This report details the formative evaluation study conducted through collaboration with the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) and the Association of Science-Technology Centers (ASTC) to inform the iterative development and piloting of the Connected Science Learning: Connecting In-School and Out-of-School STEM Learning journal. The journal was the result of an Early Concept Grant for Exploratory Research (EAGER) project funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to develop, disseminate and evaluate a new resource for connecting STEM education practitioners across settings and to
Purpose: This project team will develop and test Zaption, a mobile and desktop platform designed to support educators in effectively and efficiently utilizing video (e.g., from YouTube, Vimeo, or their own desktop) as an interactive teaching and learning object. Personalized learning devices (e.g., smartphones, tablets) populated with video content provide opportunities for students to access educationally-meaningful content anywhere and anytime. Yet, video has yet to realize its potential as a learning tool in or out of the classroom. One reason for this is that watching video can be a passive experience for students, whereas learning requires active engagement. A second reason is that even if students are actively engaged while watching a video, there is no easy way to elicit student responses to a video. And finally, there is no easy way to feed student responses to teachers as formative assessment data to guide subsequent instruction.
Project Activities: During Phase I, (completed in 2014), the team expanded a pre-existing prototype by building a mobile app to enable anytime use and increase its functionality for teachers. At the end of Phase I, pilot research with 150 students in 7 classrooms demonstrated that the prototype operated as intended, teachers were able to integrate the videos within instructional practice, and students found the mobile app helpful and engaging. In Phase II, the team will add additional components to the prototype and will develop content-specific modules for use in high school physics classes. After development is complete, the research team will conduct a larger pilot study to assess the feasibility and usability, fidelity of implementation, and the promise of the Zaption for supporting student's physics learning. The study will include 32 Grade 10 physics classrooms, half of whom will be randomly assigned to use Zaption and half of whom will follow business as usual procedures. Analyses will compare pre-and-post scores of student's physics learning.
Product: Zaption will be a mobile and web-based platform to support the use of any video (e.g., from YouTube, Vimeo, or their own desktop) as a teaching and learning tool. Zaption will include an authoring engine where users can find and select video clips and easily insert interactive elements such as questions, discussions, and annotations into the videos. Users will then publish videos directly on Zaption's website, or on any learning management system or classroom website. Students will be able to view videos as homework or in class, respond individually to the questions and prompts, and get feedback on their responses. Teachers will use Zaption Analytics to receive immediate and actionable data showing whether students actually watched and engaged with a video, and how students responded to the questions and prompts.
Purpose: This project will develop and test Kiko's Thinking Time, a series of game apps designed to strengthen children's cognitive skills related to executive functioning and reasoning. A principle objective of preschool is to prepare children for later success in school. Most programs focus on activities to support children's social and emotional development, and to strengthen pre-reading and mathematics competencies. Fewer programs explicitly focus on fostering children's executive function and reasoning skills—even though research in the cognitive sciences demonstrates these skills also provide a foundation for school-readiness.
Project Activities: During Phase I (completed in 2014), the team developed six prototype games and a teacher portal to track student progress. At the end of Phase I, results from a pilot study with 55 kindergarten students and 5 teachers demonstrated that the games operated as intended. Results indicated that students were engaged based on duration of game play, and that teachers were able to review game data for each child. In Phase II, the team will develop 15 more games and will further refine and enhance the functionality of the teacher portal. After development is complete, a pilot study will assess the feasibility and usability, fidelity of implementation, and the promise of the games for promoting students' executive functioning and reasoning. The researchers will collect data from 200 students in 10 preschool classrooms over 2 months. Half of the students in each class will be randomly assigned to use Kiko's Thinking Time while the other half will play an art-focused gaming app. Analyses will compare pre-and-post scores on measures of student's executive functioning and reasoning.
Product: Kiko's Thinking Time will be an app with 25 games, each based on tasks shown to have cognitive benefits in lab research. Each game will be designed to isolate and train skills related to executive functioning, such as: working memory, reasoning, inhibition, selective attention, cognitive flexibility, and spatial skills. Game play will be self-guided and adaptive, as the software will adjust in difficulty based on student responses. The app will work on tablets, smartphones, as well desktops. In addition, a companion website will allow teachers to track student performance and to obtain educational material around executive function and cognitive development.
