Child Trends is a nonprofit organization focused on improving the lives of children and their families by conducting research and sharing the resulting knowledge with practitioners and the public. In this project, Child Trends will conduct research and development to launch a Child Trends News Service aimed at providing news reports that feature social science child-centric research. The resulting work is designed to improve outcomes for at-risk children, particularly Latinos, the largest and fastest-growing minority group among U.S. children. Working with a professional news syndication company, the Child Trends News Service will produce engaging reports for key news media outlets that feature the latest actionable social science research related to behaviors that help mitigate negative child outcomes associated with poverty, lack of education, violence, among other challenges. Child Trends will draw attention to the reports through social media and outreach to stakeholders. By airing these reports on local television news programs in English and Spanish, millions of people will have greater access to this information. This is early R&D work to demonstrate that local television stations will air these stories and to examine the audience impact—how does accessing this social science research through preferred media channels influence news audiences’ knowledge and attitudes toward specific social science research? The study will also delve deeper to better understand how news might, or might not, motivate behavioral change. The study will provide valuable lessons to the informal science education and the STEM communication science field.
The overarching aim of this project is to use commercial news to reach populations, especially Latinos, who have historically been underrepresented in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education and careers. The goals of the project are to:
* Leverage mass media news outlets to effectively communicate developments in social science research on child well-being and development to Latino audiences.
* Advance the field of informal STEM learning by exploring how the public interacts with actionable social science child research.
* Expand the reach and application of the news products through strategic collaborations with provider organizations serving at-risk Latino families; the child research and STEM fields; and other organizations working on Latino family issues.
Activities include the development and formative testing of the news service, the qualitative and quantitative testing of the news service's impact on audiences, and evaluation of the implementation of the project's components. The quantitative research, using a control group and treatment group, will work to establish preliminary evidence that the Child Trends News Service will result in changes in viewers' knowledge, attitudes, and intent to adopt behaviors related to child-centric social science research. The Child Trends' project team will be informed by an Advisory Board and Technical Working Group as well by working closely with Abriendo Puertas, the largest U.S. parenting education program for low-income Latino parents. Child Trends will partner with Ivanhoe Broadcast News to produce and distribute the materials. Group I&I Consultancy will evaluate the project. In year-two, Child Trends will produce a research brief on lessons learned and research outcome measures. The proposed research and development will be conducted over a two-year period; findings will inform ongoing service and additional research.
This project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which seeks to advance new approaches to, and evidence-based understanding of, the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments. This includes providing multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM learning experiences, advancing innovative research on and assessment of STEM learning in informal environments, and developing understandings of deeper learning by participants.
Informal Science, Techology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) institutions seek to contribute to a scientifically literate culture, which includes new and innovative learning opportunities, a diverse community of scientists and science educators, equitable treatment for all, and the development of a well-trained workforce. In order to achieve these goals, informal STEM institutions must provide learning experiences that are welcoming and productive for all learners. The iPAGE model is a comprehensive program that prepares teams within informal STEM institutions to work with their colleagues to make their institutions more inclusive learning environments in which to learn, engage in, and identify with STEM. The project incorporates learning modules, workshops, site visits, and institution-specific activities all geared to build knowledge, awareness, and capacity related to creating inclusive environments at informal STEM institutions. The core iPAGE model is based on the US Department of Agriculture's agricultural extension service. It includes a Knowledge-to-Action approach, in which individuals adapt what they learn to local contexts by assessing barriers to knowledge use, selecting and implementing interventions, evaluating outcomes, and sustaining ongoing efforts. Through cycles of design-based iteration, the project will improve its practice, learning modules, and theory of action. Through surveys, interviews, and case studies, the research team will document learning, barriers to implementation, and culture change as teams and institutions seek to become more welcoming, diverse, and inclusive institutions. This project is being funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which seeks to advance new approaches to, and evidence-based understanding of, the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments.
The proposed project, which will build upon a successful NSF EAGER grant, will help arctic researchers explain the significance of their research widely to the general public which, in today's technologically connected world means not only in the U.S., but worldwide- and to reflect the diversity of the scientific enterprise Alaska. As proposed, the current Frontier Scientist's schedule of science reporting will be enhanced by a broadcast TV series titled Frontier Scientists to engage a larger viewing audience. A 'Do It Yourself' (DIY) component will help scientists to create their, professional-caliber media that will sustain the publics' interest and feedback in their research. An evaluation regime will insure appropriate quality and depth of communication, throughout the lifecycle of each science story.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Liz OConnellRobert McCoyGregory Newby
This infographic presents a visual summary of a user study of the InformalScience.org website, which was conducted in 2016. The study used online surveys, task-based interviews, and web analytics to explore the following questions: (1) Who are the site's users and what content do they value? (2) Does the site clearly convey its purpose to visitors? and (3) Are users able to navigate the site and use search tools effectively?
