Moving Beyond Earth Programming: “STEM in 30” Webcasts. The Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum (NASM) will develop nine “STEM in 30” webcasts which will be made available to teachers and students in grades 5-8 classrooms across the country. The primary goal of this program is to increase interest and engagement in STEM for students. Formative and summative evaluations will assess the outcomes for the program, which include the following:
Increased interest in STEM and STEM careers, Increased understanding of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), Increased awareness and importance of current and future human space exploration, and Increased learning in the content areas.
This series of live 30-minute webcasts from the National Air and Space Museum and partner sites focus on STEM subjects that integrate all four areas. The webcasts will feature NASA and NASM curators, scientists, and educators exploring STEM subjects using museum and NASA collections, galleries, and activities. During the 30-minute broadcasts, students will engage with museum experts through experiments and activities, ask the experts questions, and answer interactive poll questions. After the live broadcasts, NASM will also archive the webcasts in an interactive “STEM in 30” Gallery.
WCS launched its electronic field trip program, Distance Learning Expeditions, in 2001 when there
was tremendous interest in the educational community in the potential of videoconferencing
technology for program delivery, as well as money available for the purchase of related broadcast
equipment. The program grew rapidly and was successful through 2009 -- serving 9,600 students
in 2006-07, its largest year. From 2010 to 2014, with school budget cuts, high equipment
maintenance costs, and shifts in staffing, participation in the program declined. In 2010, WCS
secured a grant from IMLS for
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Chris HardeeMichael Duffin
resourceprojectProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
Engineering Enabling Science - A NASA GSFC Informal Education Environment Collaborative is a collaborative relationship between and among NASA Goddard Education Office, Greenbelt and Wallops Visitor Centers, Port Discovery Children’s Museum of Baltimore, The Maryland Science Center, and Prince George’s County Public Schools Owens Science Center to leverage current and past NASA Goddard Office of Education and Science Mission Directorate and Engineering investments in Earth Sciences, Astrophysics, Heliophysics, and Planetary Science and NASA Missions. The goal of GSFC’s collaborative is to interface with a number of organizations to provide leveraging, expand their activities and to utilize NASA-related activities in a broader context than that of the individual organization thereby reducing redundancy of effort and services. Specifically, the Office of Education-GSFC Visitor Centers (Greenbelt and Wallops) will develop an integrated model for sharing and delivering high quality education services and activities based on NASA unique capabilities within a network of organizations and institutions serving the general public. The common thread across all proposed activities will be NASA-unique content that flows from the science and technology work of NASA’s Mission Directorates and its Engineering directorate, thereby demonstrating that engineering truly enables science by applying the engineering cycle to the four science themes of Earth Science, Astrophysics, Planetary Science, and Heliophysics. The products of these activities will directly relate to the Educator Professional Development (EPD) and STEM Engagement (SE) lines of business established by NASA educators, as well as showing the interactions and shared STEM learning opportunities between informal and formal education communities rather than viewing informal and formal education as stovepipes.
From Our Town to Outer Space will inform, engage, and inspire new public audiences (library staff and patrons) by sharing NASA’s missions, challenges, and achievements. FOTOS is led by the Space Science Institute’s (SSI) National Center for Interactive Learning (NCIL). NASA mission staff will be invited to participate as active members. NCIL is partnering with Evaluation & Research Associates (ERA) to provide formative and summative evaluation services. FOTOS is a standards-based, informal education program that will reach a broad audience of librarians, library patrons, and other members of the public with a special focus on underserved and underrepresented audiences. The 3-year pilot program includes: 1) a hands-on, museum- quality library exhibit (called Discover NASA: the science and engineering of tomorrow) and tour (to 7 libraries across the country), 2) the development and broad dissemination of active learning activities for different age groups, and 3) library staff training (online and in-person) that introduces them to the STEM content of the exhibit and guides them in developing complementary programming. The project will also develop resources for the existing STAR Library Education Network (STAR Net) community of practice (CoP) whose members include librarians and STEM professionals.
Most communities have afterschool programs that give school-aged students a safe place to go after the dismissal bell rings. The next step after simply providing a safe haven is to create a nurturing environment that develops young people’s talents and supports their needs. A formal mentoring program can help to achieve this goal.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Sara McDanielAnna-Margaret YarbroughKevin Besnoy
Afterschool continues to be promoted as a complementary setting to school for strengthening science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education (for example, Krishnamurthi, Bevan, Rinehart, & Coulon, 2013). This is a reasonable idea: 10.2 million children and youth in the U.S. participate in structured afterschool programs (Afterschool Alliance, 2014), and the flexibility of afterschool settings allows for innovative approaches to STEM exploration and engagement.
The Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation and the National Museum of American History (NMAH) contracted Randi Korn & Associates, Inc. (RK&A) to conduct a summative evaluation of Places of Invention (POI), an exhibition funded by the National Science Foundation. The evaluation was designed to determine the extent to which the exhibition achieved its outcomes: 1)Visitors identify the 21st century skills that inventors practice; 2)Visitors identify characteristics that support innovative communities; 3)Visitors express interest in learning about inventions and/or inventors; 4
Since 2012, the Maker Education Initiative (Maker Ed) has worked with over 72 organizations to host their Maker Corps program. In 2015, 39 organizations participated with 72 Maker Corps Members.
The goals of the program are:
1. Support and train partner organizations to establish and develop making programs.
2. Diversify and expand the network and community of maker educators.
These goals speak to Maker Ed’s commitment to helping people and organizations grow their capacity to deliver maker programming in the ways that is most relevant to them. For individuals, that may mean gaining