Cosmic Serpent - Bridging Native and Western Science Learning in Informal Settings is a four-year collaboration between the Indigenous Education Institute and the University of California-Berkeley targeting informal science education professionals. This project is designed to explore the commonalities between western science and native science in the context of informal science education. The intended impacts are to provide informal science education professionals with the skills and tools to gain an understanding of the commonalities between native and western worldviews; create regional networks that bridge native and museum communities; develop science education programs in which learners cross cultural borders between western science and indigenous peoples; and meet the needs of diverse audiences using culturally-responsive approaches to science learning. Participants are introduced to topics in physical, earth, space, and life science, using an interdisciplinary approach. Deliverables include professional development workshops, peer mentoring, museum programs for public audiences, a project website, and media products for use in programs and exhibits. Additionally, regional partnerships between museums and native communities, a legacy document, and a culminating conference jointly hosted by the National Museum of the American Indian and the Association of Science and Technology Centers will promote future sustainability. Strategic impact is realized through participants' increased understanding of native and western science paradigms, museum programs that reflect commonalities in the two approaches, partnerships between museums and native communities, and increased institutional capacity to engage native audiences in science. This project directly impacts 270 informal educators at 96 science centers and tribal/cultural museums nationally while the resulting programs will reach an estimated 200,000 museum visitors.
Portal to the Public is a program designed to assist informal science education (ISE) institutions as they seek to bring scientists and public audiences together in face-to-face public interactions that promote appreciation and understanding of current scientific research and its application. Led by Pacific Science Center (WA), in collaboration with Explora (NM), the North Museum of Natural History and Science (PA) and the Institute for Learning Innovation (MD), the program model was implemented and evaluated at five additional museums and science centers during 2007-2011. The project goals were to create a flexible and scalable guiding framework that would support ISE institutions build relationships with their local scientific community, design professional development workshops for scientists, and create public program formats featuring scientists. The project included thorough research and evaluation of the guiding framework, dissemination process, and implementation at expansion sites. The Portal to the Public project team has produced an Implementation Manual as a guide for institutions planning to implement a Portal to the Public-type program, available for download at the project website (http://www.pacificsciencecenter.org/Portal-to-the-Public/portal). It includes the Catalog of Professional Development Elements, a practical guide to creating and facilitating professional development experiences for scientists.
This collaboration between the Franklin Institute and the Free Library of Philadelphia Foundation identifies the role of crucial intermediaries in the science learning of children and points to the opportunities offered through a museum and library partnership to provide engaging science resources in under-resourced communities where many adults lack science expertise and confidence. Through an emphasis on literacy and science, LEAP into Science builds the capacity of after school leaders, teens and parents to be competent science learners and facilitators and to connect science centers, parents and libraries in support of the science learning and achievement of children. Project features include a workshop model for families with K-4 children, enrichment sessions for after school students, family events at the museum, professional development for library and after school youth staff, and a national expansion conference. The conference introduces the project to potential national implementation sites. Case studies of sites from this conference inform a research study investigating the obstacles, modifications and necessary support to initiate and sustain the program model. The formative and summative evaluation measure the impact of this program on children, parents, librarians, and teen workers at the libraries. Fifty-three Philadelphia libraries in addition to libraries in three cities selected from the implementation conference have a direct program impact on 10,000 people nationally, including 300 after school facilitators and children's librarians.
The Meadowlands Environmental Center, reaching 60,000 members of the public annually, will develop test and implement the "Marsh Access" program." This project will identify and test appropriate assistive technologies and programmatic approaches engaging 5,000 adults from specific disability groups in outdoor field-based experiences in order to better support their engagement, to foster their interest in science and to improve their scientific literacy. One hundred professionals will participate in conferences and professional development around the implementation of these programmatic approaches and will create plans to implement similar programming in outdoor settings across the nation. Utilizing an accessible outdoor garden and trail in the marshes of the New Jersey Meadowlands, Ramapo College in partnership with the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission, Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic, Spectrum for Living and the Adler Aphasia Center will identify and prototype kiosks and educational programming. Evaluation and program development will focus on identifying specific tools and approaches for engaging people with visual, hearing, mobility, mental/cognitive and age related disabilities. Data will be collected through observations, surveys and focus groups during a field testing process with groups of individuals from partner agencies over the three years of the program. Deliverables include two programmatic modules focusing on the science, natural history and ecology of the meadowlands, two multi media kiosks at points along the outdoor trail, a set of assistive technologies for use by public audiences in both facilitated and non facilitated experiences, and a set of program materials available to the public outlining the process and findings of the program.
