science education field. In almost all instances of study and practice, it involves the use of science-themed or science-informed art in science education. As such, it does not take advantage of the majority of artistic output that does not have an obvious connection to science. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine recently called for more research to expand the "limited but promising" evidence that integrating arts and humanities with science education leads to better learning. The goal of this 2.5-day conference is to bring together representatives of both art and science groups to have a shared discussion around how non-scientific art can influence science education in theory, and how we can apply empirical results to the theory. For purposes of this conference, "non-science art" is defined as art that was not inspired by science. Conference attendees will include researchers (art and science education researchers) and practitioners (artists, art museum interpreters, and science educators). The conference will take place during the 2020 Black Creativity exhibition at the Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago. It is anticipated that by holding the conference at that time the audience for the conference and its impact will be informed by more diverse attendance.
The conference will be implemented starting with a pre-conference reading. Attendees will be sent a copy of the white paper from the Art as a Way of Knowing report for background reading and also asked to contribute to a Google Document that describes their various contexts. Each day of the conference will focus on a theme -- state of the field and possibilities and research -- and be comprised of large and small group interactions. Attendees will be invited from the ranks of practitioners, researchers and educators in the art and science education fields; several slots will be available for open (non-invited) participants. Key outcomes include: (a) a summary of all the research that has been conducted on using non-science art in science education, (b) starting points for building a theory on why non-science art can be used in science education; and (c) a list of specific research topics that would help inform, advance, and test the theory. In addition to assessing satisfaction with the conference, evaluation will also include a one-year post conference survey to investigate impact of participation in the conference.
This conference will generate products that will give guidance to both researchers and practitioners who want to use art in science education. These products include a white paper synthesizing the discussion and appendices that include raw transcripts and a bibliography of resources. Another product is a roadmap to create interventions that can be studied, which should lead to a stronger, more rigorous theory of practice about how art can be integrated into science education.
This project is funded by the National Science Foundation's (NSF's) Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which supports innovative research, approaches, and resources for use in a variety of learning settings.
The Teen Science Cafe Network is an adaptation for teens, of the popular adult science cafe model, which brings people together in a social setting to have an animated conversation with a scientist on some interesting and timely topic. Since its inception in 2012, the Network has grown at a rapid rate: it is now in 130 sites in 45 states, the District of Columbia, and British Columbia. Multiple evaluations have documented its impact. Teens are shown to have increased STEM literacy, a more realistic picture of scientists as real people leading interesting lives, and a better understanding of the nature of science. This two-and-a-half-day conference is designed to review the state of this model of teen engagement in science and science communication. Participants will examine lessons learned from this and similar networks to consider the features needed to expand this model to other audiences (e.g., rural teens, teenage college students, teenagers on military bases, and teens served by local chapters of professional societies based on ethnicity and gender).
Leaders of the Teen Science Cafe Network, along with an advisory committee comprised of individuals who are successfully managing networks, will explore these fundamental questions: 1) How can the field best take advantage of this large and growing network? 2) How can the current community of practice be leveraged for growth? 3) What are some of the most effective strategies for achieving and maintaining effective, long-term partnerships with organizations such as 4-H, science centers, networks of afterschool providers, science festivals, professional societies, and libraries? 4) What are possible outcomes for promoting discipline-specific cafes in areas such as ocean science, astrophysics, geoscience, and polar science? Outputs from the conference include a refined set of guiding principles for the current network and a white paper describing the features of strong and effective networks and recommendations for scaling.
This project is funded by the National Science Foundation's (NSF's) Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which supports innovative research, approaches, and resources for use in a variety of learning settings.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Michelle HallJanice MokrosMichael Mayhew
This project will research and develop the Circuit, a mobile phone and web-based application that will empower families and the general public to discover the broad spectrum of informal Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) opportunities that exist in most communities. These informal STEM resources include science and children's museums, science and computer camps, maker spaces, afterschool programs, citizen science and much more. There is currently no "one-stop" searching for these resources. Instead, participants must conduct multiple, inefficient Internet searches to find the sought for STEM resources. The Circuit will enable users to efficiently search a rich informal STEM database, identifying resources by location, geography, age levels, science discipline, type of program and other factors. The Circuit builds on SciStarter, an existing online platform that connects thousands of prospective and active citizen scientists to citizen science projects. SciStarter has made possible the collection and organization of several thousand citizen science projects that would otherwise be scattered across the web. The Circuit will build on SciStarter's technical achievements in the citizen science sector, while systematically encompassing the offerings of established national networks. By integrating existing networks of informal STEM resources, the app will afford the public with unrivaled access to informal STEM opportunities, while collecting data that reveals patterns of engagement towards understanding factors of influence between different types of STEM experiences.
