Intellectual Merit: Project RESET utilized a responsive teaching approach to engage youth in critical STEM literacy on the topic of climate change. Video recordings of the afterschool program, artifacts from the program, and interviews with youth were analyzed to better understand how youth supported each other’s participation in science discourse. The team outlined four themes of critical STEM literacy (CSL) and identified a “constellation” of knowledge, dispositions, and practices within each of those themes. Finally, Project RESET demonstrated the potential benefits of multi-modal analysis
Youth from non-dominant racial and linguistic backgrounds often have limited access to school science learning opportunities. Afterschool settings may provide learning environments in which they improve science knowledge and construct positive science identities. With this premise, our research team designs and provides a community-based afterschool program that engages resettled Burmese refugee youth in STEM learning. In this paper, we seek to understand how refugee youth utilize their funds of knowledge and what identities were foregrounded in the program. We adapt a micro-ethnographic
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Minjung RyuMavreen Rose Sta. Ana TuvillaCasey Elizabeth Wright
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.
This project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning program, which seeks to advance new approaches to, and evidence-based understandings of, the design and development of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) learning in informal environments. Roughly one million refugees resettled in the United States in the past decade, many of whom are school-aged youth. During secondary school, resettled refugee youth are often still developing English language literacy and STEM skills needed for successful postsecondary experiences in the United States. At the same time, these youth bring rich cultural and linguistic resources that they can use as an asset as they grow their STEM skill sets, prepare for future success, and make positive impacts on U.S. society. To promote these assets and engage youth in developing STEM literacy, this after-school program engages these youth in critical STEM literacy development. The project focuses on STEM learning, specifically the relationship between human life and climate, as well as developing youths' STEM identities and agency.
The project will develop and implement a community-based afterschool program that provides resettled Burmese refugee youth with STEM learning experiences. By drawing upon youths' experiences, the program will engage youth in learning about climate science and developing digital stories to communicate with broader audiences. To do so, the team will implement a program that builds on principles of responsive teaching, funds of knowledge, and English literacy development in authentic meaning-making contexts. The project will examine how youth expand their STEM knowledge, develop STEM identities and agency, and develop their expertise in communicating about STEM within and beyond their participation in the after-school program. The research team will explore existing and innovative data collection and analysis methods by drawing on principles of ethnography, video ethnography, mediated discourse analysis, and phenomenological and ethnomethodological analysis of interviews. These analyses will document learning over time in informal STEM learning settings. As there is very little prior research on STEM learning in this population, this project will generate knowledge about how to support STEM sense-making and critical STEM literacy. Furthermore, by testing the designed curriculum and building a partnership with a local community organization, the project will build capacity for broadening participation in informal STEM learning practices.
Math off the Shelf (MotS) was designed to help those who work in public libraries put math into what they do with grades K-6 children and their families. Public libraries exist in virtually every community in the nation, and increasingly, families rely on them as a free, safe place for children to spend time in the absence of other care. As such, they are an ideal venue for reaching a large and diverse population with math. MotS has: (1) developed research-based English/Spanish materials for informal educators working in public libraries, available for free online (2) supported implementation and institutionalization at libraries across the nation (3) engaged informal educators working in libraries in conducting outreach via state and national library association meetings, webinars, and community and youth agencies (4) conducted evaluation on project impact, as described in the summative evaluation report attached. Dissemination to professional communities will constitute the remaining project work. External evaluation, conducted by Char Associates, identified dramatic changes in attitudes about math and its role in the library, in the amount of math that librarians offer to children and families, and in librarians' communication about math with patrons and peers. Development partners include the library systems of Queens NY, San Jose CA, St Louis MO, Westchester County NY, and dozens of libraries in AZ, CT, FL, and MA.
This project is a full-scale development project that builds upon a pilot program funded by the NSF in 2007 (LEAP into Science/Pilot), developed by The Franklin Institute (FI) in collaboration with The Free Library of Philadelphia. By connecting children’s literature and hands-on science activities in out-of-school settings, LEAP/Pilot has promoted student and family engagement in science and literacy in Philadelphia for over six years. In 2011, a cohort of ten national sites joined the initiative to pilot LEAP into Science resources in multiple out-of-school time contexts and within unique institutional partnerships. The 10 sites, consisting of 27 institutional partnerships representing a diverse group of organizations (museums, libraries, K-12 school districts, universities, and public media). Through continued collaboration in Philadelphia and with these national cohort sites, LEAP into Science: Engaging Diverse Community Partners in Science and Literacy is leveraging the relationships, experiences, and resources initiated in LEAP /Pilot to address the needs of new audiences, meet partners’ requests for enhanced professional development, and study the efficacy of this program in different out-of-school time structures and populations across the country. The result will be an adaptable program that more effectively reaches diverse audiences in science and literacy through community partners, as well as a stronger understanding of implementation for improved sustainability.
A recent report by the Association for Computing Machinery estimates that by decade's end, half of all STEM jobs in the United States will be in computing. Yet, the participation of women and underrepresented groups in post-secondary computer science programs remains discouragingly and persistently low. One of the most important findings from research in computer science education is the degree to which informal experiences with computers (at many ages and in many settings) shape young people's trajectories through high school and into undergraduate degree programs. Just as early language and mathematics literacy begins at home and is reinforced throughout childhood through a variety of experiences both in school and out, for reasons of diversity and competency, formal experiences with computational literacy alone are insufficient for developing the next generation of scientists, engineers, and citizens. Thus, this CAREER program of research seeks to contribute to a conceptual and design framework to rethink computational literacy in informal environments in an effort to engage a broad and diverse audience. It builds on the concept of cultural forms to understand existing computational literacy practices across a variety of learning settings and to contribute innovative technology designs. As part of its overall strategy to enhance learning in informal environments, the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program funds new approaches to and evidence-based understanding of the design and development of STEM learning in these settings. This CAREER program of research seeks to understand the role of cultural forms in informal computational learning experiences and to develop a theoretically grounded approach for designing such experiences for youth. This work starts from the premise that new forms of computational literacy will be born from existing cultural forms of literacy and numeracy (i.e., for mathematical literacy there are forms like counting songs -- "10 little ducks went out to play"). Many of these forms play out in homes between parents and children, in schools between teachers and students, and in all sorts of other place between friends and siblings. This program of study is a three-phased design and development effort focused on key research questions that include understanding (1) how cultural forms can help shape audience experiences in informal learning environments; (2) how different cultural forms interact with youth's identity-related needs and motivations; and (3) how new types of computational literacy experiences based on these forms can be created. Each phase includes inductive research that attempts to understand computational literacy as it exists in the world and a design phase guided by concrete learning objectives that address specific aspects of computational literacy. Data collection strategies will include naturalist observation, semi-structured, and in-depth interviews, and learning assessments; outcome measures will center on voluntary engagement, motivation, and persistence around the learning experiences. The contexts for research and design will be museums, homes, and afterschool programs. This research builds on a decade of experience by the PI in designing and studying computational literacy experiences across a range of learning settings including museums, homes, out-of-school programs, and classrooms. Engaging a broad and diverse audience in the future of STEM computing fields is an urgent priority of the US education system, both in schools and beyond. This project would complement substantial existing efforts to promote in-school computational literacy and, if successful, help bring about a more representative, computationally empowered citizenry. The integrated education plan supports the training and mentoring of graduate and undergraduate students in emerging research methods at the intersection of the learning sciences, computer science, and human-computer interaction. This work will also develop publically available learning experiences potentially impacting thousands of youth. These experiences will be available in museums, on the Web, and through App stores.