Chemistry plays a critical role in daily life, impacting areas such as medicine and health, consumer products, energy production, the ecosystem, and many other areas. Communicating about chemistry in informal environments has the potential to raise public interest and understanding of chemistry around the world. However, the chemistry community lacks a cohesive, evidence-based guide for designing effective communication activities. This report is organized into two sections. Part A: The Evidence Base for Enhanced Communication summarizes evidence from communications, informal learning, and
This poster was presented at the 2016 Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) PI Meeting held in Bethesda, MD on February 29-March 2. Science fairs have been taking place for more than 60 years. Yet in spite of their wide implementation and long history, there are few empirical studies that have examined the relationship between student participation in these fairs and their learning and interest in science. Additionally, there have been no studies to understand the real cost of these programs relative to the student benefits. Our 4-year study will be the first step to understanding the
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Abigail LevyJacqueline DeLisiMarian Pasquale
This poster was presented at the 2016 Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) PI Meeting held in Bethesda, MD on February 29-March 2. Native Universe (NU) was designed to build institutional capacity in leadership and practice among scientific museums, in order to increase public understanding of environmental change and the human relationship to nature from Indigenous perspectives, while also providing access to science as practiced in the established scientific community.
This poster was presented at the 2016 Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) PI Meeting held in Bethesda, MD on February 29-March 2. The University of Washington Bothell in partnership with three informal science learning institutions coordinate and develop afterschool science programs for high school students. Upon successful completion of the programs, high school students are awarded college credit. The program design and method for issuing college credit is through the design, implementation and issuing of digital badges. The project aims to support programs that engage high school
This poster was presented at the 2016 Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) PI Meeting held in Bethesda, MD on February 29-March 2. This project addresses gaps in Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) in STEM education by examining contextual factors that influence implementation and practice of STEM programs in underserved communities.
This poster was presented at the 2016 Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) PI Meeting held in Bethesda, MD on February 29-March 2. EvalFest is a community of practice designed to test innovative evaluation methods across 24 Science Festivals to measure their impact.
This poster was presented at the 2016 Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) PI Meeting held in Bethesda, MD on February 29-March 2. This project is exploring and identifying successful, cross-institutional approaches to using maker activities to engage members of communities of color (with a focus on family groups) in STEM activities.
This poster was presented at the 2016 Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) PI Meeting held in Bethesda, MD on February 29-March 2. Through My Window is engineering education that applies research from the learning sciences—including the use of cognitive tools such as narrative and knowledge building—in an idea-centered digital environment. Together these approaches support deep learning and address the critical need of preparing young learners to participate in the knowledge society. The curriculum includes young adult novels; interactive, online learning modules; and offline enrichment
This poster was presented at the 2016 Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) PI Meeting held in Bethesda, MD on February 29-March 2. This project develops and researches the integration of Peg + Cat (an animated, math-based PBS television series for preschoolers), accompanying digital media, and early childhood educator professional development (PD). PD is designed to enhance educators’ abilities to support preschoolers’ social-emotional learning in the context of math activities, and in turn, their interest and engagement in math. The project also includes recommendations for engaging
The purpose of the summative evaluation is to two-fold: 1) provide documentation to NSF about the extent to which the project met its goals and objectives, and 2) give the Lab of Ornithology information about how well the Web application and the ecosystem within which it resides is engaging the intended audiences. The main evaluation questions the study needed to answer related to who is participating in YardMap, how much participation affects participants’ knowledge, attitudes and behaviors around birding, gardening, and citizen science.
A true experimental design was used, where
This poster was presented at the 2016 Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) PI Meeting held in Bethesda, MD on February 29-March 2. Dr. Discovery addresses the immediate and pressing need for affordable, ongoing, large-scale museum evaluation while encouraging visitors to engage deeply with museum content. The app features a front-end scientist astronaut for use by museum visitors that doubles as an unobtrusive data-gatherer as well as a back-end analytics portal for museum staff, evaluators, and researchers.
This poster was presented at the 2016 Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) PI Meeting held in Bethesda, MD on February 29-March 2. The Expanding Repertoires project is a collaboration between the Center of Science and Industry (COSI) and The Ohio State University (OSU) to begin the systematic study of science and children's museum programs and practice for preschool dual language learners (DLLs), their families, and the community organizations and early childhood professionals who serve them.