How can we navigate partnerships with science institutions to better implement informal science education projects in underserved communities? We hope you’ll take some time to go through this booklet and answer the questions honestly and thoroughly. The process will help your community-based organization navigate partnerships with science institutions better to benefit your community.
For over 100 years, the National Park Service (NPS) has brought inspiration and education to the millions of people who visit. Within the NPS, the Junior Ranger program has emerged as a fun and informal way for children aged 5-13 to learn about a park site. Part of the Junior Ranger program is the completion of an activity booklet that one must complete to earn a badge, patch, or certificate. Often, NPS resources for this program can vary, and the creation of Junior Ranger booklets can become low-priority, side projects for interpretation or education rangers. Furthermore, these rangers differ
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Logan WegmeyerLuke SchutzmanMammoth Cave National Park
resourceresearchProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
How can we begin to chart a course toward a future for science museums in which we maintain our status as sources of trusted information, while also fulfilling our potential as sites of genuine participation and social interaction? In 2019, with funding from the National Science Foundation, the New York Hall of Science hosted a three day conference to discuss new and equitable approaches to exhibit design. With leading exhibit designers, educators, researchers, and community engagement specialists, we began to rethink the exhibit design process, toward a goal of helping our museums become more
Although virtual conferences have become commonplace in the age of COVID-19, this format poses both challenges and opportunities for organizers to design, implement, and engage participants in productive and connected ways. We created this brief to share an example of the process and lessons learned as we designed and hosted a virtual NSF-funded conference called: Mapping Connections Between STEM and Social-Emotional Development (SED) in Out-of-School Time (OST) Programs. This conference focused on identifying outcomes at the interface of STEM and SED in OST research and practice (e.g
Media can play a critical role in engaging children, parents, and educators in science. Listen in to WGBH’s Executive Producer for PEEP, Marisa Wolsky, and children’s app developer, Jillian Orr, as they talk about the new app, PEEP FAMILY SCIENCE, that can help parents confidently engage in science with their children.
For at-risk children who cannot attend preschool, accessing science activities depends almost entirely on parents—but many parents have limited skills for supporting such learning. PBS station WGBH has recently launched a series of free family apps based on the Emmy Award-winning preschool science series, PEEP and the Big Wide World. The apps were developed to be used jointly by parent and child for a shared learning experience. Available on Google Play and the App Store in both Spanish and English, PEEP Family Science apps cover the topics of shadows, sound, color, and ramps, respectively.
PBS has a long history of creating award-winning children’s media and has published a wide range of free educational apps. PBS stations often seek organizational partnerships for help in reaching families with the free digital resources they produce. One such collaboration is between WGBH and ALSC as we together introduce a new series of apps developed with National Science Foundation funding. These PEEP Family Science apps feature characters children love from the Emmy Award-winning preschool STEM series on public television, PEEP and the Big Wide World—combining brief, animated stories with
Engaging in science from a young age can provide children with a foundation for school readiness and future academic achievement. Recent research suggests that parents feel responsible for helping their children learn, but only about half of parents—and even fewer low-income parents—feel confident helping their children learn science. Even when parents value early STEM learning, providing enriching science experiences can sometimes be challenging. We know from prior research that educational media, such as videos, apps, and digital games, can play a valuable role in helping parents strengthen
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Megan SIlanderJennifer StilesGay Mohrbacher
NSTA Preschool Blog by Peggy Ashcroft features guest blog post authors, Michelle Cerrone, Gay Mohrbacher, and Megan Silander, who write about using digital media to support children’s interest in science topics, and discuss tips educators can use to support families using media to explore science with their preschool-age children, based on their research and development of the PEEP Family Science series of apps.
A growing body of research points to the importance of engaging children in science from an early age, for both their future trajectories in science careers and school readiness. For some children, preschool provides the chance to engage in meaningful science learning. But, for the 46% of American 3- and 4-year-olds who do not attend preschool, opportunities for science enrichment are limited. For such children, accessing science experiences depends almost entirely on parents. However, many parents have limited experience supporting such learning.
To help these parents and their young
This book is a deliverable (requisite) of an NSF (National Science Foundation) grant to share the project outcomes and what we learned from the NSF grant project. This four-year NSF project was funded to provide professional development to museum educators about Indigenous Knowledge and Western Science in museums, with the goal of providing a culturally relevant way for Indigenous communities to connect to science. The name of this grant was “Cosmic Serpent: Bridging Native Ways of Knowing and Western Science in Museum Settings.”
This book is also a snapshot in time of this work in