Frontier Scientists is comprised of a website and portfolio of videos created for distribution web-wide and through television broadcast. The goal of this program is to excite the general public about ongoing science in Alaska and the Arctic. This is the summary evaluation of a three-year National Science Foundation grant received by Frontier Scientists. Frontier Scientists contracted PEER Associates to conduct the evaluation. Over the course of the three years, the evaluation was focused on both formative (intended to inform and improve programming) and summative (what has the program
A frequently missing element in environmental education programs is a concerted effort by communities, organizations, government, and academic stakeholders to build meaningful partnerships and cultivate informal science learning opportunities via public participation in environmental research. This collaborative approach not only makes scientific information more readily available, it also engages community members in the processes of scientific inquiry, synthesis, data interpretation, and the translation of results into action. This project will build a co-created citizen science program coupled with a peer education model and an extensive communication of results to increase environmental STEM literacy. The project targets historically underrepresented populations that are likely to be disproportionately impacted by climate, water scarcity, and food security. Based upon past needs assessments in the targeted communities, gardens irrigated by harvested rainwater will become hubs for environmental STEM education and research. For this project, gardens irrigated by harvested rainwater will serve as hubs for environmental literacy education efforts. Researchers from the University of Arizona and Sonora Environmental Research Institute will work alongside community environmental health workers, who will then train families residing in environmentally compromised areas (urban and rural) on how to monitor their soil, plant, and harvested water quality. The project aims to: (1) co-produce environmental monitoring, exposure, and risk data in a form that will be directly relevant to the participants' lives, (2) increase the community's involvement in environmental decision-making, and (3) improve environmental STEM literacy and learning in underserved rural and urban communities. The project will investigate and gather extensive quantitative and quantitative data to understand how: (1) participation in a co-created citizen science project enhances a participant's overall environmental STEM literacy; (2) a peer-education model coupled with a co-created citizen science program affects participation of historically underrepresented groups in citizen science; and (3) the environmental monitoring approach influences the participant's environmental health learning outcomes and understanding of the scientific method. In parallel, this project will evaluate the role of local-based knowledge mediators and different mechanisms to communicate results. These findings will advance the fields of informal science education, environmental science, and risk communication. Concomitantly, the project will facilitate the co-generation of a robust dataset that will not only inform guidelines and recommendations for harvested rainwater use, it will build capacity in underserved communities and inform the safe and sustainable production of food sources. This research effort is especially critical for populations in arid and semiarid environments, which account for ~40% of the global land area and are inhabited by one-third of the world's population. This program will be available in English and Spanish and can truly democratize environmental STEM research and policy. This project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning program, which seeks to advance new approaches to, and evidence-based understandings of, the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments.
Chemistry is an important and widely relevant field of science. However, when compared with other STEM content areas, chemistry is under-represented in U.S. science museums and other informal educational environments. This project will build, and build knowledge about, innovative approaches to delivering informal science learning activities in chemistry. The project will not only increase public interest and understanding of chemistry but also increase public perception of chemistry's relevance and increase the public's self-efficacy with respect to chemistry. This project outcomes will include a guide for practitioners along with activity materials that will be packaged into a kit, distributed, and replicated for use by informal science educators, chemists, and chemistry students at 250 sites across the U.S. The project team will reach out to organizations that serve diverse audiences and diverse geographic locations, including organizations in rural and inner-city areas. The kits will provide guidance on engaging girls, people with various abilities, Spanish speakers, and other diverse audiences, and include materials in Spanish. Written guides, training videos, and training slides will be included to support training in science communication in general, as well as chemistry in particular. This project is supported by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program funds research and innovative resources for use in a variety of settings, as a part of its overall strategy to enhance learning in informal environments.
This project will take an innovative approach to develop informal educational activities and materials about chemistry. Rather than starting with content goals, the project will start with a theoretical framework drawn from research about affecting attitudes about science related to interest, relevance, and self-efficacy. A design-based research approach (DBR) will be used to apply that framework to the development of hands-on educational activities about chemistry, while also testing and modifying the framework itself. (DBR blends empirical educational research with the theory-driven design of learning environments.) Existing or new educational activities that appear to embody key characteristics defined in the framework will be tested with public audiences for their impact on visitors. Researchers and educators will determine how different characteristics of the educational activities defined in the framework affect the outcomes. The activities will be modified and tested iteratively until the investigators achieve close alignment between framework and impacts.. The project team will continue the design-based research approach both to examine groups of activities in which synergies can have impacts beyond single interactions as well as to examine varied ways of training facilitators who can also significantly affect outcomes. In this way, the project will generate knowledge about how kits of hands-on informal learning activities can stimulate attitudes of interest, relevance, and self-efficacy with respect to the neglected field of chemistry. The project teams will broadly disseminate project outcomes within the educational research, science and informal Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education communities. While this project will focus on chemistry, the strategies it will develop and test through a design-based research process will provide valuable insight into effective approaches for informal STEM education more broadly.
