Techbridge Girls’ mission is to help girls discover a passion for science, engineering, and technology (SET). In August 2013, Techbridge Girls was awarded a five-year National Science Foundation grant to scale up its after-school program from the San Francisco Bay Area to multiple new locations around the United States. In the fall of 2014, Techbridge Girls began offering after-school programming at five elementary and two middle schools in the Highline Public School district, located near Seattle, WA.
Education Development Center is conducting the formative and summative evaluation of the
The Sloan Science & Film Teacher's Guide indexes by scientific subject matter over 50 short fiction films funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, that can be streamed for free anytime. The Guide offers an introduction, teaching framework, study questions, and additional resources. Each film is correlated with Next Generation Science Standards as well as New York City Science Standards. The Guide can be viewed online or downloaded as a PDF.
Scientists (and engineers) wishing to conduct public engagement do so in the context of established disciplinary norms and complex institutional systems that may support or limit their success. This report seeks to convey the known complexity, unique challenges, and opportunities for universities to better support for scientists in their public engagement work. The report is intended to drive discussion towards deeper exploration and development of actionable next steps.
This is the executive summary of report from Workshop III: Academic Institutions, part of the Support Systems for
We propose a thoughtful process for scientists to develop their “impact identity”, a concept that integrates scholarship in a scientific discipline with societal needs, personal preferences, capacities and skills, and one’s institutional context. Approaching broader impacts from a place of integrated identity can support cascading impacts that develop over the course of a career. We argue identity is a productive driver that can improve outcomes for scientists and for society. Widespread adoption of the concept of impact identity may also have implications for the recruitment and retention of
A significant body of innovative and potentially useful research about inclusion and diversity is surfacing in museum studies graduate programs across the country. This research often reflects the changing demographics of American society and our growing awareness of the complex dimensions of identity. However, the work is rarely available in venues or formats that are useful to museum practitioners, researchers, and decision-makers. To fill this gap in information sharing, we will conduct a qualitative meta-analysis of Master’s and Doctoral theses that address issues of personal and group identity and representation in museums, followed by interviews with a sample of the authors. This work will describe the ways museums represent and respond to issues of personal and group identity, with a particular focus on looking for evidence of impact and successful and emerging practices. A second goal is to understand how the engagement in the process of research influences the subsequent practice of current professionals.
Why do scientists volunteer to be involved in public engagement in science? What are the barriers that can prevent them participating in dialogue with society? What can be done to facilitate their participation? We report the outcomes of a series of focus groups conducted with the young scientists who volunteered in SISSA for schools (S4S), the Children's University program of the International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA) in Trieste, Italy.
S4S is based on the contribution of PhD students as volunteers, has a participatory character, and is attentive to social and gender inclusion
DATE:
TEAM MEMBERS:
Simona CerratoValentina DaelliHelena PertotOlga Puccioni
In the United States, broad study in an array of different disciplines —arts, humanities, science, mathematics, engineering— as well as an in-depth study within a special area of interest, have been defining characteristics of a higher education. But over time, in-depth study in a major discipline has come to dominate the curricula at many institutions. This evolution of the curriculum has been driven, in part, by increasing specialization in the academic disciplines. There is little doubt that disciplinary specialization has helped produce many of the achievement of the past century
DATE:
TEAM MEMBERS:
David SkortonAshley BearNational Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Schools often have limited resources to devote to science education, which can impact student interest in and preparedness for careers in STEM. Seattle Children’s Research Institute created the Science Adventure Lab, a mobile laboratory program, to support and enrich science education at low-resource schools and stimulate interest in science and pursuing a career in STEM. The mobile laboratory provides students with the unique opportunity to fully immerse themselves in authentic, hands-on science learning with scientists. This limits the burden on school resources and reduces disruptions to
DATE:
TEAM MEMBERS:
William H RodenRebecca HowsmonRebecca A CarterMark RuffoAmanda L Jones
resourceresearchProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
This poster was presented at the 2018 Campus Office of Undergraduate Research Initiatives (COURI) Symposium in El Paso, TX. It describes an ethnographic study to investigate how an exemplary scientist engaged high school students with humor during a project-based learning science internship.
This poster was presented at the 2018 Campus Office of Undergraduate Research Initiatives (COURI) Symposium in El Paso, TX. It discusses the difficulty faced by high school students in generating project ideas, and seeks to identify different activities and methods that instructors use to facilitate the development of project ideas in a project-based learning internship environment.
This poster was presented at the annual meeting of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching (NARST) in Atlanta, GA. It discusses how cogenerative dialogues (cogens) might serve as a tool to dissolve emotional breakdowns in a project-based learning (PBL) science internship.
The overarching goal of the Students Discover project is to improve STEM education in middle schools by developing a model for engaging students with real science. Over the past three years, the project has brought together teachers, scientists, district leaders, and other institutional partners to facilitate the successful implementation of citizen science projects in the classroom. Project activities aim to create a context for student engagement with real, ongoing scientific research by making citizen science projects accessible to the formal classroom environment. Citizen science lessons
DATE:
TEAM MEMBERS:
Suzanne BranonSherry Booth FreemanLauren BryantLaTricia TownsendMalinda Faber