After-school programs are a source of powerful, positive experiences for an estimated eight to ten million youth, especially those in low-income, under-represented populations (the majority of youth in these programs). Through this conference grant, TERC, along with the Exploratorium and the Lawrence Hall of Science, proposes to launch a national initiative to create, support and sustain engaging, research-based science and mathematics activities in the after-school community. This planning conference will bring together the leaders and experts who run exemplary after-school programs, create quality science and mathematics materials, and provide effective staff training to identify the challenges, goals and questions of greatest interest and value to the national community. Intellectual merit and broader impact are evidenced by the gathering of key players, promotion of dialog and the facilitation of connections between developer and after-school communities.
The Museum of Science will partner with four other informal science education institutions to plan a nationwide distributed research project that will explore universal access to informal learning of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) in museums. This planning project will determine domains of access-related research, establish a core set of advisors to assist with the development of the research agenda, coordinate the selection of topics for investigation and define areas where a shared research protocol might be appropriate for studies conducted at partner institutions. Research initially will be focused on visitors with disabilities who have traditionally been marginalized from many museum experiences.
The St. Louis Science Center, in collaboration with the City College of New York and the Science Museum of Minnesota, will combine their considerable expertise with youth programs to create new opportunities for after-school STEM learning. Teens, ages 14-17, currently participating in the "Youth Exploring Science" program at the St. Louis Science Center and the Youth Science Center at the Science Museum of Minnesota will receive intensive training to prepare them to assume the role of lead designers of Learning Places that will be created in nine-after school programs in St. Louis and St. Paul. "Learning Places" are educational environments supported by hands-on activities and innovative strategies that integrate science, mathematics and technology into after-school programs. In the final year of the grant the project will be disseminated to five museums across the US including the Pacific Science Center (Seattle, WA), Headwaters Science Center (Bemidji, MN), Explora (Albuquerque, NM), and Sciencenter (Ithica, NY). Youth program staff, and staff and administrators in after-school programs and partnering museums will also benefit from training and professional development. Deliverables include 27 "Learning Places," a teen training program, a Resource Guide for implementation and research contributions to the field.
Colorado State University proposes to identify the framework and infrastructure needed for the university's main campus and pueblo campus to deliver informal science education to school aged youth and their families with a particular focus on Hispanic families. The two-year planning process will include workshops, surveys, focus groups and interviews with key partners in the community that provide programming and advocacy for the targeted audience of school age children and Hispanic families in particular. An advisory board and core team of planners will use data gathered from this process to inform the development of the infrastructure model and to identify STEM concepts and formats, compelling University resources and faculty Professional Development needs in this University/Community partnership. The results of this planning initiative will provide tools, infrastructural plans and community awareness that will support future opportunities for delivering programs to specific school age audiences and developing the capacity of the faculty/staff to work with new audiences. These future efforts will support the ultimate goal of increasing school age children's participation in ISE and ultimately the numbers of Hispanic youth who go on to participate in STEM careers.
This planning grant is designed to increase science literacy in Native Americans by developing education materials for families that incorporate both a tribal worldview and western science. The intended impacts include an increased value of scientific awareness, acquisition of scientific principles using intergerational learning and enhanced science literacy. The project deliverables include nine toolboxes that will contain tested STEM activities and two planning booklets. Project partners include the Northwest Indian College and the Mt. Baker School District. Strategic impact will be realized through the development of culturally sensitive strategies that can be used to engage Native audiences.
SciGirls was a multimedia project to encourage and empower more girls to pursue STEM careers--the first PBS television series designed specifically for girls 8-13. Episodes were made available for distribution on the newest digital platforms, e.g., Vimeo and iTunes for downloads, free of charge. Strategic partners included the National Girls Collaborative Project (NGCP) and The Franklin Institute. The NGCP links SciGirls with its network of 500 community-based science programs for girls. The Franklin Institute coordinated an affiliate network of science museums to implement outreach. The project also wored with the new "Girl Scout Leadership Experience" program.
The purpose of this project is to enhance African American parental involvement with high school student children by developing skills and strategies for effectively managing the educational careers of their children. It would create a capacity for collaborations with the schools that service African American children by developing the social and organizational infrastructure for continued parental involvement in educational careers. It seeks to increase enrollment and success of Black students in higher-level mathematics and science courses to diminish the race gap in math and science track placements. It uses a quasi-experimental design to implement a series of community workshops designed to enhance knowledge, skills, and strategies for managing placements of children in science and math tracks. The research would create an intervention designed to change the outcome of students. It would conduct ethnographic work to map successful pathways to enrollment in higher-level math courses. It would use findings from these studies to implement workships within the Black communities, and conduct statistical analysis of the growth in achievement as a result of the reduction in course taking.
This creative project pairs grandparents or other senior citizens with children in grades K-7 for an intergenerational hands-on SMT program. The OASIS institute, which has a large national membership of adults 55 and older with centers based in 25 cities across the US, is the source of adults. Twenty intergenerational modules will be developed which address the learning styles of both children and older adults, half of which will be linked with the NSF-funded "Find Out Why" materials. Master training sessions will be conducted for OASIS trainers, who would then train volunteers at their local centers. Anticipated outcomes include increased knowledge of standards-based SMT concepts, enhanced problem-solving skills and a better understanding of how science, math and technology apply to everyday life. In addition to the modules, the program would also result in the creation of a supplementary guide for volunteers, materials kits and a comprehensive training program. It is anticipated that this exciting program will be piloted in the following nine states: MO, IN, OR, MD, AZ, TX, CA, IL and OH. Over 100,000 individuals will be impacted during the three years of the project.
