The Westchester Children’s Museum will develop Full STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math) Ahead, an integrated, module-based sequence of hands-on STEAM workshops adaptable for both in-person and virtual teaching for high-need 2nd to 6th grade students at Thomas Cornell Academy in Yonkers, NY and Waterside School in Stamford, CT. Project activities include program development, preparation, delivery, and evaluation to create programs that are replicable and sustainable while leveraging the museum’s resources to demonstrate how it can support their communities in need during unprecedented times. Full STEAM Ahead anticipates reaching 300 students from low-income and economically disadvantaged families.
The last three decades have seen extensive reflection concerning how science communication should be modelled and understood. In this essay we propose the value of a cultural approach to science communication — one that frames it primarily as a process of meaning-making. We outline the conceptual basis for this view of culture, drawing on cultural theory to suggest that it is valuable to see science communication as one aspect of (popular) culture, as storytelling or narrative, as ritual, and as collective meaning-making. We then explore four possible ways that a cultural approach might
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Sarah DaviesMegan HalpernMaja HorstDavid KirbyBruce Lewenstein
This Research Advanced by Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering (RAISE) project is supported by the Division of Research on Learning in the Education and Human Resources Directorate and by the Division of Computing and Communication Foundations in the Computer and Information Science and Engineering Directorate. This interdisciplinary project integrates historical insights from geometric design principles used to craft classical stringed instruments during the Renaissance era with modern insights drawn from computer science principles. The project applies abstract mathematical concepts toward the making and designing of furniture, buildings, paintings, and instruments through a specific example: the making and designing of classical stringed instruments. The research can help instrument makers employ customized software to facilitate a comparison of historical designs that draws on both geometrical proofs and evidence from art history. The project's impacts include the potential to shift in fundamental ways not only how makers think about design and the process of making but also how computer scientists use foundational concepts from programming languages to inform the representation of physical objects. Furthermore, this project develops an alternate teaching method to help students understand mathematics in creative ways and offers specific guidance to current luthiers in areas such as designing the physical structure of a stringed instrument to improve acoustical effect.
The project develops a domain-specific functional programming language based on straight-edge and compass constructions and applies it in three complementary directions. The first direction develops software tools (compilers) to inform the construction of classical stringed instruments based on geometric design principles applied during the Renaissance era. The second direction develops an analytical and computational understanding of the art history of these instruments and explores extensions to other maker domains. The third direction uses this domain-specific language to design an educational software tool. The tool uses a calculative and constructive method to teach Euclidean geometry at the pre-college level and complements the traditional algebraic, proof-based teaching method. The representation of instrument forms by high-level programming abstractions also facilitates their manufacture, with particular focus on the arching of the front and back carved plates --- of considerable acoustic significance --- through the use of computer numerically controlled (CNC) methods. The project's novelties include the domain-specific language itself, which is a programmable form of synthetic geometry, largely without numbers; its application within the contemporary process of violin making and in other maker domains; its use as a foundation for a computational art history, providing analytical insights into the evolution of classical stringed instrument design and its related material culture; and as a constructional, computational approach to teaching geometry.
This project is funded by the National Science Foundation's (NSF's) Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which supports innovative research, approaches, and resources for use in a variety of learning settings.
The STEM + Digital Literacies (STEM+L) project investigates science fiction composing as an effective mechanism to attract and immerse adolescents (ages 10-13) from diverse cultural backgrounds in socio-scientific issues related to environment.
The participating students (G5-8) work in small groups to design and produce STEM content rich, multimedia science fictions during the summer (1 week) and the academic year (4-6 2.5hr sessions). Culminating activities include student presentations at a local science fiction film festival.
The research component employs an iterative, design-based
Human-induced global change has triggered the sixth major extinction event on earth with profound consequences for humans and other species. A scientifically literate public is necessary to find and implement approaches to prevent or slow species loss. Creating science-inspired art can increase public understanding of the current anthropogenic biodiversity crisis and help people connect emotionally to difficult concepts. In spite of the pressure to avoid advocacy and emotion, there is a rich history of scientists who make art, as well as art–science collaborations resulting in provocative work
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Jennifer HarrowerJennifer ParkerMartha Merson
Girls met to engage with Through My Window twice each week after school. The afterschool program format provided a freer, less structured atmosphere than a classroom setting. Students extensively debated and investigated the questions and themes posed by the novel, Talk to Me. The meeting space had plenty of space for students to move around, as well as teachers who encouraged the expression of full emotional and intellectual enthusiasm for the story at hand.
