The goal of the FOCUSSS project is to engage high school students in a need-to-know pursuit for learning science that leads to the discovery of sustainable resources and practices for use in their communities. The project is a collaboration among Loyola University Chicago, Adler Planetarium, the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry, and four local, urban high schools to construct student and family activities involving essential science concepts and tools within a sustainability context. Through this project, high school students engage in school and family activities around specific themes related to sustainable resources and practices in their communities, such as the availability and access to nutritious food, the quality of air or availability of clean water resources, the effective use of energy resources, or similar topics. The project intends to help students develop as informed and responsible citizens who utilize the principles and tools of basic science for their decisions and actions. The blended instructional model that deeply involves family and community will be studied for its potential to make formal learning relevant to the lives of children and to the health of the community. As an exploratory project, the project tests a curriculum design that bridges formal and informal education and draws upon the resources in the community. Students interact with online learning communities that include their teachers, their families, fellow students, and sustainability organizations. Participating teachers are involved in intensive workshops that focus on developing sustainability principles within inquiry-based science curricula and lessons plans. Service projects provide opportunities for students to invite their families to participate and be supported in family workshops at local museums and in site visits to organizations involved in related initiatives. Data collection includes surveys administered to students and participating family members, observations, interviews, classroom assessments, and other open-ended instruments intended to surface themes and related variables. These will inform the design of the materials and activities as well as the assessments. The project deliverables include fully implemented classroom lessons supported by family projects and online sustainability courses for students and families. The project fosters students and families connecting to their communities, resources and organizations in order to improve the quality of their neighborhoods and to promote individual, family, and public health.
This planning grant project addresses the problem that individuals and communities in rural areas do not have access to typical informal science education venues that help the public better understand significant issues that impact their lives. A team of Cornell University investigators will develop strategies to educate rural communities in New York State on science-based issues such climate change and energy. The project seeks to determine how to effectively meet audience needs through a set of sustainable traveling exhibits tailored to very small rural venues. If successful, the practices could be expanded into a nationwide initiative for rural communities. The specific objectives of the planning work are to determine the most effective strategies for communicating science-based topics, the baseline knowledge of the communities on the topics; how to engage communities that are under-served by traditional informal science education venues; which human behaviors after the interventions are responsive to the proposed efforts; and how they can broaden their efforts to create a robust model for the nation. Steps to achieve these objectives will include: regional and local climate change opinion surveys, the establishment of rural partnerships and networks, content materials development targeted at specific audiences and regions, development of prototypes of small traveling exhibits, experiments to foster learning in rural communities through Web 2.0, groups and individual discussions, and internet dialogs.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Sarah ChiconeTrisha SmrecakSamantha SandsRobert Ross
SciGirls is a multimedia project designed to encourage and empower more girls to pursue careers in STEM. It is a bold and unique experiment--the first television series on PBS designed specifically for girls aged 8-13. The approach is based on the findings of prior gender research. The television show and the Web site are integrally linked. Episodes are available for distribution on many of the newest digital platforms, e.g., Vimeo and iTunes for downloads, free of charge. SciGirls launched in February 2010 and reaches over 80% of the country. This project will support further research and development to advance SciGirls' online and outreach activities. Specifically, the deliverables include: (1) enhancement of the SciGirls website on pbs.org; (2) maintenance of the SciGirls Educator Networks and outreach to new partners; and (3) R&D on other media platforms. The project's two strategic partners are the National Girls Collaborative Project (NGCP) in Seattle and The Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. The NGCP links SciGirls with its network of 500 community-based science programs for girls, and The Franklin Institute coordinates an affiliate network of science museums to implement SciGirls' outreach activities. The project will also work with the Girl Scouts of America's new "Girl Scout Leadership Experience" program, which emphasizes STEM learning. The most significant web component is a social networking feature that allows girls who are interested in science to connect with peers across the nation. To date, there have been over 300,000 unique visitors and 20,000 registered "SciGirls."