As part of its National Science Foundation (NSF) grant, the Conservation Trust of Puerto Rico (the Trust) hired Randi Korn & Associates, Inc. (RK&A) to evaluate its Citizen Science Project. The goal of the study was to measure the project’s success against an Impact Framework, the organizing framework NSF requires for evaluation. During the life of the project, an Impact Framework serves several functions, including to (1) articulate the project goals for the NSF proposal; (2) act as a roadmap for the Trust to align project practices with the impact it intends to achieve on specific
As part of its overall strategy to enhance learning in informal environments, the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program funds innovative resources for use in a variety of settings. The National Association of Math Circles (NAMC) will convene the Math Circle-Mentor and Partnership (MC-MAP) Workshop in late 2016. The proposed MC-MAP workshop will build the field's understanding of the training content and mechanisms that enhance the knowledge and skill development of participants in Math Circles. The workshop will bring mentors from experienced Math Circle leaders together with novice Math Circle leaders to develop the expertise of the notice leaders and their group to develop their expertise in facilitating math circle activities and in organizing related events. The approximately 180 Math Circles currently operating across the nation enlist mathematics professionals to share their passion for mathematics with K-12 students, teachers, and the general public in contexts that emphasize exploration, problem solving and discovery. This initial conference and Math Circle trainings informed by this conference will help build a community of practice around Math Circles through which novice and existing leaders are connected, encouraged and inspired.
The MC-MAP workshop will include structured planning as well as guided observation and structured debriefing of a demonstration Math Circle sessions. The workshop design will be grounded in research related to effective adult learning and to discovery-based mathematics. The workshop will serve as a training prototype that will assist the National Association of Math Circles to identify effective training formats and materials for both experienced and novice Math Circle leaders. Pre- and post- conference surveys of Math Circle leaders will produce data to be used in planning and designing future trainings. The NAMC will share key findings from the workshop evaluation and workshop resources not only with its membership, but also with other mathematics K-12 outreach programs. Workshop materials will address recruiting and serving diverse participants in Math Circles, including girls and women, persons with disabilities, students from varied socioeconomic backgrounds and underrepresented minorities in STEM.
In this chapter we present the ways in which institutional cultural differences impact the development and implementation of learning activities in informal settings. Five university-based centers for the study of chemistry worked with informal learning professionals to re-envision educational and public outreach activities about science. The projects were part of a broader effort to catalyze new thinking and innovation in informal education and chemistry centers. The set of projects illustrates the broad possibilities for informal learning settings, with projects targeting diverse audiences
As part of its overall strategy to enhance learning in informal environments, the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program funds innovative resources for use in a variety of settings. This Research in Service to Practice project will examine how a wide range of pre-college out-of-school-time activities facilitate or hinder females' participation in STEM fields in terms of interest, identity, and career choices. The study will address the ongoing problem that, despite females' persistence to degree once declaring a major in college, initially fewer females than males choose a STEM career path. To uncover what these factors might be, this study will look at the extent to which college freshmen's pre-college involvement in informal activities (e.g., science clubs, internships, shadowing of STEM professionals, museum-going, engineering competitions, citizen science pursuits, summer camps, and hobbies) is associated with their career aspirations and avocational STEM interests and pursuits. While deep-seated factors, originating in culture and gender socialization, sometimes lower females' interest in STEM throughout schooling, this study will examine the degree to which out-of-school-time involvement ameliorates the subtle messages females encounter about women and science that can interfere with their aspiration to a STEM careers.
