The Board on Science Education at the National Research Council of the National Academies will develop practitioner-focused resources based on a synthesis study on Learning Science in Informal Environments (LSIE), a comprehensive review of educational research funded through a previous NSF award. Project deliverables will consist of a publication, video and digitized web resources designed to guide the application of the research findings presented in the LSIE report. The goals of this project are to support efforts to advance science education for diverse learners, to bridge research and practice, and to provide the broader informal science education communities access to research-generated knowledge. The project will greatly extend the impact of the synthesis study by making evidence-based approaches more widely available and utilized by informal science educators and insitutions.
This project will research distributed, online fantasy basketball games, which are quite popular with many kinds of players, including informal science education under-represented groups, and which entail some degree of informal statistical reasoning and decision-making strategies. The game is not playing basketball per se, but taking on the role of a team owner or coach who needs to decide how best to compose a team given necessarily limited resources. The research team will provide a method for framing and researching statistical understanding and decision making of expert and novice players, then, based on the research, will develop scaffolded techniques for helping players become more reflective on and adept with the statistical knowledge and decision making strategies they use.
The Shared Signing Science Planning Project will develop a prototype of a web-based Signing Science Pictionary. The prototype will be piloted to families and caretakers of deaf and hard of hearing children to study the feasibility and effectiveness of the learning technology and identify the activities that are most effective in helping deaf children learn life science at informal science centers. The project team will also compile a dictionary of science terms with the intention of including the terms in a full version of the Pictionary. The final Pictionary will be comprehensive; including scientific terms from life, physical, Earth, and space science and will be presented in animated sign language accompanied by written explanations and pictorial illustrations. The project will also produce a video guide with a description of activities that parents can implement with their children. The planning project will result in a prototype with 100 life science terms of species found at the three informal science centers the children and parents will visit to test the prototype. These informal sites are hands-on and exploratory featuring marine organisms and a range of terrestrial flora and fauna to touch and interact with. To prepare for the site visits, parents and caretakers of deaf or hard of hearing children will be taught how to use the Pictionary with children through a Flash-based movie that introduces the interactive features and assists the parents in engaging with their children in three activities using the signing scientific vocabulary. The preparatory vocabulary work with the parents and children will lay the educational foundation for the visits to the informal science education sites. Families will test the initial project prototypes with deaf children using a control group for comparison. Pre-tests will be used to assess childrens' vocabulary before use of the Pictionary. Follow up tests will test knowledge of the new words and will include field observations of children in museums, zoos, and farms, where the new terms will come to life in corresponding exhibits. The results of the ongoing evaluation will be compiled into a guide for other developers of similar materials for the deaf community, and will impact the development of the final project. The project will broaden participation of an underserved audience in STEM learning and generate new knowledge about how to effectively integrate emerging learning technologies into exhibits and programs for deaf learners.The project team includes TERC and Vcom3D and collaborators from Gallaudet University Regional Center at Northern Essex Community College, the College of the Holy Cross, and the Learning Center for Deaf Children. Participating informal science education institutions are represented by the EcoTarium, Davis' Farmland, and the Stone Zoo. These partnerships provide the necessary expertise and support for the proposed project to have significant impact on advancing STEM learning in informal settings for children with hearing disabilities through the use of assistive learning technologies.
This proposal builds upon the current NSF funded POLAR-PALOOZA project (#0632262) extending the "Stories from a Changing Planet" to learners around the world. This project is a tour of seven nations (China, Malaysia, South Africa, Norway, Canada, Mexico, and Australia) featuring stories told by a diverse team of polar researchers who are also compelling storytellers. A museum or science center in each country serves as the host institution and local coordinator for a suite of 1-2 days of additional education and outreach activities. There are presentations for large general audiences, supplemented by small group interactions with community leaders and local media, providing opportunities to interact directly with polar experts in order to learn about these little-understood regions and to appreciate why the Poles and polar research are relevant to their lives. Special workshops for teachers, undergraduates or other audiences take advantage of the researcher's presence on site. At any one international site, no more than 2-3 of the presenters will be Americans with the rest of the team made up of researchers from the region and host nation. In addition to the personal interactions the project will leverage the already-funded POLAR-PALOOZA deliverables, and provide museums and science centers with online access to a growing set of HD videos.