This CRPA project seeks to inform Tennessee residents about STEM research that is occurring at Vanderbilt University and the scientists that are undertaking this exciting work. Tennessee Explorers is a two-part television series which uses an interview format to present scientists, both as real people and as research professionals. Questions for the scientists include where they grew up, what they did as children, and how they progressed to the stage of being an accomplished scientist. Moreover, each scientist or engineer will discuss their research and associated processes, conveying the exploratory nature of science. Two 30-minute programs will air on Nashville Public Television (NPT) featuring 3 NSF-funded scientists on each show. The programs will be broadcast 10 times throughout the state and will be available online for subsequent use by teachers and the general public. This is a unique collaboration between the Emmy-award winning staff at NPT and university research faculty. It is a true partnership with each contributing their expertise to inform the public about cutting-edge scientific research. Obvious in all of the ideas, there is the undercurrent that youth encouragement will be generated in terms of models and careers to become future scientists. While the intended audience is the Nashville area, affiliated PBS stations will broadcast the interviews across the state reaching an estimated 100,000 individuals in the first year. The television series and subsequent explorer interviews will be made available through the new Tennessee Digital Learning Library, while DVDs will be distributed to schools and science museums upon request. If successful as judged by the extensive evaluation studies, this program will likely be expanded as a national model.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Keivan StassunCharles ChappellElizabeth Curley
The New York Hall of Science (NYSCI), in collaboration with O\'Reilly Media will host a two-day workshop to explore the potential for the kinds of making, designing, and engineering practices celebrated at Maker Faire to enrich science and math learning. The purpose of this workshop is to identify and aggregate successful programming strategies that increase student engagement and proficiency in STEM, with a focus on students underrepresented in STEM careers. The meeting will be organized around three main ideas: catalyzing a national Maker movement; dissemination and scaling of design principles; and assessment of impacts on STEM learning and attitudes. The convening highlights the capacity of making activities to impact student motivation, attitudes, and conceptual understanding in STEM in both informal and formal learning environments. The workshop will be held in conjunction with the World Maker Faire at NYSCI on September 18-19, 2011. The World Maker Faire is a two-day, family-friendly event that celebrates the Do-it-Yourself or DIY movement and brings together a broad community of professionals and laypersons with a common interest in technology-based creativity, tinkering, and the reuse of materials and technology. The proposed workshop extends the work of the previous Maker Faire workshop (DRL 10-46459) by identifying initiatives that bridge the Maker and STEM communities while building students' foundational STEM knowledge and engaging audiences underrepresented in STEM careers. This workshop will accommodate approximately 50 local and national scientists, engineers, learning science researchers, educators, policymakers, and philanthropists. Select participants will present detailed case studies of maker programs, design principles, assessments, and measured outcomes in STEM attitudes and learning. Key elements of successful programs and assessment strategies will be identified across the case studies in brainstorming sessions and roundtable discussions. Following the workshop, a subset of the case studies will be compiled into an edited volume, indexed by the dimensions of student learning in the National Research Council publication, "A Framework for K-12 STEM Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts and Core Ideas." This project uses the momentum of the popular Maker Faire movement, based in design, engineering and technology concepts, to connect to STEM education while capitalizing on the strengths of informal learning environments. The workshop provides researchers, practitioners, and policymakers with an aggregated collection of program design principles and reliable metrics for documenting changes in preK-20 STEM attitudes and learning. The edited volume has the potential to advance the understanding of how to bridge formal and informal learning environments, while also fostering research on the affective dimensions of making in diverse audiences.
