Citizen science engages members of the public in science. It advances the progress of science by involving more people and embracing new ideas. Recent projects use software and apps to do science more efficiently. However, existing citizen science software and databases are ad hoc, non-interoperable, non-standardized, and isolated, resulting in data and software siloes that hamper scientific advancement. This project will develop new software and integrate existing software, apps, and data for citizen science - allowing expanded discovery, appraisal, exploration, visualization, analysis, and reuse of software and data. Over the three phases, the software of two platforms, CitSci.org and CyberTracker, will be integrated and new software will be built to integrate and share additional software and data. The project will: (1) broaden the inclusivity, accessibility, and reach of citizen science; (2) elevate the value and rigor of citizen science data; (3) improve interoperability, usability, scalability and sustainability of citizen science software and data; and (4) mobilize data to allow cross-disciplinary research and meta-analyses. These outcomes benefit society by making citizen science projects such as those that monitor disease outbreaks, collect biodiversity data, monitor street potholes, track climate change, and any number of other possible topics more possible, efficient, and impactful through shared software.
The project will develop a cyber-enabled Framework for Advancing Buildable and Reusable Infrastructures for Citizen Science (Cyber-FABRICS) to elevate the reach and complexity of citizen science while adding value by mobilizing well-documented data to advance scientific research, meta-analyses, and decision support. Over the three phases of the project, the software of two platforms, CitSci.org and CyberTracker, will be integrated by developing APIs and reusable software libraries for these and other platforms to use to integrate and share data and software. Using participatory design and agile methods over four years, the project will: (1) broaden the inclusivity, accessibility, and reach of citizen science; (2) elevate the value and rigor of citizen science software and data; (3) improve interoperability, usability, scalability and sustainability of citizen science software and data; and (4) mobilize data to allow cross-disciplinary research and meta-analyses. These outcomes benefit society by making citizen science projects and any number of other possible topics more possible, efficient, and impactful through shared software and data. Adoption of Cyber-FABRICS infrastructure, software, and services will allow anyone with an Internet or cellular connection, including those in remote, underserved, and international communities, to contribute to research and monitoring, either independently or as a team. This project is also being supported 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.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Gregory NewmanLouis LiebenbergStacy LynnMelinda Laituri
resourceprojectProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
This project will convene a workshop focused on digital micro-credentials, also known as digital badges, and the role they might play in the high-stakes process of college admission. Digital micro-credentials represent one potential mechanism for broadening access for underrepresented groups to higher education. Digital micro-credentials enable students to present a broader view of themselves as learners that connects different domains of their lives: academic, social, and personal interest-driven. As such, digital micro-credentials enable students to represent expertise and potential in ways that go beyond traditional high school grade point averages and standardized test scores. The workshop addresses questions such as: Can micro-credentials serve as valid and reliable measures of learning? What "gap" in current assessment practices can be filled by micro-credentials? What is required for micro-credentials to be useful as evidence of preparation for future learning in the college admission process?
The project's principal investigators will employ case studies, drawn from the Chicago City of Learning network (chicagocityoflearning.org) and Mouse (mouse.org) in New York City, to better understand the use of micro-credentials for learning in STEM-focused extracurricular activities. During the workshop, participants with expertise in student learning from a range of perspectives will design representations of the knowledge or skills demonstrated by students. Participating admissions officers and STEM faculty will critique the designs with respect to how well the designs demonstrate evidence of preparation for future learning by students. The workshop outcomes will include sample designs of micro-credentials that show promise to both promote learning and support college admissions. The workshop will also result in a white paper discussing the potential of micro-credentials for college admission in STEM fields by youth from underrepresented groups.
