Informal learning environments such as science centers and museums are instrumental in the promotion of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. These settings provide children with the chance to engage in self-directed activities that can create a of lifelong interest and persistence in STEM. On the other hand, the presence of parents in these settings allows children the opportunity to work together and engage in conversations that can boost understanding and enhance learning of STEM topics. To date, a considerable amount of research has focused on adult-child
The Miami Children’s Museum (MCM) contracted RK&A to conduct a summative evaluation of the Construction Zone exhibition, which was funded in part by IMLS. The evaluation focused on understanding the overall experience for walk-in visitors to the exhibition. It also explored visitor experiences with three specific exhibits with attention to problem-solving, experimentation with building materials, and collaboration.
How did we approach this study?
RK&A used two methodologies to evaluate the exhibition: interviews and focused observations. RK&A conducted 51 open-ended interviews with a
Computational Thinking (CT) is a relatively new educational focus and a clear need for learners as a 21st century skill. This proposal tackles this challenging new area for young learners, an area greatly in need of research and learning materials. The Principal Investigators will develop and implement integrated STEM+C museum exhibits and integrate CT in their existing engineering design based PictureSTEM curriculum for K-2 students. They will also pilot assessments of the CT components of the PictureSTEM curriculum. This work will make a unique contribution to the available STEM+C learning materials and assessments. There are few such materials for the kindergarten to second grade (K-2) population they will work with. They will research the effects of the curriculum and the exhibits with a mixed methods approach. First, they will collect observational data and conduct case studies to discover the important elements of an integrated STEM+C experience in both the formal in-school setting with the curriculum and in the informal out-of-school setting with families interacting with the museum exhibits. This work will provide a novel way to understand the important question of how in- and out-of-school experiences contribute to the development of STEM and CT thinking and learning. Finally, they will collect data from all participants to discover the ways that their activities lead to increases in STEM+C knowledge and interest.
The Principal Investigators will build on an integrated STEM curriculum by integrating CT and develop integrated museum exhibits. They base both activities on engineering design implemented through challenge based programming activities. They will research and/or develop assessments of both STEM+C integrated thinking and CT. Their research strategy combines Design Based Research and quantitative assessment of the effectiveness of the materials for learning CT. In the first two years of their study, they will engage in iterations on the design of the curriculum and the exhibits based on observation and case-study data. There will be 16 cases that draw from each grade level and involve data collection for the case student in both schools and museums. They will also use this work to illuminate what integrated STEM+C thinking and learning looks like across formal and informal learning environments. Based in some part on what they discover in this first phase, they will conduct the quantitative assessments with all (or at least most) students participating in the study
Hispanic youths have traditionally been marginalized from participation in STEM careers, though efforts have been made to increase diversity in STEM careers through targeted learning interventions for these students. However, these efforts often do not purposefully address STEM identity formation, which is a construct closely related to career choice in STEM. Building on previous work that highlights the value of “science talk”, we focus on the childhood experiences of Hispanic/Latine college students that have informed the construction of their STEM identity and contributed to their decisions
Emerging research suggests that families are key to developing the science interests and career aspirations of youth. In order to increase the diversity and numbers of individuals choosing to pursue STEM careers, it is important to better understand the factors that influence career aspirations. The influence parents have on their children’s career aspirations comes from many factors including their science capital and family science habitus. This study examined the influence of a museum-based family STEM program geared to increase the STEM career aspirations of elementary youth on the parent
This project will advance efforts of the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program to better understand and promote practices that increase students' motivations and capacities to pursue careers in fields of science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) by engaging in hands-on field experience, laboratory/project-based entrepreneurship tasks and mentorship experiences. This ITEST project aims to research the STEM career interests of late elementary and middle-school students and, based on the results of that research, build an informal education program to involve families and community partners to enhance their science knowledge, attitudes, experiences, and resources. There is an emphasis on underrepresented and low income students and their families.
The project will research and test a new model to promote the development of positive attitudes toward STEM and to increase interest in STEM careers. Phase 1 of the project will include exploratory research examining science capital and habitus for a representative sample of youth at three age ranges: 8-9, 9-10 and 11-12 years. The project will measure the access that youth have to adults who engage in STEM careers and STEM leisure activities. In phase II the project will test a model with a control group and a treatment group to enhance science capital and habitus for youth.
