Play serves an important function in early childhood, and more specifically, play in nature provides an optimal venue for holistic development. Teachers play a critical role in providing and protecting these experiences for young children. This study aimed to understand and make more explicit the perceived benefits of a nature playscape from the perspective of teachers. Participants in this phenomenological study were preschool teachers at an urban Midwestern university early childhood laboratory school (n=13). Surveys and interviews were used to answer the central research question: What
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Sue SchlembachLeslie KochanowskiRhonda BrownVictoria Carr
PLUM LANDING a digital media PBS Kids series that is designed to motivate six- to nine-year-old children to investigate the natural world. Content developers from WGBH Boston and researchers from the Education Development Center (EDC) used an iterative research and design process to create the Plum Landing Explore Outdoors Toolkit. The Toolkit includes digital media resources (animated stories, live-action videos, an online badging system, a digital game, and an app for families), hands-on science activities, and support materials for parents, caregivers, educators, and program directors to
PLUM LANDING a digital media PBS Kids series that is designed to motivate six- to nine-year-old children to investigate the natural world. Content developers from WGBH Boston and researchers from the Education Development Center (EDC) used an iterative research and design process to create the Plum Landing Explore Outdoors Toolkit. The Toolkit includes digital media resources (animated stories, live-action videos, an online badging system, a digital game, and an app for families), hands-on science activities, and support materials for parents, caregivers, educators, and program directors to
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates that over 41 million people connect to nature through birding. Learning about birds in their natural environments offers opportunities for informal engagement in STEM by a broad range of individuals and groups. Birders often engage in scientific data gathering and analyses, geolocation and remote sensing, and phenology. They also become aware of ecological changes in bird habitats and migratory patterns due to rising temperatures and climate-related events like sea level rise, droughts, fires, and extreme weather. As such, the birding community is an ideal network to better understand and communicate the impacts of climatological changes on bird populations to the public. With this Innovations in Development project, the National Audubon Society will develop a new avian-focused, conservation and climate science community science curriculum for its Nature Centers, and test the effectiveness of the curriculum in educating the public about avian-focused conservation and climatological changes through guided nature experiences. Birding can serve as a pivotal entrée for young people into STEM fields and careers. Through its programs and partnerships, Audubon will leverage its national network to ensure that through this project a more diverse group of voices, particularly young adults and young adults of color, become involved in asking critical questions and developing solutions to address important environmental issues of the future. If successful, the broader impacts of this project on capacity building and public engagement could be far-reaching and long-lasting.
Over the three-year project duration, Audubon will bring educators from its nationwide network of thirty-four Nature Centers (including urban, suburban, and rural sites), together with over 510 young adults (ages 18-25) from its network of college campus chapters. An evidence-based curriculum and community science activities will be created and tested, relying heavily on a team of experts in ornithology, climate science research, STEM curriculum design, diversity, and informal science education. College students will advise on the design of content and activities to effectively interest and engage young adults. These students will be recruited from the new Audubon Campus Chapters Program, which includes 111 college and university campuses, among them, 19 Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and other Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs). The target population will be surveyed to also understand their current and likely participation in guided nature experiences and knowledge base in climate science. Current best practices in guided nature experiences will be gathered from across the Audubon network. The implementation efforts will result in a national STEM model, with train-the-trainer guides and workshops for informal science educators and public engagement opportunities focused on improving the state and condition of avian habitats and communities through climate science research. An external evaluation will be conducted and will include data collection methods such as retrospective pre and post surveys, semi-structured interviews, focus groups, and an embedded assessment to determine impact. The findings will be used to iteratively refine the evidence-based curriculum and measure STEM learning outcomes for the guided nature experience participants. The evaluation will address four areas: (1) fidelity of program implementation to promote accountability; (2) formative evaluation to understand needs and interests of young adults (ages 18-25), and subsequently inform program design; (3) outcomes for Center educators, to inform iterative improvement; and (4) outcomes for program participants, to contribute to the growing knowledge base on effective practices for STEM learning in informal settings.
