The North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher, along with the North Carolina State Museum of Natural Sciences, has created a comprehensive, innovative, and engaging approach to inspire ocean stewardship among young people. Through professional development, integration of advanced technology, and targeted presentations to underserved audiences, this project serves to build connections between marine mammals, ocean health, climate change, and people. The project offers an innovative and engaging professional development opportunity, the Marine Mammal Institute (MMI), for 32 grassroots educators in North Carolina, with priority given to representatives from economically depressed areas. Participating educators gather information and gain experience to develop interactive marine mammal activities related to climate and ocean literacy. Upon returning to their home institutions, participants engage teenagers in climate and ocean literacy programming using innovative technology to illustrate climate change impacts on marine mammals.
DATE:
-
TEAM MEMBERS:
Peggy Sloan
resourceprojectProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
QuarkNet is a national program that partners high school science teachers and students with particle physicists working in experiments at the scientific frontier. These experiments are searching for answers to fundamental questions about the origin of mass, the dimensionality of spacetime and the nature of symmetries that govern physical processes. Among the experimental projects at the energy frontier with which QuarkNet is affiliated is the Large Hadron Collider, which is poised at the horizon of discovery. The LHC will come on line during the 5-years of this program. QuarkNet is led by a group of teachers, educators and physicists with many years of experience in professional development workshops and institutes, materials development and teacher research programs. The project consists of 52 centers at universities and research labs in 25 states and Puerto Rico. It is proposed that Quarknet be funded as a partnership among the ESIE program of EHR; the Office of Multidisciplinary Activities and the Elementary Particle Physics Program (Division of Physics), both within MPS; as well as the Division of High Energy Physics at DOE.
DATE:
-
TEAM MEMBERS:
Mitchell WayneRandal RuchtiDaniel Karmgard
resourceprojectProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
Taking NPASS (National Partnerships for Afterschool Science) to Scale builds on a previously funded effort (DRL 0515549) designed to provide professional development for out-of-school time (OST) science trainers, administrators, and frontline staff in collaboration with the California School-Age Consortium, the Georgia Afterschool Investment Council, The After-School Institute, Minnesota School Age Child Care Alliance, University of Missouri-Columbia, University of New Hampshire, and the Ohio Child Care Resource and Referral Association. Rutgers University-New Brunswick. The primary target audiences for this project are OST science trainers, administrators of statewide OST networks and frontline staff as well as youth participating in afterschool programs, most of whom are from traditionally underserved and economically challenged groups. Deliverables include three-day, semi-annual train-the-trainer institutes; annual seminars for NPASS leaders; professional development tools; science kits; and the NPASS website. The project design consists of four levels of management and delivery. At Level 1, the NPASS2 primary partners, EDC and the Boston Children's Museum, provide three-day state-based OST Science Trainer Institutes on a semi-annual basis. The Science Trainer Institutes combine hands-on experience with pedagogical training in informal science learning, youth development, and the logistics of working with OST sites. During Level 2, the eight State Leadership Teams recruit two cohorts of OST practitioners to attend Science Trainer Institutes. The new Science Trainers then identify OST sites to attend a series of half-day science trainings in Level 3. Each session introduces and models new science projects for use in afterschool settings, including the NSF-funded Design It! or Explore It! materials. Finally, at Level 4, OST sites serving children from predominantly underserved and underrepresented populations are invited to join the NPASS2 initiative. OST sites receive a materials kit and guide for the activities at each training session. It is estimated that as many as 10 OST state leaders and 100 science trainers will be reached at 750 community sites serving 22,000 youth. The combined intervention has the potential to change the OST landscape. The project evaluation to be conducted by the Goodman Research Group (GRG) employs a longitudinal design to determine participants' growth over time and the magnitude of change among the variables. The formative evaluation is designed to assess the development of the project's deliverables while the summative evaluation focuses on professional audience impacts. The NPASS2 summative evaluation examines the OST science trainers, OST state network administrators, youth workers, and site administrators through a baseline survey, in addition to annual questionnaires and interviews of network administrators and OST site administrators. The pre-post design measures changes in trainers' understanding, attitudes, behavior, and skills related to informal STEM education research or practice. To maximize the efficiency and authenticity of the evaluation, GRG will use the SET/STEM Leader Competencies Rubric currently being developed jointly by EDC in collaboration with the National 4-H Council\'s SET PD Committee.