In reflecting on what Pathway to Biotrails (“Biotrails”) learned about informal science learning, it is clear in hindsight that the project evolved into an exploration of how the important new technology of DNA-assisted species identification (“DNA barcoding”) might add value to learning in a variety of models for citizen science participant engagement. This was not the project’s initial design. But it seems to me that this “evolved” design was particularly appropriate for an exploratory, Pathways project focused on increasing our understanding of how a groundbreaking new technology might
This guide is intended to provide a starting point for those developing proposals and projects designed to broaden participation in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) through informal learning experiences. It is an outcome of an Association of Science-Technology Centers (ASTC)/Center for Advancement of Informal Science Education (CAISE) digital resource curation workshop (August 5, 2016) where participants identified relevant projects from the InformalScience.org database. This digital resource complements the synthesis report of the Leadership Workshop for Achieving Scale
CSA’s Education Working Group has taken on as its mission to enable, inspire, investigate, and facilitate effective integration of scientific and educational goals, practices, and outcomes in citizen science. We offer the Citizen Science Association community the following vision for what learning, and benefit to learners, is possible through participation in citizen science.
Adult education beyond K-12 and postsecondary levels is very important as this citizenry group is often the policy and decision makers in local communities, as well as for state and federal issues that impact the Nation. Moreover, they are responsible for advising their progeny on a myriad of choices. This project will plan, execute, and promote four annual public lecture events, working with a professional educational evaluation expert to develop an appropriate assessment tool for adult learners in the structured informal learning environment of a science café. These planned events will be used to test and refine an assessment tool for making this work widely available to the community of informal science practitioners and researchers. Further, this project is a pilot for epitomizing the use of science cafés to address the learning needs of unique citizens of Richmond, Virginia. The project is committed to including under-represented citizens including Veterans with disabilities. The evaluation and research efforts will validate the education mechanisms so science cafés can be more effective in the future. As a part of its overall strategy to enhance learning in informal environments, the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program funds research and innovative resources for use in a variety of settings.
This project is a collaboration that includes Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), Rockman et al (an evaluation firm), Science Pub RVA (Science Pub RVA is a long-running and award-nominated Richmond, VA science café), Carver Community Partnership, East District Family Resource Center, VCU Partnership for People with Disabilities, VCU Department of Rehabilitation Counseling, VCU Medical Center, and a variety of other VCU departments. The investigators will conduct a series of science cafés to determine motivation, interests, and best practices for educating the diverse citizens of Richmond, Virginia. The objective of the research is to rigorously analyze the characteristics of participants and cohesively determine the best practices for the effective learning for each person. Further, rigorous evaluation will determine validity of the best and most effective learning practices enabling the project to derive an adaptable model. The investigators' hypothesis is that the participant's knowledge base is derived from the traditional learning which occurred in the K-12 classroom. Thus, in this work, the investigators hope to add to the participant's knowledge base with STS (Science, Technology, and Society) content and enhance the depth and breadth of knowledge and knowledge acquisition. The research scope will embrace an assessment that is based on the three vertices of a triangle composed of cognition, observation, and interpretation, all of which converge on the nature of science, the relevance of science to everyday life, and decision-making behaviors.
The National Center for Science and Civic Engagement (NCSCE) will conduct a Collaborative Planning project to maximize the collective impact of two well-established national STEM learning networks, National Informal STEM Education Network (NISE Net) and Science Education for New Civic Engagements and Responsibilities (SENCER). Through a strategic collaboration that leverages their respective achievements, resources, and expertise, the combined networks can advance informal science education that engages and empowers citizens and their communities as they address the complex civic challenges. The project will conduct a strategic planning process to envision how to unify two networks to increase a durable and identifiable infrastructure for cross-sector collaboration focused on linking science and civic engagement. It 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.
The project objective of the planning process is to create a new and expanded national infrastructure that will increase the capacity of science centers and other informal learning organizations to enhance the public's engagement with science through attention to civic issues, and access new partners, participants, and resources from higher education institutions. The project's core activity will be a three-stage planning process: Phase 1, an assessment of assets, resources, and regional complementarity of the networks, and the development and investigation of key research questions; Phase 2, a planning workshop involving 29 project leaders from both organizations and stakeholders from formal and informal science to identify and develop specific collaborative strategies; and Phase 3, an evaluation and dissemination of the planning results to the networks and the development of a new multi-year project to strengthen the national infrastructure for formal and informal STEM education.