The app will provide researchers with new opportunities for researching how families and adults participate in the ecosystem of informal STEM resources in their communities. The Circuit will develop web tools to aggregate and organize digital content from trusted, currently siloed, informal STEM networks of content providers. These include science festivals, science and children's museums, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), and Discover Magazine (3 million readers), the largest general interest science publication. Each content partner will feed the app with information directly or through their membership and encourage adoption of The Circuit within their respective communities. The project will design digital tools, including APIs (application program interfaces) to acquire and share digital content, embeddable tools to record and analyze data about movement, engagement, and persistence across domains, and social media tools and related APIs to distribute, track, and analyze content, engagement and demographics. (An API is a code that allows two software programs to communicate with each other.) The project will conduct small-scale, proof-of-conduct studies, to test the viability of the platform to support future, independent full-scale research. An analytics dashboard will be designed and tested with partners, researchers, and evaluators to ensure access to data on patterns of visits, clicks, referrals, searches, "joins," bookmarks, shares, contributions, user-locations, persistence, and more, within and across domains. Because each partner will feed their analytics into the shared dashboard, this will provide unprecedented and much-needed data to advance research in informal STEM learning. The Circuit will allow the tracking of patterns of engagement across networks and programs. Anonymized analytics of behavioral data from end users of The Circuit will support new approaches to advance evidence-based understanding of connected informal STEM learning by exhibiting engagement patterns across informal STEM domains. Through volunteer participation by the public, the Circuit will explore the geographic and demographic patterns of participants in the system, and derive important design lessons for its own and future efforts to create curated systems of connected learning across STEM education in informal settings.
This project is funded by the National Science Foundation's (NSF's) Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which supports innovative research, approaches, and resources for use in a variety of learning settings.
Increased exposure to STEM content and career pathways during out-of-school time contexts can significantly extend STEM learning and aspirational interests among middle and high school youth. Using a collective impact approach, the STEM CareerLaunch pilot project tests the feasibility of redesigning a widely used, national youth and career focused program for and by the National Boys & Girls Clubs of America to extend STEM learning and promote awareness, interest, and readiness for STEM-related occupations among youth. STEM CareerLaunch integrates extant STEM programs, such as First Robotics, Girls Who Code and Jason Learning, with newly developed STEM content and opportunities to create and test a comprehensive STEM learning and career program for youth. The results of this pilot will inform a more expansive effort to bring STEM CareerLaunch to an already networked 4,000 Boys & Girls Clubs, reaching over four million youth from predominately underrepresented groups in STEM, and youth participating in other afterschool/summer program throughout the United States.
Approximately 100 youth and informal educators in Boys & Girls Clubs in Fitchburg and Leominster, Massachusetts will participate in this pilot feasibility study. A five-pronged approach will be instituted including: (1) high quality out of school time STEM programming, (2) connected STEM career education, (3) mentorship, (4) professional development for the informal educators, and (5) incentives such as internships and field experiences for youth participants. The developmental evaluation will focus on program implementation, participant outcomes, and scale-up. Data collection methods will include quantitative and qualitative approaches such as baseline student data, project tracking logs, retrospective surveys, focus groups, staff interviews, and observations. A summative evaluation will also be conducted.
This endeavor is led by a collaborative partnership between the National Boys & Girls Clubs of America, Worcester Polytechnic Institute STEM Center, the Fitchburg and Leominster Public School Districts, and others. It is primarily 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. It is also co-funded by the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program which is committed to better understanding and promoting practices that increase students' motivations and capacities to pursue careers in fields of science, technology, engineering, and or mathematics (STEM).
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.
Research on how museum staff are trained continues to emerge. Training varies considerably across institutions and typically includes observations, shadowing, and trial and error. While museum educators put high value on increasing visitor-centered participatory experiences, engagement based on acquisition-based theories of learning is still common among floor staff, even after training. Facilitating learning about science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) topics in ways that support visitors in constructing their own understanding is difficult, especially since floor staff/facilitators may be working simultaneously with children and adults of a range of ages, backgrounds, and goals. This project will advance understanding of how to facilitate open-ended learning experiences in ways that engage visitors in practices that align with the STEM disciplines. The project will result in an evidence-based facilitation framework and training modules for training informal science educators. The work is grounded in constructivist theories of learning and identity work and focuses on visitors constructing understanding of STEM topics through active engagement in the practices of STEM. This model also results in learning experiences in informal settings that are mutually reinforcing with the goals of schools. This research is being conducted through an established researcher-practitioner partnership between MOXI, the Wolf Museum of Exploration + Innovation and the University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB).