What's the BIG Idea? will infuse STEM content and concepts into librarians' practice in order to establish the public library as the site of ongoing, developmentally appropriate, standards-based STEM programming for young children and their families. This project will facilitate the infusion of STEM content and concepts into all aspects of library service -- programming, collections development, displays, newsletters, and bibliographies. Science educators and advisors will review and critique the project's STEM content. Building on prior NSF-funded projects, an experienced team of STEM developers and trainers will provide librarians with the content, skills and processes needed to stimulate innovative STEM thinking. Vermont Center for the Book (VCB) will train and equip librarians from three different library systems -- Houston, Texas, the Clinton-Essex-Franklin Library System in New York and statewide in Delaware. The strategic impact of this project is ongoing STEM programming for children and families in large, small, urban and rural libraries. VCB will investigate these questions, among others: How can the public library become a STEM learning center? What information, knowledge, training and materials do librarians need to infuse appropriate science and mathematics language and process skills into their practice and programming? Who are the community partners who can augment that effort? How can the answers to these questions be disseminated nationally? Innovation stems from: 1) STEM content to incorporate into their current practice and 2) skills and processes to create their own STEM programming. In addition, the results will be transferable to a wide range of libraries throughout the nation. The Intellectual Merit lies in augmenting librarians' current expertise so that they can incorporate STEM content and materials into all aspects of the library, a universal community resource. The Broader Impact lies in creating a body of content and approaches to programming that librarians all over the country can use to infuse mathematics and science language and content into their interactions with peers, children, families and the community. This will allow inquiry into what and how new informal STEM knowledge and practice can be effectively introduced into a variety of library settings.
After-School Program Exploring Science (APEX) proposes to develop and implement a training model that will enhance the capacity of community-based after-school programs to provide science-learning opportunities for children ages 5-10. Capacity building will center on expanding the human resource base as well as access to hands-on resources that enable investigative science in informal settings. " APEX" will create a series of engaging hands-on science investigations that will be designed for replication in a wide range of informal learning environments. "APEX" community partners include the YMCA, YWCA and Family Christian Association of America (FCAA). The Miami Museum of Science will also partner with Miami-Dade Public Schools, Florida International University and Miami-Dade College to formalize opportunities for paraprofessionals and pre-service teachers to meet a portion of their certification requirements by leading "APEX" Science investigations in after-school programs thereby providing community-based after-school programs with a more stable workforce while at the same time supporting future teachers in the development of inquiry-based teaching skills. Through "APEX" over 275 after-school provider staff will be trained along with up to 300 pre-service teachers and paraprofessionals. The project will work with 93 after-school programs and impact roughly 7,000 high-need students.
The Chicago Children's Museum (CCM) will develop CityScape, a 2,500 sq ft permanent exhibition based on design strategies for researching and promoting adult-child collaborative learning. INTELLECTUAL MERIT: This project will develop and test culturally-sensitive exhibit and program design approaches for increasing adult involvement in children's learning; explore the potential of visual documentation of learning through play to make children's progress more visible as well as build caregiver confidence and skills; and demonstrate exhibition design as an experimental platform for a museum-learning researcher partnership. Project partners include the Chicago Metropolitan YMCA, Dept. of Psychology at Northeastern Illinois University and the Erikson Institute of Chicago. BROADER IMPACTS: The exhibition and accompanying materials have the potential to serve 1.8 million people over three years. In addition, CCM also will create a partnership of 20 museums and science centers based on parent involvement in children's museum experiences. The Informal Science Education field will be advanced through exploration of this model for integrating exhibition and program development with basic and applied educational research, accompanied by the application of visual documentation.
