Many of the biggest problems facing the United States and the world require engineering expertise to solve: climate change, feeding a growing population, energy independence, access to clean water, crumbling infrastructure, and others. And with global economic competitiveness inextricably linked to innovation, employers across a wide range of engineering and non-engineering fields such as health care, management, and marketing are seeking employees with engineering knowledge and related skills. These skills include the ability to creatively and systematically solve ill-defined problems
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Community for Advancing Discovery Research in Education (CADRE)
When it comes to STEM education, the nation’s K–12 public schools cannot do it all. The nature of 21st century proficiency in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics is too complex for any single institution. The good news is that schools do not have to do it alone. Museums, zoos, nature centers, aquariums, and planetariums are among the several thousand informal science institutions in the United States that regularly engage young people in observing, learning, and using STEM knowledge and skills. Providing a richness of resources unavailable in any classroom, informal science
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Community for Advancing Discovery Research in Education (CADRE)
Cultures develop when people find ways to play, make, and share. This report describes how human cultures can be characterised by their similarities rather than their differences, and emphasises the importance of recognising playfulness and creativity to develop societies prepared to accommodate the rapid changes associated with technology and globalisation.
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LEGO FoundationDavid GauntlettBo Stjerne Thompson
This evaluation reports on the Mission: Solar System project, a 2-year project funded by NASA. The goal of the Mission: Solar System was to create a collection of resources that integrates digital media with hands-on science and engineering activities to support kids’ exploration in formal and informal education settings. Our goal in creating the resources were: For youth: (1) Provide opportunities to use science, technology, engineering, and math to solve challenges related to exploring our solar system, (2) Build and hone critical thinking, problem-solving, and design process skills, (3)
The University of Massachusetts Lowell and Machine Science Inc. propose to develop and to design an on-line learning system that enables schools and community centers to support IT-intensive engineering design programs for students in grades 7 to 12. The Internet Community of Design Engineers (iCODE) incorporates step-by-step design plans for IT-intensive, computer-controlled projects, on-line tools for programming microcontrollers, resources to facilitate on-line mentoring by university students and IT professionals, forums for sharing project ideas and engaging in collaborative troubleshooting, and tools for creating web-based project portfolios. The iCODE system will serve more than 175 students from Boston and Lowell over a three-year period. Each participating student attends 25 weekly after-school sessions, two career events, two design exhibitions/competitions, and a week-long summer camp on a University of Massachusetts campus in Boston or Lowell. Throughout the year, students have opportunities to engage in IT-intensive, hands-on activities, using microcontroller kits that have been developed and classroom-tested by University of Massachusetts-Lowell and Machine Science, Inc. About one-third of the participants stay involved for two years, with a small group returning for all three years. One main component for this project is the Handy Cricket which is a microcontroller kit that can be used for sensing, control, data collection, and automation. Programmed in Logo, the Handy Cricket provides an introduction to microcontroller-based projects, suitable for students in grades 7 to 9. Machine Science offers more advanced kits, where students build electronic circuits from their basic components and then write microcontroller code in the C programming language. Machine Science offers more advanced kits, which challenge students to build electronic circuits from their basic components and then write microcontroller code in the C programming language. Machine Science's kits are intended for students in grades 9 to 12. Microcontroller technology is an unseen but pervasive part of everyday life, integrated into virtually all automobiles, home appliances, and electronic devices. Since microcontroller projects result in physical creations, they provide an engaging context for students to develop design and programming skills. Moreover, these projects foster abilities that are critical for success in IT careers, requiring creativity, analytical thinking, and teamwork-not just basic IT skills.
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Fred MartinDouglas PrimeMichelle Scribner-MacLeanSamuel Christy
Internet Community of Design Engineers (iCODE) program, which took an innovative approach to structuring self-directed learning – using a collaborative on-line environment to facilitate hands-on activities, was a three year program led by the University of Massachusetts Lowell and Machine Science Inc., Cambridge. The overall objective of this program, which involved after-school and summer sessions and was funded by NSF’s Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) Program, was to increase the likelihood that participating middle school and high school students will
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Rucha LondheColleen ManningRachel SchechterLaura HousemanIrene Goodman
The NRC Framework for K – 12 Science Education (2012) lists five major ideas that are essential to the design of assessments and learning environments: 1) limited number of core ideas of science, 2) cross-cutting concepts, 3) engaging students in scientific and engineering practices, 4) building integrated understanding as a developmental process, and 5) the coupling of scientific ideas and scientific and engineering practices to develop integrated understanding. What implications do these major ideas have for assessment in informal science setting? This paper will discuss each of these ideas
This article from "The Atlantic" describes ways that teachers are integrating hands-on and experiential STEM learning into the classroom, which include collaboration with informal learning environments through creative field trips.