Climate Change Education produced climate change educational experiences for both professional and general public audiences. In particular, the Science Museum of Minnesota (SMM), in collaboration with NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), University of Minnesota’s Institute on the Environment, and the University of Wisconsin’s Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS), developed new content for SMM’s Earth Buzz online network, developed a climate change educational program for middle and high school teachers, invited audiences of policy- and decision-makers to SMM for climate change discussions, and recruited and mentored a climate change team of high school students through SMM’s Kitty Andersen Youth Science Center. The project goals were to increase the awareness and understanding in target audiences that (1) human activities are now surpass natural processes as driving forces of atmospheric change, (2) the behavior of Earth's atmosphere in the 21st Century will be increasingly determined by humans, and (3) human ingenuity is the key to adapting to and mitigating the climate changes underway. Highlights of the project included organizing and hosting the October 26-28, 2011 City of Saint Paul Climate Change Adaptation Scenario Planning Workshop, which catalyzed climate resilience as a city planning priority, organizing and hosting with Morris A. Ward, Inc. the October 5-6, 2012 Climate Change Science for Minnesota Broadcast Meteorologists workshop which brought together local TV and radio meteorologists with some of the best climate scientists in the U.S., helping to organize and host on November 7, 2013 the State of Minnesota’s first conference devoted exclusively to climate change adaptation, and the adoption by the museum of a public statement on climate change (www.smm.org/climatechange). The project endures although the grant has concluded through the continued delivery of the museum’s Climate Changed outreach program to a wide array of audiences and through the museum’s continued involvement with the many partnerships established during the Climate Change Education project, as exemplified by the museum working with the City of Saint Paul and Macalester College on an upcoming St. Paul Neighborhood Climate Adaptation Workshop and a Worldwide Views on Climate and Energy event (climateandenergy.wwviews.org/).
SETAC is funded by the Lifelong Learning Programme of the European Union and emerges out of the need to undertake specific action for the improvement of science education. It regards science education as among the fundamental tools for developing active citizens in the knowledge society. SETAC draws on the cooperation between formal and informal learning institutions, aiming to enhance school science education and active citizenship looking further into the role of science education as a lifelong tool in the knowledge society. On the day of the project’s conclusion, 31 October 2010, after two years of work SETAC contributes the following products and results to the field: 1. “Quality Science Education: Where do we stand? Guidelines for practice from a European experience” This is the concluding manifesto that presents the results of the SETAC work in the form of recommendations for practitioners working in formal and informal science learning institutions; 2. “Teaching and Learning Scientific Literacy and Citizenship in Partnership with Schools and Science Museums” This paper constitutes the theoretical framework of the project and innovative ways of using museums for science education and develop new modes of linking formal and informal learning environments; 3. Tools for teaching and learning in science: misconceptions, authentic questions, motivation. Three specific studies, leading to three specific reports, have been conducted in the context of the project, looking in particular into notions with an important role in science teaching and learning. These are on: Children’s misconceptions; Authentic questions as tool when working in science education; Students’ attitudes and motivation as factors influencing their achievement and participation in science and science-related issues; 4. Activities with schools: SETAC developed a series of prototype education activities which were tested with schools in each country. Among the activities developed between the partners, two have been chosen and are available on-line for practitioners to use and to adapt in their own context. These are: The Energy role game, a role game on Energy invites students to act in different roles, those of the stakeholders of an imaginary community, called to debate and decide upon a certain common problem; MyTest www.museoscienza.org/myTest, which aims to encourage students to engage in researching, reflecting and communicating science-oriented topics; 5. European in-service training course for primary and secondary school teachers across Europe. The training course is designed in such a way as to engage participants in debate and exploration of issues related to science education and active citizenship. The course is open to school teachers, headteachers and teacher trainers from all EU-member and associate countries. Professionals interested can apply for a EU Comenius grant. All the products of the project as well as information about the training course are available at the project website, some of them in more than one languages: www.museoscienza.org/setac