Purpose: This project will develop and test Happy Atoms, a physical modeling set and an interactive iPad app for use in high school chemistry classrooms. Happy Atoms is designed to facilitate student learning of atomic modeling, a difficult topic for chemistry high school students to master. Standard instructional practice in this area typically includes teachers using slides, static ball and stick models, or computer-simulation software to present diagrams on a whiteboard. However, these methods do not adequately depict atomic interactions effectively, thus obscuring complex knowledge and understanding of their formulas and characteristics.
Project Activities: During Phase I (completed in 2014), the team developed a prototype of a physical modeling set including a computerized ball and stick molecular models representing the first 17 elements on the periodic table and an iPad app that identifies and generates information about atoms. A pilot study at the end of Phase I tested the prototype with 187 high school students in 12 chemistry classes. Researchers found that the prototype functioned as intended. Results showed that 88% of students enjoyed using the prototype, and that 79% indicated that it helped learning. In Phase II, the team will develop additional models and will strengthen functionality for effective integration into instructional practice. After development is complete, a larger pilot study will assess the usability and feasibility, fidelity of implementation, and promise of Happy Atoms to improve learning. The study will include 30 grade 11 chemistry classrooms, with half randomly assigned to use Happy Atoms and half who will continue with business as usual procedures. Analyses will compare pre-and-post scores of student's chemistry learning, including atomic modeling.
Product: Happy Atoms will include a set of physical models paired with an iPad app to cover high school chemistry topics in atomic modeling. The modeling set will include individual plastic balls representing the elements of the periodic table. Students will use an iPad app to take a picture of models they create. Using computer-generated algorithms, the app will then identify the model and generate information about its physical and chemical properties and uses. The app will also inform students if a model that is created does not exist. Happy Atoms will replace or supplement lesson plans to enhance chemistry teaching. The app will include teacher resources suggesting how to incorporate games and activities to reinforce lesson plans and learning.
Purpose: Purpose: This project team will fully develop and test Teachley Connect, a platform that syncs a variety of third-party math games to give elementary schools formative assessment data and intervention support. Mobile math games provide opportunities for students to access educationally-meaningful content in and out of the classroom and to supplement instruction. There are a number of examples of math apps that show promise for supporting and assessing student learning in different areas of mathematics, yet few apps in the marketplace provide meaningful data that teachers can use. Many games provide an overall score at the end of the session, but do not help teachers know what skills students are struggling with or how to provide additional support.
Project Activities: During Phase I, (completed in 2015), the team developed a prototype of Teachley Connect, which enables the secure transfer of game and learning data between third-party math games and the Teachley servers. At the end of Phase I, researchers completed a pilot study with 20 students and two teachers and demonstrated that the prototype operated as intended with important trends indicating that the system promotes student engagement and less time spent seeking help. In Phase II, the team will add additional third party math apps to the platform, strengthen the backend management system to tag user game-play data, and build out the teacher reporting dashboard to inform instruction and identify apps to address particular student and class needs. After development is complete, the research team will conduct a larger pilot study to assess the feasibility and usability, fidelity of implementation, and the promise of the Teachley Connect for teachers to use formative assessment data to inform classroom practice, select apps to address individual student needs, and support student math learning. The study will include 12 (grade K to 3) classrooms and randomly assign them into one of three groups: 1) apps only, 2) Teachley-enabled apps, or 3) Teachley-enabled apps + data. Researchers will compare pre-and-post scores of student's math learning, classroom observations, and teacher surveys/interviews.
Product: Teachley Connect will be a mobile tablet-based platform that uses games to give elementary schools rich formative assessment data and intervention support. Teachley Connect will permit students to continue playing exactly where they left off on any tablet. The platform will also connect apps into a single teacher dashboard, providing teachers detailed reports on student performance across games, with insights for informing individual or whole group instruction. The platform will include teacher resources to support the alignment of game play with learning goals and to support implementation.