DATE:
-
TEAM MEMBERS:
Tsivia CohenJennifer FarringtonLouise Belmont-SkinnerRick GarmonJustine RobertsRon Davis
Temple University's "Sisters in Science in the Community (SISCOM)" is a constructivist-based, inclusive youth/community project targeting underrepresented urban middle and high school girls in grades 6-10 and their families; it supports inclusion of girls with disabilities. It engages girls and their parents in hands-on, inquiry-based sports science in after-school, Saturday, and summer programs co-hosted by community-based organizations and Temple University. Girls will also be engaged in student-centered research projects guided by female scientists. With regard to intellectual merit, SISCOM is based on previous research done by Temple on methods for engaging girls and their parents in STEM activities. The infrastructure of research and practices in education will be facilitated through the sharing of information between the network of partners and the national community of formal and informal educators
Building Demand for Math Literacy is a comprehensive project designed to increase arithmetic and algebraic mathematical competency among underserved youth, as well as high school and college students trained as Math Literacy Workers. This project builds on the success of the nationally renowned Algebra Project that is designed to foster mathematics achievement among inner city youth. Math Literacy Workers will deliver after school activities to African-American and Hispanic youth in grades 3-6. In addition to offering weekly math literacy workshops, Math Literacy Workers will also develop and implement Community Events for Mathematics Literacy and activities for families in the following cities: Boston, MA; Chicago, IL; Jackson, MS; Miami, FL; Yuma, AZ; New Orleans, LA; San Francisco, CA and Newark, DE. The strategic impact will be demonstrated in the knowledge gained about the impact of diverse learning environments on mathematics literacy, effective strategies for family support of math learning, and the impact of culturally relevant software. Collaborators include the Algebra Project, the TIZ Media Foundation, and the Illinois Institute of Technology, as well as a host of community-based and educational partners. The project deliverables consist of a corps of trained Math Literacy Workers, workshops for youth, training materials and multimedia learning modules. It is anticipated this project will impact over 4,000 youth in grades 3-6, 700 high school and college students, and almost 4,000 family and community participants.
Thirteen/WNET New York will develop and produce ten new episodes for a fifth season of Cyberchase. Broadcast daily on 340 PBS stations, Cyberchase has helped millions of children acquire a stronger foundation in mathematics. Cyberchase's content spans the 3rd-5th grade standards of the National Council of Mathematics. Ancillary materials, outreach and a highly popular Web site extend the learning and help make Cyberchase the sole mathematics media project available for the target age group of 8 to 11 year-olds. The new season will introduce a new campaign, "Math & Inventions: My Big Idea", to link mathematics and technology education and involve children in the invention process. These new programs will enrich the series' content while keeping viewers tuning in to the current shows. Plans include enhancing the Web site, building the inventory of multi-media outreach activities, strengthening the show's presence in after-school programs, and launching a new relationship with the museum community. Multimedia Research will conduct formative evaluation of two new elements to "My Big Idea" and a prototype of the online "Invention Machine." MediaKidz Research and Consulting (MRC) will conduct the pilot phase of a groundbreaking research study to evaluate the impact of varied media, and the interactions between the television series, Web site and outreach components, on children's mathematical thinking and attitudes toward mathematics.
DATE:
-
TEAM MEMBERS:
Sandra SheppardMichael TempletonBarbara Flagg
The McLean Hospital, working with the Exploratorium and Reginald Clark and Associates, proposes an intensive study of "typical" afterschool programs (those lacking specialized training, funding or partnerships). This study will build basic knowledge and data about how effective informal science activities can be developed for and presented by these after-school programs. It will consist of a sample size of at least 300 informal science after-school programs and include a variety of data collection methods such as surveys, phone interviews, and in-depth case studies. The project relies upon 50 leaders of youth organizations (CSAS - Coalition for Science After School) building upon the work of two NSF-funded conferences in 2003 and 2004. Afterschool leaders will be able to use this knowledge to increase and improve informal science in localized after-school settings as well as to set up demonstration projects. The study takes a holistic approach, connecting (a) features of strong informal science to (b) student outcomes/benefits to (c) core program components (curriculum, staffing, and support structures). The research will serve as a baseline for future studies in informal learning, as well as for policy recommendations. Strategic impact will be realized as this comprehensive study contributes important knowledge, documentation and tools for the rapidly developing after-school field, while expanding opportunities for informal learning in after-school programs. Additionally, this work will address sensitive measures that take into account the particular contexts of the after-school environment, youth development (particularly underserved youth) and powerful informal science learning. The results will be widely disseminated to after-school youth development and informal science education leaders, policymakers and funders through a program assessment tool, a Research-to-Practice Symposium and a policy recommendation paper.
This project will develop a Digital Technology Institute and Youth Radio Science Desk as new components of the existing Youth Radio organization. The project's Digital Technology Institute and Science Desk will train and engage 450 low-income and underrepresented youth ages 14-24 in Los Angeles, California; Atlanta, Georgia and Washington, DC. An additional 300 youth will be engaged through quarterly community outreach programs. Youth Radio currently reaches wide audiences through traditional media such as NPR and emrging media such as podcasting and vodcasting. This project will produce 60 short-format radio programs for distribution on NPR, iTunes and MTV Interactive, as well as other distribution outlets. Organizational partners include media organizations, scientists and youth organizations around the country, universities and technical partners such as sound and animation studios.