The Social Cognitive Career Theory will serve as the theoretical framework to connect the development of interest in STEM with students' later career choices. An epidemiological approach will be used to test a wide range of hypotheses garnered from a review of relevant literature, face-to-face or telephone interviews with stakeholders, and retrospective online surveys of students. These hypotheses, as well as questions about the students' demographic background and in-school experiences, will be incorporated into the main empirical instrument, which will be a comprehensive paper-and-pencil survey to be administered in classes, such as English Composition, that are compulsory for both students with STEM interests and those without by 6500 students entering 40 large and small institutions of higher learning. Data analysis will proceed from descriptive statistics, such as contingency tables and correlation matrices, to multiple regression and hierarchical modeling that will link out-of-school-time experiences to STEM interest, identity, and career aspirations. Factor analysis will be used to combine individual out-of-school activities into indices. Propensity score weighting will be used to estimate causal effects in cases where out-of-school-time activities may be confounded with other factors. The expected products will be scholarly publications and presentations. Results will be disseminated to out-of-school-time providers and stakeholders, educators, and educational researchers through appropriate-level journals and national meetings and conferences. In addition, the Public Affairs and Information Office of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics will assist with communicating results through mainstream media. Press releases will be available through academic outlets and Op-Ed pieces for newspapers. The expected outcome will be research-based evidence about which types of out-of-school STEM experiences may be effective in increasing young females' STEM interests. This information will be crucial to educators, service providers, as well as policy makers who work toward broadening the participation of females in STEM.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Roy GouldPhilip SadlerGerhard Sonnert
The Northwest Passage Project (NPP) is a collaborative effort between the University of Rhode Island (URI), Inner Space Center (ISC), Graduate School of Oceanography (GSO), the film company David Clark Inc., and several other partners, including six Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) and three informal science education institutions. The project centers on a research expedition into the Arctic's Northwest Passage, which will engage intergenerational cohorts of high school, undergraduate, and graduate students in hands-on research aboard the U.S. tall ship SSV Oliver Hazard Perry (OHP). During the expedition, a professional film crew will produce a two-hour documentary focused on the NPP's innovative model of interdisciplinary informal STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) learning and highlight the expedition's research, participants, and the sociological issues related to the changing Arctic environment. Because the Canadian Arctic is remote and costly to access, the project will maximize NSF's investment by giving broad audiences access to the science and excitement of the expedition through the documentary. In addition, this informal science learning opportunity will not only engage students with scientists in authentic research, but also train the students to deliver daily live broadcasts from sea to three well-established U.S. informal science education institutions: the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History (NMNH), the Exploratorium, and the Alaska Sea Life Center (ASLC). The daily broadcasts will also reach the public in real time via the project's interactive website, providing the opportunity for people to post questions to the scientists and students onboard the ship. The NPP has great potential to benefit society by enhancing awareness of the changing Arctic's ecosystems and increasing science literacy. The hands-on research experiences will enhance the college readiness of the participating high school students and encourage the undergraduate students from the six partner MSIs to consider a graduate course of study and/or pursue STEM careers. The graduate students will also be more career-ready, as they gain public communication and leadership skills necessary for 21st century scientists. The Northwest Passage Project is designed to advance knowledge and understanding within the practice of informal science education, as well as in the field of Arctic science. The project goals include: increasing public awareness and understanding of the changing Arctic ecosystem; increase public understanding about Arctic research and the scientific process; increase the Informal Science Education (ISE) field's understanding of the public's learning process when engaged in live interactions with scientists and student 'science communicators'; increase the ISE field's understanding of the value of immersive science experiences and impact on students from underserved and underrepresented populations; and to build or extend the capacity of ISE institutions to make connections between polar scientists, students, journalists and the public. The NPP is creative in that it combines the engagement of students in field-based scientific research, live broadcasts from sea to ISE institutions, and the production of a full-scale documentary for public audiences. A potentially transformative component to the ISE activities involves six Minority Serving Institution partners--Florida International University; University of Illinois, Chicago; California State University, Channel Islands; Texas State University; Virginia Commonwealth University and City College of New York--whose students will have the opportunity for a life-changing experience that may tip the scale toward their interest in STEM careers. Each of these students will develop news stories, host screenings of the film at their respective campuses, and share their experiences with peers, providing visual role models for other underrepresented students, who may never have thought themselves capable of becoming a scientist or science communicator. An additional project goal is to enhance the capacity and infrastructure of the three ISE partner institutions so that they may receive live broadcasts from the Inner Space Center in the future, beyond the funding period of the project. People, Places & Design Research will conduct the project's front-end and formative evaluation; MEM & Associates will conduct the summative evaluation. Some of the key evaluation questions will be: * Have ISE and MSI institution public visitors, who view either the live broadcasts or the documentary film (or both), become more aware of the changing Arctic ecosystem and the importance of scientific research in the Arctic? * What is the relative impact of the live broadcasts compared to the finished documentary, and the strengths and weakness of the respective media in translating the on-board experience? * Does a real environmental and social context for scientific evidence stimulate audiences to become more interested in the role of science/STEM? * Have students gained leadership skills and the ability to communicate science to their peers? * Have students increased their motivation and interest in pursuing STEM careers? This project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which seeks to advance new approaches to, and evidence-based understanding of, the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments. This includes providing multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM learning experiences, advancing innovative research on and assessment of STEM learning in informal environments, and developing understandings of deeper learning by participants.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Gail ScowcroftDavid ClarkBrice LooseDwight Coleman