As a leader in the science museum field, the New York Hall of Science (NYSCI) is a destination for hands-on, interactive exhibitions and innovative programs. NYSCI’s Design-Make-Play (DMP) pedagogical approach to STEM learning recognizes that what is essential is not only the content—what is being taught—but how teaching and learning are imagined through the curriculum. This commitment to practice builds off of interest-based learning research, which emphasizes that all learners should feel a sense of efficacy and possibility. The hallmarks of this approach include deep personal engagement
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Amanda SolarshGina TesorieroMichaela LabrioleTara Chudoba
Abstract
In 2011, Donna DiBartolomeo and Zachary Clark enrolled in the Arts in Education Program at Harvard Graduate School of Education. Harvard Graduate School of Education is home to Project Zero, an educational research group comprising multiple, independently funded projects examining creativity, ethics, understanding, and other aspects of learning and its processes. Under the guidance of Principal Investigator Howard Gardner and Project Manager Katie Davis, the authors were tasked with developing a methodology capable of observing finegrained, objective detail in complete works of
This Research in Service to Practice project, a collaboration of Pepperdine University and the New York Hall of Science, will establish a network of STEM-related Media Making Clubs comprised of after-school students aged 12 - 19 and teachers in the U.S. and in three other countries: Kenya, Namibia and Finland. The media produced by the students may include a range of formats such as videos, short subject films, games, computer programs and specialized applications like interactive books. The content of the media produced by the students will focus on the illustration and teaching of STEM topics, where the shared media is intended to help other students become enthused about and learn the science. This proposal builds on the principal investigator's previous work on localized media clubs by now creating an international network in which after-school students and teachers will collaborate at a distance with other clubs. The central research questions for the project pertain to three themes at the intersection of learning, culture and collaboration: the impact of participatory teaching, virtual networks, and intercultural, global competence. The research will combine qualitative, cross-cultural and big data methods. Critical to the innovation of the project, the research team will also develop a network assessment tool, adapting epistemic network analysis methods to the needs of this initiative. This work is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which seeks to advance new approaches to, and evidence-based understanding of, the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Eric HamiltonKatherine McMillanPriya Mohabir
resourceprojectWebsites, Mobile Apps, and Online Media
The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO), in collaboration with the Psychology Department of the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) and Octava (a technology company), are conducting a pilot exploratory research project to assess the effectiveness of delivering informal science learning (ISL) to adult audiences through live music in a concert hall environment. The first half of the study is being timed to coincide with the 2016 annual meeting in Baltimore of the League of American Orchestras. Audiences will be introduced to the core idea that symmetry is a central concept both in science and in music, and they will experience these ideas via the orchestral music of pieces such as Aaron Copland's Appalachian Spring and Beethoven's Symphony. No. 5. The project goals are: to test whether and the extent to which informal STEM learning can occur among adults (ages 18+) during live orchestral performances and how the science content may enhance the audience experience; and to develop assessment tools for measuring audience learning and retention of scientific concepts delivered in connection with live musical performances both through interactive technology and through traditional program notes. It is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which seeks to advance new approaches to, and evidence-based understanding of, the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments. This includes providing multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM learning experiences, advancing innovative research on and assessment of STEM learning in informal environments, and developing understandings of deeper learning by participants.
The pilot study will investigate the interaction of key variables related to the audience composition, the learning formats (use of app technology, program notes, or not), and the science concepts. The tablet application technology, under continued development by Octava, presents unobtrusive program notes that act as a concert companion in real time as a concert proceeds. The mixed methods research methodology will produce quantitative and qualitative data using pre- and post-test instruments and focus group interviews. A follow-up questionnaire will be sent to participants six weeks after the performances to ascertain whether what was learned was retained over a period of time. Dissemination of project findings will be to professionals in science, science education and music fields.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Jessica AbelLinda BakerTonya RoblesCarol Bogash
The “Impressions from a Lost World” website and related public programs will tell the story of the 19th century discovery of dinosaur tracks along the Connecticut River Valley in Massachusetts and Connecticut. The significance of these fossils extended far beyond the emerging scientific community, as they exerted a profound effect upon American arts, religion, and culture that reverberates down to the present day. The website will use stories of real people to engage visitors to think about relationships between science and religion, amateur vs. professional scientific pursuits and the role of specialization, participation of women in science, and the impact of new scientific ideas on American culture. Website visitors will draw connections of these important humanities themes to current issues. Accompanying public programs will attract diverse audiences and build interest in the website.
The Clay Center for Arts and Sciences of West Virginia will create professional learning communities of teachers and after-school staff serving 7th grade students at seven partner schools using digital storytelling as a tool to explore energy-related topics impacting their communities. West Virginia's role as a leading coal producer and the impact of natural gas drilling served as strong influencing factors in the creation of this STEAM project, titled emPOWERed Stories. Students will create an exhibit that incorporates these digital stories. The results will inform the broader field on ways to better blend formal and informal education experiences to become more potent learning environments.