This toolkit provides materials to better prepare role models to engage girls in STEM. The toolkit provides instructional materials, activities, and professional development resources.
Climate Change Education produced climate change educational experiences for both professional and general public audiences. In particular, the Science Museum of Minnesota (SMM), in collaboration with NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), University of Minnesota’s Institute on the Environment, and the University of Wisconsin’s Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS), developed new content for SMM’s Earth Buzz online network, developed a climate change educational program for middle and high school teachers, invited audiences of policy- and decision-makers to SMM for climate change discussions, and recruited and mentored a climate change team of high school students through SMM’s Kitty Andersen Youth Science Center. The project goals were to increase the awareness and understanding in target audiences that (1) human activities are now surpass natural processes as driving forces of atmospheric change, (2) the behavior of Earth's atmosphere in the 21st Century will be increasingly determined by humans, and (3) human ingenuity is the key to adapting to and mitigating the climate changes underway. Highlights of the project included organizing and hosting the October 26-28, 2011 City of Saint Paul Climate Change Adaptation Scenario Planning Workshop, which catalyzed climate resilience as a city planning priority, organizing and hosting with Morris A. Ward, Inc. the October 5-6, 2012 Climate Change Science for Minnesota Broadcast Meteorologists workshop which brought together local TV and radio meteorologists with some of the best climate scientists in the U.S., helping to organize and host on November 7, 2013 the State of Minnesota’s first conference devoted exclusively to climate change adaptation, and the adoption by the museum of a public statement on climate change (www.smm.org/climatechange). The project endures although the grant has concluded through the continued delivery of the museum’s Climate Changed outreach program to a wide array of audiences and through the museum’s continued involvement with the many partnerships established during the Climate Change Education project, as exemplified by the museum working with the City of Saint Paul and Macalester College on an upcoming St. Paul Neighborhood Climate Adaptation Workshop and a Worldwide Views on Climate and Energy event (climateandenergy.wwviews.org/).
The OSU Center for Research for Lifelong STEM Learning with support from the OSU Research Office and in collaboration with OSU Outreach and Engagement, convened a “Broader Impacts Invitational Workshop” on December 7, 2012. The workshop solicited opinions and perspectives from 65 participating faculty who were broadly representative of OSU’s diverse disciplines and units. The goals of the workshop were: 1) to move OSU towards a more strategic and intellectually rigorous approach to broader impacts; one that will measurably improve the competitiveness of OSU initiated proposals; and 2) identify
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Oregon State University
resourceresearchProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
Learning In and Out of School in Diverse Environments is the product of a two-year project during which a panel convened by the LIFE Center (an NSF Science of Learning Center) and the Center for Multicultural Education identified important principles that educational practitioners, policy makers, and future researchers can use to build upon the learning that occurs in the homes and community cultures of students from diverse groups. This report lays out an argument for focusing on cross setting learning as key to equity in STEM education.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
The LIFE Center (The Learning in Informal and Formal Enivronments Center)University of WashingtonJames BanksKathryn AuArnetha BallPhilip BellEdmund GordonKris GutierrezShirley HeathCarol LeeYuhshi LeeJabari MahiriNa'ilah Suad NasirGuadalupe ValdesMin Zhou
resourceresearchProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
Funding for informal science education in the United States is shifting. Federal funds once dedicated exclusively to the informal science education field are decreasing; competition for those funds is increasing. And there is a growing anti-science movement that threatens to drown out the field’s financial concerns. These reverberations are felt in everything from the specific rejection of the science behind climate change to the general elimination of science reporting in U.S. news outlets. Overall, these changes signal an urgent need for the field of informal science education to position
This paper from Phi Delta Kappan describes how growing inequality threatens American education. One of the leading indicators is the amout of resources spent on young people during their out-of-school time.
This short video entitled "Urban Science for the Hip-Hop Generation: The Documentary" provides an overview of a research program led by Chris Emdin of Teacher's College in NYC. Professor Emdin has designed a science program that builds on students' cultural and personal resources to engage students in STEM learning from a position of familiarity and strength. This is a powerful example of making STEM culturally relevant to students as a way to engage and excite them in learning.
An annual conference gathers young Native Americans from several states and many tribes to celebrate their culture, deal with issues they face in their communities, and get involved in tribal and state political issues.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Sara Hill
resourceresearchProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
BELL (Building Educated Leaders for Life) cut training costs by two-thirds and improved outcomes for students in its summer program by developing e-learning modules for program staff and managers.
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Matthea MarquartZora Jones RizziAmita Parikh
resourceresearchProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
An effective youth development-based training program includes such key elements as building trust, engaging participants, and setting high expectations. This article presents practical suggestions and a useful checklist for program planners.
This paper examines "New Faces, New Places: An Introduction to Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math," a program designed to promote the formation of 4-H STEM programs to engage urban youth in science learning.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Walter BarkerEric KillianWilliam Evans