Building upon extensive prior work, the Institute of Learning Innovation is developing and implementing a conference to bring together media professionals, researchers, and policymakers that work in ISE to reflect upon recent research and develop frameworks for future practice and evaluation. Various media-related groups (print, broadcast, electronic gaming, etc,) usually have professional conferences in isolation from each other with little sharing of information and research findings. Despite the rapid blurring of boundaries between various media types in the marketplace, researchers and practitioners remain within traditional silos. This conference will bring together 80 media practitioners and researchers for a two-day national conference in order to consolidate and synthesize the research-based theories presented in a pre-conference publication. A series of 3 post-web conferences will build on the momentum generated during the initial conference and generate broader participation within the science learning media community. Rockman et al will evaluate the conference and post conference web community.
Many informal science and mathematics education projects employ multiple media, assuming that educational benefits will extend beyond those of a single medium. However, this assumption has not been tested empirically in a comprehensive way. This research uses Cyberchase (a multiple-media, informal mathematics project for 8- to 11-year-olds) to investigate synergy among multiple media components and how they interact to yield cumulative educational outcomes. Research questions: (1) How does mathematics learning from multiple media differ from learning from a single medium? (2) What outcomes derive from engagement with different types of media and what types of synergy occur? (3) How can reliable research methods be developed to assess contributions of individual media and their interactions? (4) How can informal education projects capitalize on the strengths of each medium? (5) How can media components be designed and employed to best complement each other? The research has four phases: (1) Preparatory - Recruit participants nationally with parental consent. Finalize methods and measures. (2) Naturalistic - Track naturalistic use of various Cyberchase media among 600-800 third and fourth graders. Assess mathematical problem solving and attitudes toward math. (3) Experimental - Establish causality by assigning a subset of the participants (N = 300-400) to several experimental conditions that are exposed to different combinations of Cyberchase media. Measure change in attitudes and problem solving from pretest to posttest. (4) Analysis - Employ appropriate regression and model fitting analyses to analyze the naturalistic and experimental data, and to synthesize the two. Because of the paucity of relevant existing research, this research will shed light on the educational impact of Cyberchase and on the design and assessment of multiple-media approaches to informal STEM education overall. It will advance our theoretical understanding of children's informal mathematics learning - specifically, how children learn from various media, what strengths each medium brings to bear, and what synergy might exist among media - and inform the best practice design and evaluation of future informal projects that use multiple media.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Shalom FischRichard LeshVincent MelfiSandra CrespoSandra Sheppard
Oregon Public Broadcasting is requesting funds to produce three one-hour nationally broadcast television programs, a project website, community-centered outreach coordinated by AAAS in 7 U.S. cities, a seminar discussion guide and a series of 90-second programs as part of the "Earth &Sky" radio series. The subject and purpose of the project is to attract public interest in nanotechnology by examining the social, ethical, legal and environmental issuers surrounding its application. The television programs will be produced by Fred Friendly Seminars (FFS) and broadcast on PBS. Two science museums, Boston Museum of Science and the South Carolina State Museum, and the University of California, Berkeley, will host the FFS panels. The format of the Seminars is designed to produce thought provoking and nuanced discussions of contemporary issues. Collaborative partners in the project include AAAS, Lawrence Hall of Science and ICAN Productions. The outreach initiative includes outreach to "targeted stakeholders" in 7 US cities, four 90-second radio spots as part of Earth & Sky, a project web site and a Seminar discussion guide. Inverness Research Associates and Edu, Inc. will conduct both formative and summative evaluation of the project components.
