But many young people face signifcant economic, cultural, historical, and/or social obstacles that distance them from STEM as a meaningful or viable option— these range from under-resourced schools, race- and gender-based discrimination, to the dominant cultural norms of STEM professions or the historical uses of STEM to oppress or disadvantage socio-economically marginalized communities (Philip and Azevedo 2017). As a result, participation in STEM-organized hobby groups, academic programs, and professions remains low among many racial, ethnic, and gender groups (Dawson 2017). One solution to
This methodological review considers science festival evaluation and research studies that have been published in the peer-reviewed literature since 2011, when modern-day science festivals were defined formally. Since that time, the number of science festivals around the world has increased dramatically. The methods and results used to study science festivals are summarized in order to reflect on existing work within this growing sector. The existing literature base is then positioned in relation to recent recommendations for visitor studies research on informal science learning overall, to
The National Academy of Sciences’ LabX program came into existence in 2017 with a directive to develop programming meant to engage with a young-adult (18-37 years old) target audience who are active decision-makers and whose actions impact current and future policies. While conducting preliminary research, the LabX staff and advisory board discovered that available research on young adults’ relationship with science was sadly lacking in detail, beyond obvious conclusions about high levels of interest in technology and social experiences.
To fill these knowledge gaps, gain a deeper
The Science Fairs Under the 'Scope Study's key findings are summarized here on the topics of:
Models And Elements Of Middle School Science Fairs
Science And Engineering Practices
Cost Of Science Fairs
Parent Involvement In Science Fairs
Science Interest And Identity.
We collected data from middle school science fairs held in schools across the country to understand:
What are the basic models and elements of middle school science fairs;
If and how science fairs increase students’ interest in science, technology, engineering or math (STEM) and/or STEM careers
If and how participation in select models of middle school science fairs enhance students’ mastery of the science and engineering practices; and
What costs and resources are required to implement an effective middle school science fair?
In this paper we share an emerging analytical approach to designing and studying STEAM programs that focuses on how programs integrate the respective epistemic practices—the ways in which knowledge is constructed—of science and art. We share the rationale for moving beyond surface features of STEAM programs (e.g., putting textiles and electronics on the same table) to the disciplinary-specific ways in which participants are engaged in creative inquiry and production. We share a brief example from a public STEAM event to demonstrate the ways in which this approach can foster reflection and
The goal of our research is to identify strengths and weaknesses of high school level science fair and improvements that might enhance learning outcomes based on empirical assessment of student experiences. We use the web-based data collection program REDCap to implement anonymous and voluntary surveys about science fair experiences with two independent groups -- high school students who recently competed in the Dallas Regional Science and Engineering Fair and post high school students (undergraduates, 1st year medical students, and 1st year biomedical graduate students) on STEM education
Research misconduct has become an important matter of concern in the scientific community. The extent to which such behavior occurs early in science education has received little attention. In the current study, using the web-based data collection program REDCap, we obtained responses to an anonymous and voluntary survey about science fair from 65 high school students who recently competed in the Dallas Regional Science and Engineering Fair and from 237 STEM-track, post-high school students (undergraduates, 1st year medical students, and 1st year biomedical graduate students) doing research at
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. In this project, Science Cafe's have emerged over the years as a useful mechanism for exposure of scientific information to the public. More recently, this forum has been successfully used as a communication mechanism for teens. While this mechanism is successful with urban and suburban youth, it has not been efficacious with rural teens. Thus, this project is designed to ferret out the challenges faced by Teen Science Cafe's(TSCs) in rural settings and find ways to surmount them. The long-term goal is to engage a large number of teens who will enter adulthood as citizens with a sophisticated understanding of the science process and who will follow a myriad of pathways into the U.S. STEM workforce. The research will focus on what works, for whom, and where with respect to the key components and outcomes of teen science cafe's in rural areas.
At the broadest level, the project will strengthen infrastructure and build capacity by producing a national model for bringing OST (out of school time) STEM to rural communities. Over the two project years, approximately 600 unique participants will participate in teen science cafe's that engage their curiosity in STEM, provide leadership opportunities, and make STEM occupations more visible, participatory and approachable for rural teems who often lack access to high quality STEM programs in school.
Specific goals of the project for rural settings are: (1) To test the feasibility and effectiveness of a national model of professional development centered on an in-person and virtual community of practice for informal STEM educators leading teen science cafe's. (2) Form research-practice partnerships involving the PIs and the leaders of cafe's to: i) identify and document existing local conditions, resources, and challenges and their significance for OST STEM education; ii) work collaboratively with peers and the PIs to systematically test new strategies for engaging rural teens in TSCs; (3) Cultivate a mindset among teens that STEM IS EVERYWHERE. Rural teens are often isolated and the STEM careers in their communities are largely invisible to them. To date, 19 geographically and demographically diverse active teen cafe's sites have committed to the project. The PIs will use a multifaceted approach to characterizing rurality, They will use the established Index of Relative Rurality (IRR) which includes four spatial variables (remoteness, overall population size, density, and proportion of built-up land). The impact of the Cafe's series at each site will be determined via multiple methods, including: (1) pre-post-surveys with teens, employing the measure of STEM attitudes and engagement; (2) detailed blog postings by adult leaders describing the challenges/successes of teen and (3) interviews with leaders to uncover their perceptions of the reasons associated with success of the strategy.
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.
The Year in ISE is a slidedoc designed to track and characterize field growth, change and impact, important publications, and current topics in ISE in 2018. Use it to inform new strategies, find potential collaborators for your projects, and support proposal development. Scope This slidedoc highlights a selection of developments and resources in 2018 that were notable and potentially useful for the informal STEM education field. It is not intended to be comprehensive or exhaustive, nor to provide endorsement. To manage the scope and length, we have focused on meta analyses, consensus reports
This workshop series, convened by the Kavli, Rita Allen, Packard and Moore Foundations, was intended to view the entire system of people who support scientists’ engagement and communication efforts in order to explore how this system can be most effective and sustainable. The discussions examined where this system is thriving, the limits people within the system face and what can be done to ensure their efforts are commensurate with the demand for quality communication and engagement support.
Conducted over four closely scheduled workshops in late 2017 and early 2018, the convenings brought
European Researchers’ Night is an annual pan-European initiative of the European Commission held on the last Friday in September. In 2015, 1.1 million European citizens and 18,000 researchers took part in events organised in more than 300 cities within Europe and neighbouring countries. The objective of European Researchers’ Night is to encourage the wider public to visit research institutes, engage with researchers, and learn more about European research and potential career opportunities. In this paper, European Researchers’ Night in Ireland is considered through the lens of informal