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 proposed effort embraces broad participation by the three Ute tribes, History Colorado, and scientists in the field of archaeology to investigate and integrate traditional ecological knowledge and contemporary Western science. The project will preserve knowledge from the Ute peoples of Colorado and Utah, including traditional technology, ethnobotany, engineering and math. Results from this project will inform educational efforts in similar communities.
This project will build on the long-standing collaborations between History Colorado (HC), the Southern Ute Indian Tribe, Ute Mountain Ute Tribe and Ute Indian Tribe, Uintah & Ouray Reservation, and the Dominguez Archaeological Research Group DARG). HC will implement and evaluate a regional informal learning collaboration focused on Ute traditional and contemporary STEM knowledge serving over 128,000 learners through tribal programs, local history museums and educational networks. This project will advance the understanding of integrated knowledge and the role of Ute people as STEM learners and practitioners. This Informal Science Learning project will increase lifelong STEM learning in rural communities and create a replicable model for collaboration among tribes, history museums, and scientists.
Most experimental studies in the behavioral sciences rely on college students as participants for reasons of convenience, and most take place in North America and Europe. As a result, studies are only sampling from a narrow range of human experiences. The results of these studies have limited generalizability, failing to reflect the full range of mental and behavioral phenomena across diverse cultures and backgrounds. However sampling from broader populations is challenging, due to limited opportunities and access, heightened cost, and the need for specific knowledge about how to adapt research protocols to different communities. The goal of this workshop is to develop some tools and guidelines to help researchers overcome barriers to broader sampling, and to incentivize doing so through better institutional support.
The goal of this workshop is to develop tools to support and encourage increased robustness and generalizability in the experimental behavioral sciences. The meeting is dedicated to identifying and developing potential solutions to the so-called "WEIRD people" problem: the fact that most experimental behavioral science research is conducted with members of WEIRD populations (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich Democracies). The discovery that much of this research fails to generalize to broader populations and fails to capture the range of human patterned variation in thought and behavior creates a pressing need for research approaches to be more inclusive. Although there are researchers throughout the world who have developed effective models for overcoming these limitations, there are significant barriers to achieving robust and generalizable experimental behavioral research for most researchers. This workshop will bring together scholars from a range of disciplines whose research represents positive case studies of how to overcome these barriers. The participants aspire to accomplish three goals: 1) develop tools and training materials to help researchers enhance diversity in their research populations, 2) develop infrastructure solutions for connecting researchers across diverse contexts and populations, and 3) develop a set of recommendations for institutional changes to support enhancing diversity in experimental behavioral science through manuscript, grant, and tenure review.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Douglas MedinDaniel HruschkaLera BoroditskyCristine Legare
There is broad consensus in the international scientific community that the world is facing a biodiversity crisis — the accelerated loss of life on Earth brought about by human activity. Threats to biodiversity have been variously classified by different authors (Diamond 1989, Laverty and Sterling 2004, Brook et al. 2008), but typically include ecosystem loss and fragmentation, unsustainable use, invasive species, pollution, and climate change. Across the globe, traditional and indigenous cultures are affected by many of the same threats affecting biological diversity, including the
This is the fifth volume of the annual proceedings for the Games+Learning+Society (GLS). The GLS conference is a premier event for those from both academia and industry interested in videogames and learning. The GLS conference is one of the few destinations where the people who create high-quality digital learning media can gather for a serious think about what is happening in the field and how the field can serve the public interest. The conference offers an opportunity for in-depth conversation and social networking across diverse disciplines including game studies, education research
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Kyrie CaldwellSean SeylerAmanda OchsnerConstance Steinkuehler
This is the fourth volume of the annual proceedings for the Games+Learning+Society (GLS). The GLS conference is a premier event for those from both academia and industry interested in videogames and learning. The GLS conference is one of the few destinations where the people who create high-quality digital learning media can gather for a serious think about what is happening in the field and how the field can serve the public interest. The conference offers an opportunity for in-depth conversation and social networking across diverse disciplines including game studies, education research
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Amanda OchsnerJeremy DietmeierCaroline WilliamsConstance Steinkuehler