The two primary goals of the work are to (1) enable visitors to better engage in STEM practices (practice-based learning) and (2) investigate the role of training in helping facilitators develop the practice-based facilitation strategies needed to support visitors' learning. STEM content in this study is physical science. Prior work resulted in two tools that constitute part of a facilitation framework (a practices-by-engagement matrix and three facilitation pathways) which help educators identify appropriate goals based on how the visitor is engaging with exhibits. The development of the final tool in the framework, facilitation strategies, and the refinement of the first two tools will be done using a design-based implementation research (DBIR) approach. Data collection and analysis will be directed and completed by research-practitioner teams of UCSB graduate students (researchers) and MOXI educators (practitioners); MOXI educators will be both participants and researchers. Data collection activities include: video data using point-of-view cameras worn by visitors and educators; interviews of educators and visitors; observations of the training program; and educator reflections. In the final year, a small field test will be done at six sites, representing different types of museums. Interviews and reflections comprise the data collection at the field sites.
This project is funded by the National Science Foundation's (NSF's) Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which supports innovative research, approaches, and resources for use in a variety of learning settings.
Polar Literacy: A model for youth engagement and learning will foster public engagement with polar science. The project targets middle-school aged underserved youth and polar research scientists, with the goal to increase youth interest in and understanding of Polar Regions, and to hone researchers' science communication skills. The project will develop affordable and replicable ways of bringing polar education to informal learning environments, extend our understanding of how polar education initiatives can be delivered to youth with maximum effect, and design a professional development model to improve the capacity for Polar Region researchers to craft meaningful broader impact activities. Polar Literacy will create and test a model which combines direct participation by scientists in after-school settings, with the use of curated polar research data sets and data visualization tools to create participatory learning experiences for youth. Beyond the life of the project funding, many of the project deliverables (including kits, videos, and other resources) will continue to be used and disseminated online and in person through ongoing work of project collaborators.
Polar Literacy: A model for youth engagement and learning will advance the understanding of informal learning environments while leveraging the rich interdisciplinary resources from polar investments made by the National Science Foundation (NSF). The project's key audiences -- polar researchers, informal educators, and out-of-school time (OST) youth in grades 4-7 (ages 9-13) -- will connect through both place-based and internet-based experiences and work collaboratively to generate a flexible, scalable, and transferable education model. The project will 1) design OST kits and resource guides (focused on Polar Literacy Principles) and include "Concept in a Minute" videos designed to highlight enduring ideas, 2) provide professional development for informal educators, 3) synthesize a club model through adaptation of successful facets of existing informal learning programs, and 4) create Data Jam events for the OST Special Interest (SPIN) clubs and camp programs by modifying an existing formal education model. A research design, implemented at four nodes over three years, will answer three research questions to evaluate the impact of professional development on informal educators, as well as the impact of programs on youth, and the effectiveness of the model. In addition to the project team and collaborators who are informal education practitioners, an advisory board composed of experts in youth programming, informal education, and evaluation will guide the project to ensure that it advances the body of informal STEM learning research.
Polar Literacy is an Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) Innovations in Development project in response to the Dear Colleague Letter: Support for Engaging Students and the Public in Polar Research (NSF 18-103). Polar Literacy 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 (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) learning in informal environments. This project has co-funding support from the Antarctic section of the Office of Polar Programs.
This project is funded by the National Science Foundation's (NSF's) Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which supports innovative research, approaches, and resources for use in a variety of learning settings.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Janice McDonnellOscar SchofieldCharles LichtenwalnerJason Cervenec
resourceresearchProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
Research Coordination Networks (RCNs) are a type of National Science Foundation (NSF) project that advance a field or create new directions in research or education by supporting groups of investigators to communicate and coordinate their research, training and educational activities across disciplinary, organizational, geographic and international boundaries.