Led by Washington University, Making Natural Connections: An Authentic Field Research Collaboration (DRL-0739874), is a series of two field-based informal science education programs in environmental biology targeting St. Louis area teenagers. The project aims for engagement of science research institutions and career scientists in the execution of informal science education programming, bringing real and dynamic context to the science content and allowing for deep and transparent career exploration by teenage participants. Project goals include (1) providing a model for integration of informal science education into the research and restoration projects at biological field stations and nature reserves, (2) communicating current environmental biology research to audiences outside the research community, and (3) influencing the entry of pre-college students into the science career pipeline. The project is a collaborative partnership between Washington University’s Tyson Research Center and the Missouri Botanical Garden’s Shaw Nature Reserve. The Shaw Institute for Field Training (SIFT) program trains St. Louis area high school students in scientific exploration of the natural world at Shaw Nature Reserve. During a one-week training session in June, teens are introduced to a variety of Missouri ecosystems and gain skills necessary to conduct field research, including plant and animal identifications, biotic sampling and census techniques, testing of abiotic factors, and training in the use of maps, compass and GPS. During the rest of the summer and school year, teens are involved in important research and restoration activities at Shaw, Tyson Research Center and other field research sites in the St. Louis area. Fieldwork opportunities may include invasive species management, prairie reconstruction, plant and animal inventories, and prescribed burns. The Tyson Environmental Research Fellowships (TERF) program places high school students as summer interns on ecology and environmental biology research teams at Tyson Research Center. Selected teen participants have successfully completed the SIFT program and apply their field skills to ongoing research projects at Tyson and other partnering research sites. During the summer, the four-week program provides teens with exposure to a variety of field science experiences and skills. TERF teens work alongside university scientists, post-doctoral researchers, graduate students and undergraduate students. The TERF program provides a cultural apprenticeship in university-based environmental biology research and training in scientific communication. It is an advanced summer experience modeled on the undergraduate research internships offered at Tyson. During the following school year, participants work on posters and presentations for symposia at Washington University and Tyson and at community fairs, and their posters are displayed at Shaw Nature Reserve. A national dissemination workshop for informal science educators, high school biology teachers, and research scientists provides the necessary materials and background to replicate the project design in other locales. The summative evaluation will address impacts on teenage participants (engagement, cognitive and emotional support, competence, career viability, experiential learning) and professional audiences (implementation of teen program, program components, impacts on mentoring scientists). The strategic impact of this project results from the integration of teenage immersion experiences into research activities at a university-based facility. This model of informal science training activities leading into participation in authentic research may be transferable to other STEM disciplines.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Phyllis BalcerzakPeter RavenSusan FlowersKim Medley
The Lawrence Hall of Science (LHS) will collaborate with the Children's Museum of Houston, Miami Museum of Science and the New California Media (an association of over 500 ethnic media organizations) to provide youth ages 7-10 with standards-based science and math activities using newpapers as a vehicle. Mathematics and science challenges, already field-tested by the LHS, are presented as educational inserts using cartoons, on a weekly or monthly basis. The content to be addressed includes numbers and operations, algebra, geometry, science as inquiry and life science through engaging formats in Spanish-language newspapers. While building on the "Newspapers in Education" program, strategic impact will be realized by demonstrating the ability of a more intensive approach to reach families of underserved and underrepresented audiences through a collaboration of print media, museums, libraries, schools and community organizations. The ultimate goal is to increase exposure to informal science education activities at museums and in Spanish-language media. Deliverables include the newspaper activities (designed for families to use at home), family sessions at local libraries, science centers, after school programs and community organizations as well as a festival and website. Promotional sessions at New California Media Expos and workshops at the Asociation of Science and Technology Centers conferences will introduce the project to media and museum partners. This project will target underserved communities in California, Texas and Florida and is estimated to reach more than 450,000 families by year three.
This project will create the infrastructure to provide Hispanic media with an ongoing source of high-quality science news tailored to meet the needs and interests of Hispanics. The proposed Hispanic Science News Service website will be a downloadable internet resource site for Hispanic print, radio and internet editors, journalists and producers to access science stories, radio capsules and science information resources. This service would be promoted through partnerships with the National Association of Hispanic Publishers, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, and The Hispanic Radio. Specific media deliverables will include: Exploracion, a weekly, Spanish-language newspaper column; La Ciencia en Breve: El Universo a tu Alcance (Science News Briefs); Exploracion, a daily science radio news capsule; and uploads of science content to the Univision.com website.
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.
Michigan Technological University will collaborate with David Heil and Associates to implement the Family Engineering Program, working in conjunction with student chapters of engineering societies such as the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE), the Society of Hispanic Professionals (SHP) and a host of youth and community organizations. The Family Engineering Program is designed to increase technological literacy by introducing children ages 5-12 and their parents/caregivers to the field of engineering using the principles of design. The project will reach socio-economically diverse audiences in the upper peninsula of Michigan including Native American, Hispanic, Asian, and African American families. The secondary audience includes university STEM majors, informal science educators, and STEM professionals that are trained to deliver the program to families. A well-researched five step engineering design process utilized in the school-based Engineering is Elementary curriculum will be incorporated into mini design challenges and activities based in a variety of fields such as agricultural, chemical, environmental, and biomedical engineering. Deliverables include the Family Engineering event model, Family Engineering Activity Guide, Family Engineering Nights, project website, and facilitator training workshops. The activity guide will be pilot tested, field tested, and disseminated for use in urban, suburban, and rural settings. Strategic impact will result from the development of content-rich engineering activities for families and the dissemination of a project model that incorporates the expertise of engineering and educational professionals at multiple levels of implementation. It is anticipated that 300 facilitators and 7,000-10,000 parents and children will be directly impacted by this effort, while facilitator training may result in more than 27,000 program participants.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Neil HutzlerEric IversenChristine CunninghamJoan ChaddeDavid Heil