How can creators of STEM learning media reach underserved parents and children, and support the kinds of playful STEM interactions that are foundational for future STEM learning?
This research report summarizes findings from a pilot study of Cyberchase: Mobile Adventures in STEM, a program that uses mobile text messaging and short videos to encourage hands-on family learning among low-income Latino families.
In the study, 95 mostly Latino families received weekly text messages with video clips from the popular children's series Cyberchase, and fun activities to do with their
This project will incorporate lessons learned from our previously funded SEPA, based in five Title I elementary schools in the District of Columbia and Prince George’s County Maryland. In this proposal, “SCIENCE” will engage a new audience of learners in their out of school time in the setting of community libraries. We will provide programming that uses hands- on, inquiry-based learning based on our established art and science curriculum designed to improve the physical, cognitive and social development of children and their families.
SCIENCE will include instructional units, web based activities and ‘hands on/brains on’ manipulation utilizing our compact, portable and unique “art and science in a box”, which consolidates all materials needed to bring excitement to STEM learning. We will focus on preventative health areas of concern to our community, including asthma, stress, cardio-metabolic risk, sleep and behavioral issues, including bullying, genetic diseases like sickle cell disease and, injury prevention at home, in school and with sports.
We will also provide professional development training for informal educators. Specifically, we will adapt our previously successful in-school curriculum for a broader group of children from grades K–5 who utilize the District of Columbia Public Libraries (DCPL) and Enoch Pratt Free Library (EPFL). The curriculum is aligned to both Common Core State Standards and Next Generation Science Standards, and will be expanded with the addition of bioengineering/imaging/computing, and mindfulness.
With our integrated-art focused STEM and preventative health educational program, we will empower children by encouraging curiosity and discovery as well as providing tools to incorporate health and science messaging to improve school readiness. Over the course of the five years, we will implement the program progressively in 10 DCPL branches and 2 Baltimore branches. Programming will take place during winter and spring breaks, professional development days, special holidays and weekends.
We will continue our successful one week hospital summer program, Dr. Bear’s Summer Science Experience, an interactive STEAM experience which takes place in the hospital and its research laboratories. In addition to student focused programming, we will also create Family Learning Events—entertaining and collaborative programs for families—to be held in DCPL and EPFL branches with a focus on disease prevention which adversely affects our community. Take home materials will include handouts, web resources, apps and links in in both English and Spanish, and will focus on reading readiness and mastery of STEM concepts.
RUFF FAMILY SCIENCE is a project funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) that aims to foster joint media engagement and hands-on science exploration among diverse, low-income parents and their 4- to 8-year-old children. The project is using a research and design process to create an implementation model and prototype resources (digital media, hands-on activities, and supports for educators) to build new knowledge about the potential for digital media to inspire and support intergenerational science learning among vulnerable families.
WGBH and Education Development Center, Inc. (EDC)
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Mary HaggertyHeather LavigneJessica AndrewsAlexia RaynalMarion GoldsteinJaime Gutierrez
Children Investigating Science with Parents and Afterschool (CHISPA) was a collaboration between the Phillip and Patricia Frost Museum of Science, UnidosUS (formerly National Council of La Raza), and the ASPIRA Association that took place from 2014-18. CHISPA sought to address the disparity in science achievement among Latino and non-Latino children through local-level partnerships between science museums in metropolitan areas with growing Latino populations and UnidosUS and ASPIRA affiliate organizations serving the same communities through afterschool programs.
Partners included the
Many of the Hispanic children and families who live in the Rio Grande Valley lack opportunities to engage in inspirational and educational experiences introducing Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) concepts and related careers. The University of Texas, Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) will adapt and research the "Energy and U Show," which will introduce thousands of children and families to an exciting and dramatic that shows interconverting different forms of energy. The show will meld the excitement of chemical demonstrations and the natural connection between energy and STEM education in a fully produced, on-stage science extravaganza. A foundational philosophy of the show is that there is additional real value in getting children and youth onto a college campus. For many of its participants, this is their first time sitting in a seat at a university, the first opportunity for them to envision themselves in this environment. In partnership with the University of Minnesota, which originally developed the show, UTRGV will adapt the show, now presented in English, to a bilingual, culturally accessible format that is designed to Hispanic family audiences and student groups in learning about energy and related careers. Evaluation results demonstrate that the show has effectively engaged thousands of Minnesota students. The target audience will be upper elementary (4th-5th grade), middle school students, and their parents. This project will be led by UTRGV, nation's second-largest Hispanic Serving Institution, with a student enrollment of 28,000, of which over 90% are Hispanic and more than 60% are first-generation college students). In addition to the show, the project will include: (1) a manual to guide implementation of the program and related resources at different national or international venues; (2) educational resources for parents, teachers and school counselors introducing STEM careers and specific STEM college majors; (3) mentoring of UTRGV faculty in outreach activities; and (4) dissemination of the show to other campuses and venues.