This Innovations in Development project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which seeks to advance new approaches to, and evidence-based understanding of, the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments. This includes providing multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM learning experiences, advancing innovative research on and assessment of STEM learning in informal environments, and developing understandings of deeper learning by participants.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Loren SmithMark ScallionHeather Starck
"PLUM RX: Researching a new pathway for bringing active science exploration to urban families" is a project that makes use of public media resources to create innovative opportunities to bring environmental science learning to the hard-to-reach audience of urban families. As part of this project, media producers at WGBH and researchers at EDC worked together to: (1) develop a new pathway for bringing active environmental science exploration to urban families with children ages 6-9; (2) expand PLUM LANDING’s media assets to support urban families and informal educators when engaging in
This report looks across multiple phases of work to discuss the PLUM Rx project’s contribution to broader knowledge about supporting children’s active, outdoor science exploration in informal, urban settings. The PLUM LANDING Explore Outdoors Toolkit that resulted from this work is designed for use by outdoor prescription programs and a broad range of informal education programs serving urban children and families. This report describes (1) the rationale for the design principles that guided Toolkit development, (2) the Toolkit components developed in accordance with the design principles; and
The Indianapolis / City as Living Laboratory (I/CaLL) project was a civic collaboration that used the city of Indianapolis as an informal science learning (ISL) environment. The 21 Urban Water Science Concepts Resource Handbook is designed for all people who are interested in exploring science topics related to urban waterways, particularly in Indianapolis. Specifically, educators, artists, and community members in Indianapolis may find this publication useful. With a small amount of extra research for examples in their area of interest, urban environmental educators across the country will
Many urban New Yorkers believe that the Hudson River is so polluted that nothing could possibly live there. In reality, the estuary is thriving, and The River Project (TRP), a marine science field station in lower Manhattan, exists to showcase its vast biodiversity through place-based education. In 2014, TRP began collaborating on a city-wide initiative with New York Harbor Foundation and eight other partner organizations to integrate restoration science into Title I middle school curricula through the Curriculum and Community Enterprise for Restoration Science (CCERS). Teachers in the
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Elisa CarefMelissa RexAnnie LederbergGaylen Moore
resourceresearchWebsites, Mobile Apps, and Online Media
This brief discusses the PLUM LANDING Explore Outdoors Toolkit, a new set of free, public media resources designed to help informal educators and parents infuse science learning into outdoor recreation. Developed by trusted media producer WGBH in partnership with researchers at Education Development Center (EDC), the Toolkit aims to get children (ages 6–9) from low-income, urban communities outside so they can explore the environment around them while debunking the myth that nature is something that only exists beyond city limits.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Marion GoldsteinElizabeth PiersonJamie KynnLisa Famularo
Public Participation in Scientific Research (PPSR), often referred to as crowdsourcing or citizen science, engages participants in authentic research, which both advances science discovery as well as increases the potential for participants' understanding and use of science in their lives and careers. This four year research project examines youth participation in PPSR projects that are facilitated by Natural History Museums (NHMs). NHMs, like PPSR, have a dual focus on scientific research and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. The NHMs in this project have established in-person and online PPSR programs and have close ties with local urban community-based organizations. Together, these traits make NHMs appropriate informal learning settings to study how young people participate in PPSR and what they learn. This study focuses on three types of PPSR experiences: short-term outdoor events like bioblitzes, long-term outdoor environmental monitoring projects, and online PPSR projects such as crowdsourcing the ID of field observations. The findings of this study will be shared through PPSR networks as well as throughout the field in informal STEM learning in order to strength youth programming in STEM, such that youth are empowered to engage in STEM research and activities in their communities. This project is funded through Science Learning+, which is an international partnership between the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Wellcome Trust with the UK Economic and Social Research Council. The goal of this joint funding effort is to make transformational steps toward improving the knowledge base and practices of informal STEM experiences. Within NSF, Science Learning+ is part of the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program that seeks to enhance learning in informal environments and to broaden access to and engagement in STEM learning experiences.
The study employs observations, surveys, interviews, and learning analytics to explore three overarching questions about youth learning: 1) What is the nature of the learning environments and what activities do youth engage in when participating in NHM-led PPSR? 2) To what extent do youth develop three science learning outcomes, through participation in NHM-led citizen science programs? The three are: a) An understanding of the science content, b) identification of roles for themselves in the practice of science, and c) a sense of agency for taking actions using science? 3) What program features and settings in NHM-led PPSR foster these three science learning outcomes among youth? Based on studies occurring at multiple NHMs in the US and the UK, the broader impact of this study includes providing research-based recommendations for NHM practitioners that will help make PPSR projects and learning science more accessible and productive for youth. This project is collaboration between education researchers at University of California, Davis and Open University (UK), and Oxford University (UK) and citizen science practitioners, educators, and environmental scientists at three NHMs in the US and UK: NHM London, California Academy of Sciences, and NHM Los Angeles.
Learn how to create opportunities for young people from low-income, ethnically diverse communities to learn about growing food, doing science, and how science can help them contribute to their community in positive ways. The authors developed a program that integrates hydroponics (a method of growing plants indoors without soil) into both in-school and out-of-school educational settings.
The Missouri Botanical Garden will work with six urban schools, to create new educational opportunities for teachers and students who use the garden's institutional research as a foundation for STEM Programming (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math). Students in the program will focus on one of three core garden research themes: medicinal uses of plants, plants as a food source, or the ecological value of plants. Anchored by multiple field experiences at the garden and its satellite sites, follow up programming, and teacher professional development, the program will be aligned with state standards to address concerns with student proficiency in the STEM disciplines.