RISES (Re-energize and Invigorate Student Engagement through Science) is a coordinated suite of resources including 42 interactive English and Spanish STEM videos produced by Children's Museum Houston in coordination with the science curriculum department at Houston ISD. The videos are aligned to the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills standards, and each come with a bilingual Activity Guide and Parent Prompt sheet, which includes guiding questions and other extension activities.
The University of Montana spectrUM Discovery Area will implement “Making Across Montana” —a project to engage K–12 students and teachers in rural and tribal communities with making and tinkering. In collaboration with K–12 education partners in the rural Bitterroot Valley and on the Flathead Indian Reservation, the museum will develop a mobile making and tinkering exhibition and education program. The exhibition will be able to travel to K–12 schools statewide. The project team will develop a K–12 teacher professional development workshop, along with accompanying curriculum resources and supplies. The traveling program and related materials will build schools’ capacity to incorporate making and tinkering—and informal STEM experiences more broadly—into their teaching.
The Joseph Moore Museum at Earlham College will revise its interpreter training and educational programs to reflect current best practices in participatory STEM education. This project will include strengthening their programs to better prepare undergraduate educators, as well as updating the delivery of their top three requested programs to ensure learner-centered experiences. The project will include the development of a training program modeled on a combination of principles set out by the National Association of Interpretation and the Reflections on Practice program. Undergraduate educators will undergo systematic training in the fundamentals of educational theory and practice and benefit from a program of sustained evaluation and mentorship.
The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum will amplify its partnership with Hart Magnet School, a Title 1 elementary school in urban Stamford, Connecticut, by increasing exposure and access to the arts for first-fifth graders, their families, and educators. A new program model, leveraging the museum's artist exhibitions, will focus on technology and an inquiry-based approach to science. Students, educators, and families will be encouraged to see and think in new ways through on-site STEAM tours at the museum, artist-led workshops at Hart, teacher professional development, and afterschool family activities. Outside evaluators will work with the project team to develop goals and associated metrics to measure how the model of museum-school partnership can enhance student achievement, engage families more deeply in their child's school experience and community, and contribute to teacher professional development. The evaluator will also train museum staff on best practices for program assessment.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Namulen Bayarsaihan
resourceresearchProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
Developing a growth mindset has been identified as a key strategy for increasing youth achievement, motivation, and resiliency (Rattan et al. 2015). At its core, growth mindset describes the idea that one’s abilities can change through using new learning strategies and receiving appropriate mentoring (Dweck 2008). In contrast, a fixed mindset relates to the idea that ability is inherent and cannot be changed. We have taken up the concept of growth mindset and developed it specifically for the context of STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and math), a growing area of focus in both in
Fostering STEAM provided exceptional professional development that was highly rated by participants and contributed to expected participant learning outcomes. The in-person Fostering STEAM workshop reflected professional development best practices. Likewise, the online Fostering STEAM course reflected indicators of effective online continuing education and professional development.
The Fostering STEAM professional development contributed to significant self-reported growth in principles or beliefs related to the Fostering STEAM instructional approach, as well as preparedness to develop and
As STEAM has gained traction in informal education settings, it is important to support educators in learning about and developing STEAM learning experiences. We investigated what STEAM means to informal educators and how it relates to their everyday lives and identities by examining a STEAM objects activity. We found three themes in how the participants talked about the significance of the STEAM objects they shared: connection to land, historicity, and agency of materials. The STEAM objects served as boundary objects that connected communities of practice, showing the integrative nature of
Iteration is a central practice in art and science; however, it has yet to be deeply explored in STEAM learning environments. This study adopts a sociomaterial orientation (Fenwick and Edwards, 2013) to characterize the nature of iteration in one STEAM activity, an Optics Design Challenge, with informal educators. We found that iteration emerged as “microcycles” of interactions, specifically as adjustments, additions, and negotiations in both material artifacts and the narrative.
The integration of Art with Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEAM) has been growing in popularity, however, there are a variety of conceptualizations of what it looks like. This study explores images of STEAM by examining activities created by informal educators. We found that STEAM activities were conceptualized as using one discipline in the service of another, intertwined, or parallel. This provides concrete images of what STEAM can look like in educational settings.
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Blakely TsurusakiLaura ConnerCarrie TzouPerrin Teal SullivanMareca GuthriePriya Pugh
The Massachusetts Audubon Society will develop, pilot, and implement an evaluation framework for nature-based STEM programming that serves K-12 students visiting its network of nature centers and museums. Working with an external consultant, the society will develop the framework comprised of a logic model and theory of change for fieldtrips, and develop a toolkit of evaluation data collection methodology suitable to various child development stages. The project team will design and conduct three professional development training seminars to help Massachusetts Audubon school educators develop a working understanding of the new evaluation framework for school programs and gain the skills necessary to support protocol implementation. This project will result in the development and adoption of a universal protocol to guide the collection, management, and reporting of education program evaluation data across the 19 nature centers and museums in the Massachusetts Audubon system.
The Paine Art Center and Gardens will address challenges facing arts education in the region, in particular the low retention rate of new visual and performing arts teachers in the first five years of entering the field. Previous community-based planning sessions determined that arts integration is a compelling and relevant strategy to address the needs of new teachers and arts education. The project will support the development and implementation of the ArtsCore Laboratory, a new dedicated classroom at the Paine, which facilitates teacher collaboration, experimentation, and art activities for students. The laboratory will be designed and equipped to foster interdisciplinary activities and learning styles, with an emphasis on connecting STEM education with arts education. A new educator-in-residence program, the ArtsCore Experience, will offer a professional development program for teachers. The initiatives are a collaboration between the museum and the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, the Oshkosh Area School District, and more than seven additional school districts.