This is a Science Learning+ planning project that will develop a plan for how to conduct a longitudinal study using existing data sources that can link participation in science-focused programming in out-of-school settings with long-range outcomes. The data for this project will ultimately come from "mining" existing data sets routinely collected by out-of-school programs in both the US and UK. 4H is the initial out-of-school provider that will participate in the project, but the project will ideally expand to include other youth-based programs, such as Girls Inc. and YMCA. During the planning grant period, the project will develop a plan for a longitudinal research study by examining informal science-related factors and outcomes including: (a) range of educational outcomes, (b) diversity and structure of learning activities, (c) links to formal education experiences and achievement measures, and (d) structure of existing informal science program data collection infrastructure. The planning period will not involve actual mining of existing data sets, but will explore the logistics regarding data collection across different informal science program, including potential metadata sets and instruments that will: (a) identify and examine data collection challenges, (b) explore the implementation of a common data management system, (c) identify informal science programs that are potential candidates for this study, (d) compare and contrast data available from the different programs and groups, and (e) optimize database management.
This Science Learning+ Planning Project will develop a prototype assessment tool (based on a mobile technology platform) to map STEM learning experiences across different learning ecologies (e.g. science centers, mass media, home environment) and to develop research questions and designs for a Phase 2 Science Learning+ proposal. The tool will focus on the impact of the learning ecologies on knowledge, interest, identity and reasoning rather than emphasize learning in a specific content area. The proposing team will develop and conduct a small scale usability study during the planning period, which will inform what is proposed in the Phase 2 research. A key focus of the planning period will be to identify and develop the theoretical constructs (i.e., outcomes) to be measured by the prototype App. As a starting point, the project will start with four of the six strands identified in Learning Science in Informal Environments (National Research Council, Bell et al., 2009): (1) interest triggered by a STEM experience; (2) understanding scientific knowledge; (3) engaging in scientific reasoning; and (4) identifying with the scientific enterprise. Discussion among the project partners during the planning process will revolve around how these strands should be measured in the Phase 2 research across ecologies. The measurement tool will assess the goal(s) that people set as they engage in STEM learning within each ecology and will measure the individuals' duration and level of engagement. The project will strive to utilize measures that: (1) are nonobtrusive; (2) are embedded in STEM experiences; (3) can be used across ecologies; (4) can be scaled for other ecologies than the ones examined in Phase 2 research; and (5) will be easy to use by researchers and practitioners.
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Bradley MorrisJohn DunloskyGreat Lakes Science CenterUniversity of LimerickIdeaStream (UK)Irish Independent newspaper
Based on the number of visitors annually, zoos and aquariums are among the most popular venues for informal STEM learning in the United States and the United Kingdom. Most research into the impacts of informal STEM learning experiences at zoos and aquariums has focused on short-term changes in knowledge, attitudes and behaviors. This Science Learning+ project will identify the opportunities for and barriers to researching the long-term impacts of informal STEM learning experiences at zoos and aquariums. The project will address the following overarching research question: What are and how do we measure the long-term impacts of an informal STEM learning experience at a zoo and aquarium? While previous research has documented notable results, understanding the long-term impacts of zoo and aquarium learning experiences will provide a deeper and more nuanced understanding of the impact of these programs on STEM knowledge, skills and application. This study will use a participatory process to identify: (1) the range of potential long-term impacts of informal science learning experiences at zoos and aquariums; (2) particular activities that foster these impacts; and (3) opportunities for and barriers to measuring those impacts. First, an in-depth literature review will document previous research efforts to date within the zoo and aquarium community. Second, a series of consultative workshops (both in-person and online) will gather ideas and input from practitioners, researchers, and other stakeholders in zoo and aquarium education. The consultative workshops will focus on two questions in particular: (1) What are the different types and characteristics of informal science learning experiences that take place at zoos and aquariums? and (2) What are the long-term impacts zoos and aquariums are aiming to have on visitors in relation to knowledge, attitudes, skills and behaviors/actions? Finally, visitor surveys at zoos and aquariums in the US and UK will be conducted to gather input on what visitors believe are the long-term impacts of an informal STEM learning opportunity at a zoo or aquarium. The data gathered through all of these activities will inform the design of a five-year, mixed-methods study to investigate long-term impacts and associated indicators of an informal STEM learning experience at a zoo or aquarium. One of the aims of the five-year study will be to test instruments that could eventually be used by the global zoo and aquarium community to measure the long-term impacts of informal STEM learning programs. Designing tools to better understand the long-term impacts of informal STEM learning at zoos and aquariums will contribute to our ability to measure STEM learning outcomes. Additional benefits include improved science literacy and STEM skills amongst visitors over time and an understanding of how education programs contribute to wildlife conservation worldwide.
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Brian JohnsonStanford UniversityLancaster UniversitySarah ThomasNicole ArdoinMurray Saunders
This Science Learning+ project will develop research-and-practice activities to explore how an integrated art, STEM, and society (what we refer to as STEAM) approach can expand science engagement and learning of youth aged 15-19, from low-income and non-dominant cultural communities. The project will review current knowledge, practice, and trends related to underrepresented youth, STEAM, and science engagement. The review will be used to develop: (1) A cross-setting research framework for investigating the relationship between informal STEAM learning experiences and young people's developing engagement with science. (2) Design principles for out-of-school STEAM programs that have proven effective in cultivating youth engagement with science and making relevant cross-setting connections. (3) Practitioner-friendly program evaluation tools that integrate findings from current research and practice related to cross-setting science learning of young adults especially non-dominant youth as it relates to STEAM learning experiences.