NSF's Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program welcomes submissions of RCN proposals that advance AISL goals through the sharing of ideas, knowledge, and practices. RCNs are an additional avenue for considering strategic
The role of afterschool programs in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) learning ecosystem has grown over the past two decades, which has led to increasing efforts to support and improve program quality. These efforts include developing STEM programs and curricula, creating standards for facilitating informal STEM learning experiences, building networks of support, and developing tools for assessment and evaluation. However, such efforts may have limited impact in terms of ongoing quality improvement. STEM curricula vary in disciplinary focus, quality and may not apply to local contexts and needs. Many afterschool programs resort to using simple STEM kits or online activities rather than rigorous curricula with support for educators. The project will study how the California Department of Education's (CDE) efforts to change organizational culture to support continuous quality improvement (CQI) have affected the offerings and quality of afterschool STEM in the state's more than 4,500 publicly funded afterschool sites. The EPISTEMIC project will contribute new research findings on how CQI can increase access to higher quality STEM learning opportunities for underserved youth. Even more important, the project will provide new insights on how organizational culture affects participation in and implementation of afterschool CQI.
The team will use an organizational theory framework and a mixed methods approach to conduct three research activities: (1) Describe the organizational context through interviews, participant observations, and artifact analysis to map and describe the overall support system as a context for understanding organizational culture change; (2) Describe change over time in organizational culture, CQI processes, and STEM program offerings and quality through surveys/interviews of afterschool youth, staff, directors, and grantee representatives; and (3) Generate explanations about the relationships between organizational culture, CQI, and STEM quality in different contexts through in depth case studies. Bringing organizational culture, CQI, and STEM offerings and quality into shared focus is the most important intellectual contribution of this work. Organizational theory's sensemaking concept will guide analyses to describe, exemplify, and generate theoretical explanations for patterns in organizational culture, CQI, and STEM program changes, with attention to relevant contextual factors.
Continuous quality improvement provides tools for afterschool STEM staff to identify needs and ways to improve. The EPISTEMIC study will contribute recommendations on the systemic, organizational, and cultural aspects of improvement strategies relevant to policymakers, funders, support providers, and afterschool organizations in California, as well as other state or nongovernmental support systems around the country. The study will also produce CQI guidelines for reflecting on and incorporating changes to organizational culture as part of CQI for afterschool staff and site directors. These will be helpful for practitioners around the country. The study's focus on three organizational contexts -- school district, national afterschool, and local afterschool -- will extend the relevance of the findings and recommendations, which will be disseminated through forums, workshops, and articles in practice and policy-oriented publications. The study will also benefit the research community by providing a framework and methods for studying organizational culture and CQI. The findings on the relationships between organizational culture, CQI, and STEM offerings and outcomes will provide a foundation for further research on how these relate to STEM learning outcomes for youth. EPISTEMIC 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 project is funded by the National Science Foundation's (NSF's) Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which supports innovative research, approaches, and resources for use in a variety of learning settings.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Patrik LundhAndrea BeesleyTimothy PodkulCarrie Allen
Libraries can provide unique opportunities for rural youth and communities. Phase III of the STAR Library Network will be a collaboration with 12 rural school districts in largely Latinx communities to address the challenges faced by rural youth, particularly English Language Learners. The project will use a coordinated and tested strategy to establish three learning pathways in public libraries: science learning spaces with exhibits, library programs, and science kits. These resources will provide learners with art-rich STEM learning opportunities.
Partners
Project partners include the Space Science Institute, the American Library Association (ALA), the Institute for Learning Innovation, and Twin Cities Public Television. The project will rely significantly on expertise from the Latinx community.
Project Plan
Building on an established librarian training model, the project will introduce library staff to the STEAM content and guide them in developing their own STEAM Learning Pathways. The project will draw on existing professional infrastructure from the ALA and the Institute for Learning Innovation’s established community of practice. SciGirls digital media, hands-on activities, family resources, and a training network will expand the depth and reach of the project.
The Research
The research team will study the efficacy of each pathway, alone and in tandem, on participant’s interest development and persistence. The research will use a mixed-methods design-based approach that involves questionnaires, interviews, and case studies. The results should yield a model for nationwide application and contribute insights for the formal education sector.
This project is funded by the National Science Foundation's (NSF's) Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which supports innovative research, approaches, and resources for use in a variety of learning settings.
Addressing Societal Challenges through STEM (ASCs) received NSF AISL funding to conduct a Literature Review and Synthesis to answer the question: How are informal learning institutions advancing the use of STEM knowledge and scientific reasoning in the ways that individuals, families, and communities understand what they can do, and apply their learning to solving the societal challenges of our time? Using a definition of societal challenges based on research around the public understanding of social problems, this systematic literature review will identify, analyze, and synthesize three bodies of peer and field-reviewed literature (peer-reviewed journals, graduate theses, and evaluation reports of nationally-funded project).
