From Intel to Facebook, Google and Apple, technology companies are joining other science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) industry leaders in a grand challenge to diversify their workforce. Finally, two sides of the diversity message can be heard simultaneously: expanding opportunities for women and girls is not just the right thing to do, investing in diversity is also a smart business opportunity. To meet workforce supply demands, improve innovation, and ensure social equity, STEM professions need the imaginations and talents of girls and underrepresented communities of color
This report summarizes findings from a research-practice partnership investigating STEM-rich making in afterschool programs serving young people from communities historically under-represented in STEM. The three-year study identified key dimensions related to (1) How STEM-Rich Making advances afterschool programmatic goals related to socio-emotional and intellectual growth for youth; (2) Key characteristics of programs that effectively engage youth historically marginalized in STEM fields; and (3) Staff development needs to support equity-oriented STEM-Rich Making programs.
This paper describes Synergies, an on-going longitudinal study and design effort, being conducted in a diverse, under-resourced community in Portland, Oregon, with the goal of measurably improving STEM learning, interest and participation by early adolescents, both in school and out of school. Authors examine how the work of this particular research-practice partnership is attempting to accommodate the six principles outlined in this issue: (1) more accurately reflect learning as a lifelong process occurring across settings, situations and time frames; (2) consider what STEM content is worth
The dramatic decline in youth interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) during adolescence, both in the USA and internationally, has been a phenomenon of societal concern for several decades. The Synergies project was launched to help deal with this issue. In this paper, we report findings from the first two years of our longitudinal survey research. We sought to understand the nature of the STEM-related interests of 10-/11-year-old youth living in a single urban community and the factors that seem to influence whether these various dimensions of interest increase
The nature of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) learning is changing as individuals have unprecedented, 24/7 access to science-related information and experiences from cradle to grave. Today’s science-education opportunities include not only traditional schooling, but also libraries, museums, zoos, aquaria, science centers, and parks and preserves; diverse broadcast media such as television, podcasts, and film; organized youth programs such as 4-H, after-school or summer camps, and special-interest clubs and hobby groups; and an ever-increasing array of digital media
The first step of the SEDEC project has been a survey on teachers and pupils perception of science, scientists, and the European dimension of science. Different research actions have been organized for the different targets, and have been held in the six countries involved in the project: Czech Republic, France, Italy, Portugal, Poland and Romania. This article will present the analysis of more then 1000 drawings realized by 9 and 14 years old pupils and representing "a scientist". Form the drawings emerge stereotypes, fears, desires, expectations and more, a whole imaginery that has to be
Being aware of the fact that science is a decisive factor for development and individual well being and a citizen's right, no less important than all his other rights, Tunisia's new-Era initiated its Science City on 10 April, 1992. The purpose of such an institution is to disseminate science throughout the whole of Tunisia for the different categories of citizens and to help, in the context of dovetailing with the educational sector, youngsters get, from their earliest years, interested in science and its use.
This white paper discusses how out-of-school providers can inspire more underrepresented youth to become the innovators and problem-solvers of tomorrow. Boys & Girls Clubs of America convened key stakeholders from higher education, government, corporations and nonprofit organizations at the STEM Great Think, the first national thought leadership forum to combine innovation and creativity with STEM programming in the out-of-school time environment. The purpose of the STEM Great Think was to develop a plan for establishing strategic partnerships that advance STEM education during out-of-school
The impact of four half-hour science programs aired on commercial children's radio was assessed by Dr. Barbara Flagg of Multimedia Research in a causal-comparative between-groups study with prebroadcast and postbroadcast questionnaires. Of 253 fourth graders, 34% listened to one or more shows of the Kinetic City Super Crew series. Significantly more girls listened than boys. Listeners and Non-listeners did not differ on background variables of ethnic status, science attitudes, science reading and television viewing, and participation in seven of eight common at-home science activities
Through this review of research on public engagement with science, Feinstein, Allen, and Jenkins advocate supporting students as “competent outsiders”—untrained in formal sciences, yet using science in ways relevant to their lives. Both formal and informal settings can be well suited for work in which students translate scientific content and practices into meaningful actions.
Within learning environments kids talk can often be seen as disruptive or off task. However, Gutierrez et al reframe how teachers can engage kids talk and welcome diverse activities and linguistic practices to deepen learning and participation. This article explores how teachers allow students to offer local knowledge, reorganize activities, and make meaning that can connect to the official curriculum in unexpected ways.
This poster was presented at the 2016 Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) PI Meeting held in Bethesda, MD on February 29-March 2. The project will provide much needed empirical results on how to promote children’s STEM engagement and learning in informal science education settings. The project will yield useful information and resources for informal science learning practitioners, parents, and other educators who look to advance STEM learning opportunities for children.