The National Partnerships for Afterschool Science (NPASS) Project was led by The Center for Science Education (CSE) at Education Development Center, Inc. (EDC) in Newton, MA in partnership with the Lawrence Hall of Science (LHS) in Berkeley, CA, with funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF). The NPASS project approach relied on a professional development training and mentorship model to build the capacity of community-based organizations (CBOs) to lead high-quality, hands-on science and engineering activities in their afterschool programming. An overarching project research question
The goal of this engineering education project entitled EXTRAORDINARY WOMEN ENGINEERS (EWE) is to encourage more academically prepared high school girls to consider engineering as an attractive option for post-secondary education and subsequent careers in order to increase the number of women who make up the engineering workforce. Specific project objectives are to: 1) mobilize America's more than one million engineers to reach out to educators, school counselors, and high school girls with tested messages tailored to encourage participation in engineering education and careers; 2) help high school counselors and science, math, and technology teachers to better understand the nature of engineering, the academic background needed to pursue engineering, and the career paths available in engineering; 3) equip high school counselors and teachers to share this information with students, especially girls; and 4) reach out to girls directly with messages that accurately reflect the field of engineering and will inspire girls to choose engineering. The WGBH Educational Foundation has partnered with the American Association of Engineering Societies (AAES), American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), and a coalition of more than 50 of the country's engineering associations, colleges, and universities to fundamentally shift the way the engineering and educational communities portray engineering. Based on a needs assessment performed in 2004, the EWE coalition embraces a communication strategy that focuses on the societal value and rewards of being an engineer, as opposed to the traditional emphasis on the process and challenges of becoming an engineer. This project represents a nationwide outreach effort that includes training opportunities for engineers; targeted Web-based and print resources for students, school counselors and teachers, and engineers; and a range of outreach and marketing activities.
DATE:
-
TEAM MEMBERS:
Julie BenyoPatrick NataleF. Suzanne Jenniches
The institution is The Ohio State University at Lima, the university partners are the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and Fayetteville State University. It's About Discovery is a unique partnership to engage students and teachers in critical thinking skills in STEM content areas. The Ford Partnership for Advanced Studies (PAS) new science curriculum is the foundation for the project which will include over 700 students and 20-25 teachers. While the primary focus is on students, throughout the life of the project all teachers will participate in professional development focusing on the PAS units to ensure the quality teaching and understanding of the content. Technology will be integrated throughout the program to enable students to create inquiry based projects across state lines and for teachers to continue their professional development opportunities. Community partners will serve as mentors, host field trips, and engage in on-line conversations with students. An interactive website will be created for both teachers and students. The focus is on 8th grade science as it relates to STEM careers, 9th grade physical science and 10th science and mathematics. We are implementing a new Ford PAS curriculum module, Working Towards Sustainability, which comprises of four modules: We All Run on Energy, Energy from the Sun, Is Hydrogen a Solution? and The Nuclear Revolution. Teachers across states will engage in a new professional development model. Students will create projects through on-line conversations. A website will be created for project participants and the ITEST community. These hands-on, inquiry-based learning experiences engage students and prepare and encourage them to pursue science, engineering, and technology in high school and beyond. All PAS curricula use real world experiences, open-ended problems and result in real world applications. Assessments are on-going and inquiry driven. Teamwork and on-line resources and research are built into the curriculum design. The evaluation consists of a multi-method pre-post design. Teachers complete a Pre Survey at the beginning of the program and then again at the end of the school year. Students complete a Pre Survey at the beginning of the school year and a post survey at the end of the school year. In addition, teachers share students' scores on curriculum assessments completed throughout the year, including student scores on the Comprehensive Adult Student Assessment System's (CASAS) Assessment of Critical Thinking in Science writing tasks.