Native Universe: Indigenous Voice in Museums, a collaboration between the Indigenous Education Institute, University of California-Berkeley, and the University of Hawaii at Hilo, builds on the successful NSF-funded Cosmic Serpent collaborative (DRL 07-14631/DRL 07-14629). The Cosmic Serpent professional development project explores commonalities between native and western science, enabling participants to use STEM as an entry point for museum programs and exhibits. Native Universe endeavors to move to the next level by creating a professional development program which fosters systemic institutional change through the infusion of indigenous voice in programs and exhibits focusing on environmental change. Topics to be explored include species distribution, environmental vulnerability, adaptation of human systems, and science and policy issues on the local, regional, and global levels. This project is designed to assess how cultural background and exposure to indigenous knowledge systems integrated with western science influence these perspectives; develop sustainable institutional competence in presenting multiple perspectives on environmental change; and create models for inclusion while building an enduring community of practice. The project design relies upon a conceptual framework grounded in the literature on indigenous voice and traditional ecological knowledge, as well as current models for institutional change. Front-end, summative, and process evaluation will address questions related to how science museums facilitate engagement and inclusion of indigenous voice in the presentation of environmental change content, stages of readiness, and the emergence of models for this process. Methods for data collection include reflective logs, pre-post questionnaires, and semi-structured interviews at multiple points to measure the degree and nature of change within museums, as well as how change was initiated, supported, and sustained by staff. Project deliverables include three museum case studies developed during 9-month residencies, public experiences for visitors, a culminating virtual conference, and a dynamic community of practice among museums committed to indigenous voice in informal science education. The museum residencies will take place at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, and the Museum of the North in Alaska. Intensive case studies will be conducted at each site following the Diné Strategic Planning Process (consisting of initiation, growth, implementation, and renewal) and featuring the Ìmiloa Astronomy Institute as a model for institutional change. Exhibits and programs have been identified at each site that will be developed or expanded to integrate environmental change content and native perspectives. Dissemination of the project findings will be accomplished through publications, conference presentations, videos, webinars (four per year), and the virtual conference. It is anticipated that this project will impact over 1.2 million visitors at the collaborating institutions, in addition to the professional audience of museum staff. Native Universe may provide valuable interpretive tools for the field to understand and address the challenges associated with integrating cultural perspectives and science content. The museum case studies will contribute knowledge about the cultural process of science learning, and may transform the way science is presented in museums by leveraging indigenous voice to enhance public awareness and understanding of environmental change from a culturally-grounded perspective. The overall benefit is increased participation of indigenous individuals in STEM and increased public science literacy in the area of environmental change.
The PBS NewsHour STEM Learning project is a broadcast and online science journalism and informal science education initiative to report breaking science news and cutting-edge STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) research and researchers to a national audience. The multi-platform project goals are to: (1) increase and improve the knowledge of the audience with respect to science and technology; (2) stimulate the active engagement of the audience with science and technology through interactive tools; and (3)position the PBS NewsHour as a regular destination for in-depth and innovative science reporting; (4) deploy new and creative digital tools to extend the impact of NewsHour science reporting, especially for youth. The PBS NewsHour is produced by MacNeil/Lehrer Productions and distributed by PBS to PBS television and radio stations across the country, five nights per week. This project is informed by an expert advisory board and other consultants. Project evaluation will be conducted by City Square Associates. The formative evaluation in year one will employ focus groups of adults from the general audience and teens as well as a quantitative survey online to determine a benchmark of current science knowledge, attitudes and behaviors. The evaluation in year two will test digital components of the project in a usability lab setting to gather information to help improve the quality and effectiveness of these deliverables. The summative evaluation will administer a tracking study with the same population surveyed in the first year. Deliverables include: a minimum of 26 science documentary reports broadcast per year plus additional in-studio interviews and coverage of breaking science news; a revamped website, notably "Science and Tech To Go"; a weekly STEM interview or report online featuring Hari Sreenivasan or other reporters; additional weekly digital STEM reporting; and an expanded and redesigned outreach program for teens and educators including an innovative, cloud-based student editing and content-sharing initiative in collaboration with several science centers. Six new PBS NewsHour Student Reporting Labs, established in high-need urban schools, will shoot, edit, and post their videos on the web. The PBS NewsHour science reports will be broadcast and featured on the NewsHour iPhone app, as well as disseminated on the NewsHour's YouTube Channel, Disqus and UStream, Hulu.com, with new science material updated daily on the web. The NewsHour is seen by more than 7 million viewers each week, with additional audiences being reached by radio, the Online NewsHour website, podcasts, and other social media. New community-based programs expand the audience farther. The final summative report will outline the impact of the project and identify the strategies and tactic found to be most effective in making use of digital media to support project goals.