Over the past decade, Informal STEM learning organizations have increasingly engaged in innovative ways to present STEM knowledge within the context of societal challenges such as climate change, energy sources, cyber-security, Nanotechnologies, coastal resilience, and other topics. These efforts significantly expand the traditional work of Informal STEM Learning (ISL) organizations, often leading to new types of interventions, partnerships, impacts, and assessment tools. Analyzing and interpreting the aggregate of this work will advance theoretical and practical knowledge about the potential of ISL’s in advancing the place of STEM in addressing societal challenges.
Demonstrating and articulating the characteristics of how ISL organizations are addressing societal challenges, encourages and informs the ways institutions can address the NSF strategic goal to “Advance the capability of the Nation to meet current and future challenges.” The project outputs aim to Enhance Knowledge-building, Build Capacity of the Field, and Maximize Strategic Impact by informing the strategies used by organizations and individuals. The results also aim to Broaden Participation by articulating the ways STEM knowledge is embedded and linked to personal experiences and choices.
This project is funded by the National Science Foundation's (NSF's) Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which supports innovative research, approaches, and resources for use in a variety of learning settings.
Future educational robots are emerging as social companions supporting learning. By socially interacting with such a robot, learners can potentially reason and talk about the things they are learning and receive help in seeing the relevance of STEM in their daily lives. However, little is known about how to design educational robots to work with youth at home over a long period of time. This project will develop an informal science learning program, called STEMMates, in collaboration with a local community center, for youth with little interest in science. The program will partner learners with an in-home learning companion robot, designed to read books with youth and provide science activities for them at the community center, where youth will engage in exciting and personally relevant science learning. As the learner reads books, the robot will make comments about what is happening in the book to help connect the reading to the science activities at the community center. The overarching goals of STEMMates are to: (a) positively support youth's individual interest in science and future science learning, (b) connect in-home learning experiences with out-of-school community-based learning, (c) bridge the gap between formal and informal engagement and learning in science, and (d) encourage the participation of youth who are underrepresented and who have low interest in STEM learning. This project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning program, which seeks to advance new approaches to and evidence-based understanding of the design and development of STEM learning opportunities for the public in informal environments.
Researchers will work with youth and staff at the community center, alongside experts in informal science learning, to design the program and then test how learners respond to reading with the robot and participating in the science activities and whether this program has a lasting impact on their science interest. Social interactions with a robot may help distribute cognitive load during learning activities to help youth reason about STEM and also supplement learning by improving feelings of value and belongingness in order to facilitate lasting interest development. Following a mixed-methods research approach using qualitative and quantitative data-collection techniques, the research team will investigate the following research questions: (1) What social and interest-development supports and activities can be utilized as socially situated interest scaffolds in an informal and in-home, augmented reading and science activity program to promote individual interest and learning in science for low interest learners? How can a social robot best facilitate this program? (2) How do learners perceive and interact with the robot in authentic, in-home, long-term situations, and how does this interaction change over time? (3) Does working with a robot designed with socially situated interest scaffolds increase individual interest in science when compared to a pre-intervention baseline, and do these effects impact future (long-term) interest and engagement in formal science learning? To answer these research questions, researchers will implement the science learning program during an 11-week summer deployment and utilize an AB single-case research design. Interview-based qualitative data and self-report surveys to examine the learner?s perception of the robot and their evolving interest in science and quantitative data on science learning using pre-/post-measure comparisons will be collected. Log data of time-on-task, reading rate, book selection and reading goal attainment will also be collected by the robot. The outcomes of this project will lay the groundwork for future investigations of the design of social robots for a diversity of learner populations and their use in different informal learning settings.
This project is funded by the National Science Foundation's (NSF's) Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which supports innovative research, approaches, and resources for use in a variety of learning settings.
The PEAR Institute: Partnerships in Education and Resilience at McLean Hospital and Harvard Medical School conducted a year-long study of the Tulsa Regional STEM Alliance (TRSA). Funded by the Overdeck Family Foundation, STEM Next Opportunity Fund, and the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation, this study is the first of its kind among 68 national and international STEM Ecosystems.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Kristin Lewis-WarnerPatricia AllenGil Noam