The project will conduct ongoing research and evaluation guiding the adaptation of the show and investigation of factors contributing to positive educational impacts of the project, which will be carried out by a bilingual/bicultural researcher. Project research instruments will measure student level of engagement, interest and learning, as well as college interest, in surveys and analysis of data pre and post demonstration. The project will specifically investigate the impact of language on student impacts. Each component of this project will be studied to determine program intervention effectiveness (the scientific demonstration and language of the demonstration). To determine program effectiveness, a baseline of data before program implementation will be established concerning Hispanic students, their persistence, and perceptions of the environment. The project will measure parent perceptions of STEM careers for their children through pre and post demonstration surveys and focus groups. Student and parent research participants will be able to use surveys or respond to other research activities in the language of their choice. Project findings will contribute to the knowledge base concerning how linguistically and culturally adapted science shows and related resources adapted into can have positive impacts regarding the STEM knowledge and careers of students and parents from low-income and Hispanic communities.
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:
Karen LozanoArturo FuentesAaron MassariBrian Warren
Informal learning institutions, such as science centers and museums, are well-positioned to broaden participation in engineering pathways by providing children from underrepresented groups with motivational, self-directed engineering design experiences. Though many informal learning institutions offer opportunities for young visitors to engage in engineering activities, little is known about the specific features of these activities that support children's motivation in engineering design processes such as problem scoping, testing, and iteration. This project will address this gap and advance foundational knowledge by identifying features of engineering design activities, as implemented within an informal setting, which support underrepresented children's engineering motivation and persistence in engineering tasks. Researchers at New York Hall of Science (NYSCI) will observe children interacting with families and museum educators as they engage in different engineering design activities in NYSCI's Design Lab, an exhibition space devoted to hands-on exploration of engineering design. They will also survey and interview the children and their caregivers about these experiences. Analyses of these data sources will result in a description of features of design activities foster motivation and task persistence in engineering design. Findings will be disseminated nationally to other informal learning institutions, which in turn can use the knowledge generated from this project to create motivational, research-based, field-tested engineering design experiences for young visitors, especially for children from underrepresented groups. The experiences may encourage children to further pursue engineering pathways, resulting in a diversified engineering workforce with the potential to drive and sustain national innovation and global technological leadership.
This project uses the framework of goal orientation, defined as learners' self-reflection of why and how they engage in tasks, to understand whether, how, and why underrepresented 7-12-year-olds engage in engineering design activities in an informal learning institution. Though previous research has suggested that goal orientation is strongly, positively related to learning and motivation in formal settings such as schools, research in informal settings has not robustly accounted for the role of goal orientation in participants' engagement with learning tasks in these unique learning environments. To better understand how children's goal orientations contribute to their motivation in engineering in informal learning institutions, researchers will answer the following research questions: (1) What are underrepresented children's goals and goal orientations while participating in engineering design activities in an informal setting? (2) What contextual factors--including facilitation strategies, materials, task relevance, and social interactions with family members--may support or discourage the adoption of different goal orientations? (3) How do goal orientations relate to children's learning experience in the engineering design activities and the likelihood that they will test and iterate their solutions? These questions will be answered through a mixed-method research study conducted with approximately 200 families, with children aged 7-12, recruited from underrepresented groups. Semi-structured clinical interviews, conducted with 20% of the children and their caregivers, as well as observations and surveys gathered from all families, will provide information on the children's goal orientation and engagement as they relate to specific engineering design activities. Qualitative content analyses and multilevel structural equation modeling will result in findings that will be disseminated widely to other institutions of informal learning. Ultimately, this project will generate new empirical knowledge regarding the features of engineering design activities in informal learning environments that increase engineering engagement and motivation among underrepresented children, thereby broadening participation in engineering pathways.
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.