Given the importance of learning to economic and life success, this review seeks to broaden the conception of learning beyond traditional formal education. Learning occurs every day in many ways and in a range of settings. This broad scope of learning--termed "informal learning"--is increasingly important in the rapidly changing knowledge economy. As such, in this review paper, we examine the different types of informal learning, their opportunities and challenges, and their issues of access and equity. Spanning multiple disciplines, e draw particular attention to the workplace and adult
DATE:
TEAM MEMBERS:
Michelle Van NoyHeather JamesCrystal Bedley
To explore the role and impact of The Innovation Lab at Youth Radio, Rockman et al, an independent research and evaluation organization, conducted an external evaluation of the project. With funding from the National Science Foundation’s Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, the Innovation Lab sought to develop and research a scalable, evidence-informed theory of action to engage underrepresented youth in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) learning through the collaborative creation and dissemination of original journalistic media, technology, and curriculum
The National Science Foundation (NSF) Climate Change Education Partnership Alliance (CCEPA) is a consortium made up of the six Phase II Climate Change Education Partnership (CCEP-II) program awardees funded in FY 2012. Collectively, the CCEPA is establishing a coordinated network devoted to increasing the adoption of effective, high quality educational programs and resources related to the science of climate change and its potential impacts. The establishment of a CCEPA Coordination Office addresses the need for a coordinating body that leverages and builds upon the CCEPA projects' individual initiatives. The CCEPA Coordination Office facilitates interactions to leverage a successful network of CCEP-II projects and individuals engaged in increasing climate science literacy. The efforts of the Coordination Office advance knowledge and understanding of how to effectively network related, but different, projects into a cohesive enterprise. The goal is to coordinate a functional network, where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.
The CCEPA Coordination Office at the University of Rhode Island is helping to move the CCEPA network forward on a number of key initiatives that strengthen it, reduce duplication, and enhance its overall impact. An important role of the Coordination Office is the facilitation of the transfer of best practices between projects. An effective network forges collaborations and establishes communities of practice through network working groups, building intellectual capital network-wide. The CCEPA Coordination Office has a key role in assisting the CCEPA project PIs and staff to disseminate the results of their work. Partnerships with other relevant societies and organizations assist the Coordination Office in identifying opportunities and synergies for sharing, disseminating, and leveraging network products as well as best practices that emerge as Earth system science education models and tools are evaluated. This endeavor broadens the collective impact of the individual projects across the country.
Produced by the Climate Change Education Partnership (CCEP) Alliance, the "Climate Change Education: Effective Practices for Working with Educators, Scientists, Decision Makers and the Public" guide provides recommendations for effective education and communication practices when working with different types of audiences. While effective education has been traditionally defined as the acquisition of knowledge, Alliance programs maintain a broader definition of “effective” to include the acquisition and use of climate change knowledge to inform decision-making.
The CCEP Alliance is supported
Informal learning opportunities are increasingly being recognized as important for youth participation in authentic experiences at the intersection of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) (Dorsen, Carlson, and Goodyear 2006). These experiences may involve specialized equipment and dedicated time for learners to gain familiarity with the relevant scientific and engineering practices (i.e., designing experiments on their own, struggling to make sense of data, learning from their own mistakes and the results of peers), which often go beyond the classroom. However, the educators who
DATE:
TEAM MEMBERS:
Kathryn WilliamsonSue Ann HeatherlyVivian HoetteEva Erdosne TothDavid Beer
Have you ever been to a professional development (PD) session where you sat and listened to someone speak for hours—and likely got a bit bored? As teachers, we know that best practice is to encourage hands-on learning, but we forget to implement this strategy when creating PD experiences. Exploration Place (EP), the Sedgwick County Science and Discovery Center in Wichita, Kansas, partnered with eight rural school districts in neighboring Sumner County, threw out the traditional sage-on-a-stage paradigm, and tried something new.
DATE:
TEAM MEMBERS:
Jan LuthKimberly McDowellLaurel Zhang
Stephanie Spiris is a 12-year veteran teacher at George Washington High School in Denver, teaching courses in biomedical science (Figure 1). Last year, Spiris spent four weeks in a summer internship at Terumo BCT, a medical device company that focuses on blood processing for medical treatment and care. Decked in full lab gear and ready to learn, Spiris worked in a sterile lab, conducting projects that allowed her firsthand experience with tasks such as separating t-cells from blood and freeze-drying plasma.