The Cryptoclub: Cryptography and Mathematics Afterschool and Online is a five-year project designed to introduce middle school students across the country to cryptography and mathematics. Project partners include the Young Peoples Project (YPP), the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, and Eduweb, an award-winning educational software design and development firm. The intended impacts on youth are to improve knowledge and interest in cryptography, increase skills in mathematics, and improve attitudes towards mathematics. The secondary audience is leaders in afterschool programs who will gain an increased awareness of cryptography as a tool for teaching mathematics and adopt the program for use in their afterschool programs. Project deliverables include online activities, online cryptography adventure games, interactive offline games, a leader\'s manual, and training workshops for afterschool leaders. The project materials will be developed in collaboration with YPP staff and pilot tested in Year 3 at local afterschool programs and YPP sites in Chicago in addition to four national sites. Field testing and dissemination occurs in Year 4 at both local sites in Chicago and national locations such as afterschool programs, science centers, and community programs. Six 3-day training workshops will be provided (2 per year in Years 3-5) to train afterschool leaders. It is anticipated that this project will reach up to 11,000 youth, including underserved youth in urban settings, and 275 professional staff. Strategic impact resulting from this project includes increased awareness of cryptography as a STEM topic with connections to mathematics as well a greater understanding of effective strategies for integrating and supporting web-based and offline activities within informal learning settings. The Cryptoclub project has the potential to have a transformative impact on youth and their understanding of cryptography and may serve as a national model for partnerships between afterschool and mentoring programs.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Janet BeissingerSusan GoldmanDaria TsoupikovaBonnine Saunders
The University of Cincinnati Arlitt Child and Family Research and Education will conduct a two-year research investigation to document and understand young children's scientific dialog, interactions, behaviors, and thinking within expressly designed natural play environments called playscapes. Two existing environmental science-focused playscapes will serve as the informal context for the study. Pre-school children and their teachers at early childhood centers, Head Start programs and informal learning institutions such as zoos, nature centers, and museums will participate in the study. The Cincinnati Nature Center and the Cincinnati Playscape Initiative will partner with the University of Cincinnati for this research endeavor. The results of the study are expected to not only address a significant gap in the literature base related to self-directed play and young children\'s scientific thinking within playscapes environments, but the study also has the potential to inform the field more broadly about scientific learning and teaching across informal and formal contexts at the early childhood levels. Nine research questions will frame the study and seek to investigate: (a) children\'s behaviors in intentionally designed playscapes, (b) children\'s scientific thinking in intentionally designed playscapes, and the relationship between access to the playscape environment and children's attitudes about science and their own scientist identities. The study sample includes over 200 children (ages 3-5) will be recruited from local university, child care centers and head start programs. Each child will participate in research activities at one of two test sites, with sixty children participating in research activities at both test sites. As part of the study, the children will visit the test sites at least three different times and will be asked to explore the playscape environments on their own, with other children, and with their teachers. Lavalier microphones will capture the students' self-talk and dialogs with others, as they explore the specially designed playscape environments. Other data collection methods include: behavior mapping, direct observation, dialog analysis, surveys, focus groups, and curriculum-based assessments. A team of researchers, including university faculty and graduate assistants, will employ inductive, deductive, and abductive analytical methods and reasoning to analyze and synthesize the data. Concurrently, an external evaluator at the Evaluation Services Center will employ a mixed-methods approach for the formative, remedial, and summative project evaluations. An ultimate goal of the project is to use the research findings to provide a scientific base for the development of an early childhood approach that promotes scientific thinking and learning within self-directed, informal contexts.