The Charles A. Dana Center of the University of Texas at Austin, will use a one-year planning grant to assess the design of standards-based mathematics and science resources for early childhood educators. The project will produce a prototype curriculum unit, based on "The Wonder of Water," which was developed as part of the Texas SSI Family Learning Project. The curriculum will be tested, revised and re-tested in six early childhood education settings. The results will be used to produce a plan to field test, research and disseminate the curriculum regionally and nationally, resulting in a strong resource for early childhood educators that will enable preschool children to develop an understanding and appreciation for math and science. By using this product in settings such as Head Start, a better sense of continuity will be established between preschool and elementary science and mathematics content.
DATE:
-
TEAM MEMBERS:
Philip Uri Treisman
resourceprojectProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
The Vermont Center for the Book is developing "Mother Goose Cares about Math and Science," an integrated curriculum of science process skills and standards-based mathematics concepts for preschool children. A college credit course will be developed for childcare providers based on this curriculum. The course increases science and math literacy and the ability to incorporate NCTM standards, and science process skills, into daily interactions with children. Participants are also provided with the tools to communicate the importance of these concepts to parents. The course will be delivered to 600 childcare workers in Vermont and inner-city Philadelphia over a three-year period. Recruitment will include providers in center-, home- and school-based settings in both urban and rural communities. Participants will be provided with books, Curriculum Guides, tools and manipulatives needed to implement the course pedagogy. Materials to be developed include a seven-segment training, which will be used to disseminate the project nationally. Participants will receive a comprehensive training package that can be used to train their peers.
This award supports a workshop to be held in conjunction with the 2010 World Maker Faire being hosted at the New York Hall of Science. The purpose of the workshop is to bring together the Maker community with formal and informal science and mathematics learning experts. The Maker movement is a recent phenomenon promoted by the Maker Media division of O'Reilly Media. There are currently three U.S. and one International Maker Faires, with attendance of about 30,000 each. The Faires consist of exhibits characterized as technology-rich and innovative and developed either by the exhibitor (Do-It-Yourself or DIY) or increasingly, as collaborative exhibits (Do-It-With-Others or DIWO). Participants visiting the Faires interact directly with the developer(s) and exhibits to learn the technology and engineering skills associated with designing and building their own products. The New York Hall of Science workshop will be co-chaired by Tom Kalil, Associate Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology, and Dale Dougherty, Founder of the Maker Faires. It will have approximately 50 participants drawn from academe, business, non-profits, and state, local and federal government. Workshop attendees will observe and participate in the Maker Faire at the New York Hall of Science the day before the workshop. On the second day, attendees will then address the following questions: 1) How can the innovations of the Maker movement inform science and mathematics education?; 2) What collaborations between policy makers, education and learning science researchers, and the Maker Movement can best spur innovation in science and mathematics education?; 3) What funding opportunities are possible between the Maker community and the private, philanthropic, and government sectors for the support of transformative science and mathematics education and learning research? The workshop will result in a multimedia report that will propose answers to these questions. The report will inform the education and learning science research communities about opportunities for innovations in education and learning. The workshop is designed to broadly inform both policy and practice in STEM Education. The Maker/DIY/DIWO movement is focused on design and engineering. These processes are important in STEM disciplines. In particular, the movement has motivated thousands of individuals to voluntarily participate in building technology-based projects in a manner similar to the open source software movement. If this motivation can be broadly harnessed, it could transform STEM education through new knowledge of STEM learning science and education research. The broader impact of this workshop is situated in the large numbers of individuals already engaged in Maker/DIY/DIWO projects. If more STEM content can be married to these projects, then the impact to science learning and teaching could be substantial. Since many of the Maker Faire participants come from rural communities, there is an implicit promise that incorporating more STEM content into Faire projects could have the effect of broadening participation to an underrepresented community.
The Educational Film Center (EFC) is developing a science, engineering, and technology careers exhibit for distribution to science museums and technology centers. The core of the exhibit kiosk, with related career graphics surrounds, is SET/QUEST, an interactive multimedia program for both Macintosh and PC/Windows using CD-Rom as the full motion video source. Teens and preteens will enter an interactive exploration of thirty careers with first person video profiles of people in science and engineering; animated/reality video simulations of a work experience in these fields, decision screens, and a database of over 200 more science and math-based professions. The documentary profiles, database, and a personal interest career match component will also be developed in alternative media formats (video, audio, print) for broad distribution to community and youth education networks, schools, and libraries. Specific emphasis in this project is being placed on reaching and attracting female, minority, and disabled youth. A parent outreach component has been developed and will be implemented by the Directorate of Education & Human Resources Programs of AAAS. The concept of the parent effort is to work directly with and through the national offices of four major national organizations with different institutional community roots -- Science Museums, Public Libraries, Schools, and Community Based Organizations -- to involve parents and families with SET Project materials and to provide them with information with which they can foster their children's pursuit of science and math education and careers in these fields. Initial efforts will be conducted in 18 cities. The project is a collaborative endeavor among three organizations: The Educationa l Film Center which will be responsible for management and development/production of the software and documentary video profiles; The New York Hall of Science which will be responsible for the exhibit kiosk and graphics, will design and develop the student workbook and user installation print, will serve as the principal test site for the exhibit, and will advise on software, interactive multimedia design, and installation options; and COMAP which will be responsible for direct involvement of the Advisory Board, for selecting and hiring content consultants, for assuring the accuracy of the science and math content, for formative and summative evaluation, and for developing and preparing community leader and school users guides for publication. Stephen Rabin, President of EFC, will serve as PI for the project.