The National Center for Earth-surface Dynamics (NCED) is a Science and Technology Center focused on understanding the processes that shape the Earth's surface, and on communicating that understanding with a broad range of stakeholders. NCED's work will support a larger, community-based effort to develop a suite of quantitative models of the Earth's surface: a Community Sediment Model (CSM). Results of the NCED-CSM collaboration will be used for both short-term prediction of surface response to natural and anthropogenic change and long-term interpretation of how past conditions are recorded in landscapes and sedimentary strata. This will in turn help solve pressing societal problems such as estimation and mitigation of landscape-related risk; responsible management of landscape resources including forests, agricultural, and recreational areas; forecasting landscape response to possible climatic and other changes; and wise development of resources like groundwater and hydrocarbons that are hosted in buried sediments. NCED education and knowledge transfer programs include exhibits and educational programs at the Science Museum of Minnesota, internships and programs for students from tribal colleges and other underrepresented populations, and research opportunities for participants from outside core NCED institutions. The Earth's surface is the dynamic interface among the lithosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, and atmosphere. It is intimately interwoven with the life that inhabits it. Surface processes span environments ranging from high mountains to the deep ocean and time scales from fractions of a second to millions of years. Because of this range in forms, processes, and scales, the study of surface dynamics has involved many disciplines and approaches. A major goal of NCED is to foster the development of a unified, quantitative science of Earth-surface dynamics that combines efforts in geomorphology, civil engineering, biology, sedimentary geology, oceanography, and geophysics. Our research program has four major themes: (1) landscape evolution, (2) basin evolution, (3) biological sediment dynamics, and (4) integration of morphodynamic processes across environments and scales. Each theme area provides opportunities for exchange of information and ideas with a wide range of stakeholders, including teachers and learners at all levels; researchers, managers, and policy makers in both the commercial and public sectors; and the general public.
DATE:
-
TEAM MEMBERS:
Efi Foufoula-GeorgiouChristopher PaolaGary Parker
The Media MashUp project is funded by the IMLS (Grant LG-07-08-0113 ) to build capacity at libraries for computer-based programs for youth that help build 21st Century literacy skills. Twenty first Century literacy skills include interactive engagement with technology, collaboration and team problem solving, taking initiative and managing time and the use of higher level processing skills (www.21stcenturyskills.org/). This project uses the Scratch programming platform (http://scratch.mit.edu/) developed at MIT to help foster youth's 21st Century literacy skills. The professional audience
CENTC's (Center for Enabling New Technologies Through Catalysis) outreach is focused on partnerships with science centers. Initially we worked with the Pacific Science Center (PSC) to train our students in effective communication of science concepts to public audiences. Later we developed a short-term exhibit, Chemist - Catalysts for Change in the Portal to Current Research space. As part of the CCI/AISL partnership program, we partnered with Liberty Science Center to create an activity on a multi-touch media table, "Molecule Magic." We are currently developing another exhibit with PSC.
Rhode Island Information Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (RI-ITEST) is a comprehensive ITEST project for high school students and teachers. The goal of RI-ITEST is to prepare students from diverse backgrounds for careers in information technologies by engaging them in exciting, inquiry-based learning activities that use sophisticated computational models in support of a revolutionary science curriculum. It advances science education by enhancing the Physics First initiative in Rhode Island through the use of NSF funded student materials based on molecular modeling and promotes IT education by teaching modeling skills and providing students with career and vocational information on the use of computational models. The project provides over 120 hours of credit-bearing activities for 100 teachers and full support for classroom implementation. RI-ITEST is developing an optimal placement of the interactive materials from CC's Science of Atoms and Molecules project in the Physics First courses in Rhode Island; developing IT materials that are coordinated with the student materials that emphasize modeling skills and the career and vocational dimensions of computational modeling; preparing100 diverse Rhode Island science teachers in two cohorts to offer a course in the Physics-Chemistry-Biology sequence; developing materials and supports for using molecular dynamics and related IT materials for teachers in Rhode Island and elsewhere who are not ITEST participants; generating evidence for the effectiveness of the IT-enhanced project materials for increasing student learning and changing student attitudes about science, mathematics, and technology careers; reaching parents, guidance counselors, school administrators, and business partners with information about the project, student productions, and evidence for effectiveness; disseminating materials and findings to other teachers, programs, and districts nationwide.
DATE:
-
TEAM MEMBERS:
Daniel DamelinGerald KowaiczykJames Magyar