The New York Hall of Science, in collaboration with the Tufts Center for Engineering Education, the Learning Games Network, and New York City departments of education and of parks and recreation, is creating and testing two innovative science games to support student learning about frictional force and linear motion. SciGames integrates rigorous, highly motivating, data collection activities conducted in museum and playground settings, with in-depth data analysis and additional scientific investigation in the classroom. The primary goals of the SciGames project are to increase student motivation and interest in science and improve student learning about core physical science concepts. This exploratory project targets underrepresented urban students and their teachers from 20 schools in New York City (NYC) and through its partnership with NYC department of parks and recreation has great potential for scale-up throughout NYC, as well as dissemination to other urban communities. The SciGames model creates experiences for students that build on the positive, fun, free-choice learning characteristics of informal settings; promotes learning through repeated game-like experimentation and play; and supports students' sustained interest and learning in science classrooms where core concepts are formalized. The project is based on four design principles: (1) SciGames turns students' informal experiences into a game, (2) SciGames makes science content an integral part of game play, (3) SciGames generates data for further analysis during game play, and (4) SciGames, through the use of digital apps, supports students inquiring into data back in their classrooms. Researchers are developing the games using rigorous, well constructed, iterative cycles of design, development, testing, evaluation, and revision with different groups of NYC students and teachers. Pre and post data on students\' science learning and affect are being used to inform the design cycles. Over a two-year period, SciGames will produce two science games and associated digital apps, and a portable kit that supports game implementation, data collection and analysis. SciGames is an important experiment, combining the informal, engaging aspects of play with more formal science investigation to encourage and sustain the interest, participation, and learning of underrepresented students in STEM. This project has the potential to transform how we think of and structure science learning for middle school students.
University of Washington researchers and their collaborators are evaluating the impacts and effectiveness of a citizen science program called COASST (Coastal Observation and Seabird Survey Team) that engages 600 trained non-scientists in collecting data on beached birds found on more than 300 beaches from the north coast of California to Alaska. The goals of the COASST program are to expand coastal citizen involvement in scientifically meaningfully science and improve the use of citizen science as a tool for scientific inquiry and resource management. Project personnel are analyzing current COASST materials and activities to determine (1) the best uses of COASST bird data, (2) how to maximize engagement of coastal citizens in COASST\'s scientific activities, (3) how to increase COASST participant learning, skills development, awareness and action, and (4) how to scale up the project by developing additional materials and facilitating adoption of the COASST model by other organizations around the country. The analysis includes an evaluation study of the existing beached bird instructional module to identify successful components for future use and determine whether the balance between automation and individualization of components, such as the materials, website, and training, optimizes participant experience. The project team is also working with current participants, marine scientists, and marine natural resource managers via surveys, focus groups and design and testing groups, to determine what other types of data are important for citizen scientists to collect. The project's findings will help researchers understand how citizens, scientists, and resource managers can partner to engage the public in rigorous citizen science activities, create a flexible citizen science program that can be scaled-up demographically and geographically, and work with new and existing COASST participants, COASST data end-users, and potential COASST model adopters to meet new scientific, educational, and resource management needs.
The Golden Gate Bridge Highway Transportation District (GGBHTD), in collaboration with the Consortium of Universities for Research in Earthquake Engineering (CUREE), and in partnership with Princeton University, Stanford University, San Jose State University, the Sciencenter (Ithaca, NY), the Exploratorium (San Francisco), Eyethink, West Wind Laboratory, EHDD Architects, the American Public Works Association, and the International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association, is conducting a multi-faceted project about the science and engineering of the Golden Gate Bridge and about how public works facilities around the country can potentially become sites for public understanding of and engagement with science and engineering. GGBHTD, which operates and maintains the bridge, ferries and buses, hosts over 10-million visitors annually to their current visitor center at the south end of the bridge (San Francisco), serves an additional 2-million users of their ferries, and hosts a popular Web site (http://goldengatebridge.org/). The project deliverables are scheduled to coincide in 2012 with the 75th anniversary of the 1937 opening of the bridge. Educational products include: outdoor exhibits at the Golden Gate Bridge; exhibits about the bridge on the District's ferries; indoor exhibits at the Exploratorium; an expanded Web site with educational material about the bridge; an international conference in San Francisco around the time of the anniversary about public works as sites for informal science education; educational documents and a professional development program for public works staff from around the country; and a suite of publications for the public and professionals on public works research. The project involves a coordinated evaluation effort. Front-end and formative evaluation activities are being conducted by Inverness Research Associates. Summative evaluation will be conducted by David Heil & Associates.