Urban environments are remarkable natural laboratories to study ecology and speciation. These learning ecosystems are ecologically diverse and potentially more accessible for urban youth and their families. Unfortunately, disparities in STEM access continue to persist. Transportation, social and financial barriers, and a lack of awareness of STEM opportunities are a few of the inequities that significantly limit participation in STEM programs among urban youth, especially from underrepresented groups. Perceptions of who can meaningfully engage in scientific research remain demographically skewed to affluent, aged, and non-minoritized individuals. In an effort to address these challenges, this pilot study will investigate the feasibility of using remote cameras to survey local, urban wildlife to promote inclusive practices and youth engagement in STEM. A co-created curriculum will be employed, bringing urban ecologists and Detroit youth (6th-8th grade) together to participate in wildlife field experiences to garner and analyze data collected from cameras deployed through the city. It is the unique coupling of the camera surveys with authentic place-based, culturally relevant ecological research that will facilitate the innovative, experiential learning experiences. This pilot study will advance the understanding of the extent to which various facilitation methods and participation in out-of-school time programs like the Wildlife Neighbors program impact youth. From a broader impacts perspective, this work may yield positive environmental literacy outcomes and prove applicable for other urban youth in the country. The research findings would lay the foundation for future research and add novel approaches to the NSF portfolio on urban, out-of-school time environmental education programs for middle school youth using camera surveys to promote inclusivity, engagement in scientific field research, and increase youths' interest in STEM.
Through a strategic partnership between the Applied Wildlife Ecology Lab at the University of Michigan and the Detroit Zoological Society, this pilot will examine the effects of experiential learning through wildlife monitoring in twenty-four Detroit parks on strengthening four aspects of youth's environmental literacy: knowledge of ecology, competencies as researchers, empathy for wildlife, and sense of place. Youth will self-select into one of four facilitation models, each varying in intensity (summer experience, afterschool club) and mode (in-person, remote). Using camera surveys deployed in Detroit parks, youth will be immersed in ecological research, engaging them in the entire scientific process: observation, inquiry, data collection, fieldwork, data analysis and storytelling. Youth pre- and post-surveys, daily reflections on program activities, and parent/guardian questionnaires will assess impacts and experiences of the Wildlife Neighbors facilitation models and program more broadly. The research questions will explore the extent to which participation in Wildlife Neighbors: (a) differs across facilitation intensity and mode, and (b) strengthens environmental literacy among middle school urban youth when engaged in a co-created out-of-school time experiential program using remote cameras to survey local wildlife. Over the two-year pilot duration, approximately 100 youth and their families will participate in the program.
This pilot study is funded by the NSF Advancing Informal STEM Learning 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 Pilots and Feasibility Studies 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.
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
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.
Positive youth development and youth organizing are strengths-based approaches to the lives, needs, and contributions of young people (Damon & Gregory, 2003). These approaches privilege the voices of youth as they engage with issues in their communities and challenge institutions to respond. Few studies, however, have explored the role of positive youth development and youth organizing initiatives among immigrant youth of color. The challenging terrain of modern urban life requires these youth to navigate the political, economic, and legal demands confronted by their families; to understand
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Anthony de JesusSofia OviedoScarlett Feliz
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.
Brooklyn Botanic Garden's Project Green Reach (PGR) is a children's program that has offered garden-based youth education since 1990. PGR focuses on Grade K-8 students and teachers from local Title I schools who work in teams on garden and science projects. In this exploratory study, the authors used field observations, document analysis, and past participant interviews to investigate PGR's program, model informal science education, and document the influence of the program on urban youth. In all, 7 themes emerged: (a) participants' challenging home and school environments, (b) changes in
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Susan MorganSusan HamiltonMichael BentleySharon Myrie
With the Museum's increasing interest in urban biodiversity, we have started looking at all types of wildlife in our highly modified industrial, suburban, and urban habitats. One thing that quickly struck us was that in our own backyard, Exposition Park, nobody had documented any lizards since 1988. This seemed strange, as lizards are common in other parts of Los Angeles, and it led to the question, "Why are there no lizards here?" We hope to answer this question with the LLOLA (pronouced "lola") project. LLOLA aims to do two things: 1) Confirm the presence or absence of lizards in Exposition park. (After all, nobody has looked extensively for them! 2) Find out where lizards DO occur in the Los Angeles Basin, and start to hypothesize why they can survive there.
This pathways project from Boston College will test the efficacy of an intergenerational interdisciplinary hydroponics program involving curriculum development and activities at the Salvation Army's Kroc Center and the STEM Garden Institute for 4-6th grade youths and seniors. The primary research includes an examination of the efficacy of intergenerational interdisciplinary community based research. Additional goals of the hydroponic program include the examination of the ways in which urban community-based hydroponic programs foster motivation and self-efficacy, and how well youths and seniors understand the scientific inquiry process involving technology, economics and plant production. The research design includes qualitative and quantitative methods. The project will evaluate the ways in which the instructors implement the program with youth and seniors. The project will also evaluate the effectiveness of the technologies associated with plant production and knowledge acquisition in the area of hydroponics from the development through the delivery of the plant products to sell at the local Farmer's Market. Interviews, focus groups and survey will be administered to seniors and youth throughout the project. The project will disseminate a science inquiry based instructional guide for informal providers and youth who are involved with informal science education programs. The guide will focus on hydroponics with an emphasis on the electromagnetic spectrum, photosynthesis, pH, and nutrients, and electrical conductivity science concepts. More than 120-150 youth and 200 seniors will participate in the hydroponics program. Additional materials on the development of economic and business planning will be developed for the use of planning and setting up a Farmer's Market retail business. The materials will be available through the Salvation Army's Kroc Center. The Kroc Center averages 500-1000 visitors per day in addition to the Center's website, which averages 1200 unique visits per day.