The project team is developing a prototype of a web-based game utilizing the illustrations of chemical elements and science terms created by Simon Basher in his three books, The Periodic Table: Elements with Style!, Chemistry: Getting a Big Reaction!, and Physics: Why Matter Matters! The game will incorporate augmented reality (person-to-person gameplay with the support of the software) to teach grade 4 to 6 students science concepts, including an introduction to chemistry. The game will include curriculum support materials. Pilot research in Phase I will seek to demonstrate that the software prototype functions as planned, teachers are able to integrate it within the classroom environment, and students are engaged with the prototype.
Purpose: This project will develop and test Happy Atoms, a physical modeling set and an interactive iPad app for use in high school chemistry classrooms. Happy Atoms is designed to facilitate student learning of atomic modeling, a difficult topic for chemistry high school students to master. Standard instructional practice in this area typically includes teachers using slides, static ball and stick models, or computer-simulation software to present diagrams on a whiteboard. However, these methods do not adequately depict atomic interactions effectively, thus obscuring complex knowledge and understanding of their formulas and characteristics.
Project Activities: During Phase I (completed in 2014), the team developed a prototype of a physical modeling set including a computerized ball and stick molecular models representing the first 17 elements on the periodic table and an iPad app that identifies and generates information about atoms. A pilot study at the end of Phase I tested the prototype with 187 high school students in 12 chemistry classes. Researchers found that the prototype functioned as intended. Results showed that 88% of students enjoyed using the prototype, and that 79% indicated that it helped learning. In Phase II, the team will develop additional models and will strengthen functionality for effective integration into instructional practice. After development is complete, a larger pilot study will assess the usability and feasibility, fidelity of implementation, and promise of Happy Atoms to improve learning. The study will include 30 grade 11 chemistry classrooms, with half randomly assigned to use Happy Atoms and half who will continue with business as usual procedures. Analyses will compare pre-and-post scores of student's chemistry learning, including atomic modeling.
Product: Happy Atoms will include a set of physical models paired with an iPad app to cover high school chemistry topics in atomic modeling. The modeling set will include individual plastic balls representing the elements of the periodic table. Students will use an iPad app to take a picture of models they create. Using computer-generated algorithms, the app will then identify the model and generate information about its physical and chemical properties and uses. The app will also inform students if a model that is created does not exist. Happy Atoms will replace or supplement lesson plans to enhance chemistry teaching. The app will include teacher resources suggesting how to incorporate games and activities to reinforce lesson plans and learning.
This poster was presented at the 2014 AISL PI Meeting in Washington DC. It describes the CLUES project that provides STEM education opportunities to families.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
New Jersey Academy for Aquatic SciencesBarbara Kelly
This poster, presented at the 2014 AISL PI Meeting, shows the impact of an afterschool program that brought hands-on, inquiry-based science to ELL students in a low SES area of Southern California. Data sources included observation of lessons, interviews with students, and collection of student work Results demonstrate a shift in student thinking around students' internalization of becoming a scientist and who is capable of being a scientist.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
University of California, IrvineLauren Shea
Participants in Kitchen Science Investigators, an afterschool program for middle school students, learn science through cooking, baking, and experimenting with recipes. In-depth case studies analyzed how and why girls begin to scientize, or see their worlds through a scientific lens, and how the program structure supported this shift.
This poster was presented at the 2014 AISL PI Meeting in Washington, DC. It describes an EAGER project that conducts ongoing experiments on the chemical precursors to life as exhibit experiences in partner venues.
A team from Michigan State University, in partnership with six science, art-science, and art museum venues around the country and with the assistance of researchers at Georgia Institute of Technology, is implementing an EAGER project to conduct ongoing experiments on the chemical precursors to life as exhibit experiences for visitors to these venues. The experiments, to be run over the course of several months as the exhibit travels around the country, expand on the 1950s' work of Stanley Miller and Harold Urey, which continues to stimulate new investigations and publications, including experiments being conducted on the International Space Station. The experiments/exhibits share key features across the three different kinds of venues, allowing the team to study and compare the impacts on the various publics of engaging them in real-time science experiments. Two major goals are (1) to explore new ways to attract public interest in science by performing in public settings previously untried experiments on the chemical precursors to life, and (2) to investigate how the context of different kinds of venues and their visitor characteristics affect how visitors interpret the experience and what they learn. The team is also exploring how various data visualization representations can be designed to foster public interest and understanding. The intent is to develop an approach that has potential applications to other STEM content domains and expanding the reach to broader public audiences.
In this paper we report on teachers' and students' participation in authentic science research in out of school time science clubs at elementary schools. In the program four to five teachers worked alongside practicing scientists as part of their research groups. Each teacher facilitated a club with 10-15 students who, by extension, were members of the scientists' research groups. Over the 3 years of the project nearly 30 teachers and over 500 children participated in the clubs. In this paper we present a case study of teachers and children who worked with an analytic chemist at a major
The National Federation of the Blind (NFB), with six science centers across the U.S., will develop, implement, and evaluate the National Center for Blind Youth in Science (NCBYS), a three-year full-scale development project to increase informal learning opportunities for blind youth in STEM. Through partnerships and companion research, the NCBYS will lead to greater capacity to engage the blind in informal STEM learning. The NCBYS confronts a critical area of need in STEM education, and a priority for the AISL program: the underrepresentation of people with disabilities in STEM. Educators are often unaware of methods to deliver STEM concepts to blind students, and students do not have the experience with which to advocate for accommodations. Many parents of blind students are ill-equipped to provide support or request accessible STEM adaptations. The NCBYS will expose blind youth to non-visual methods that facilitate their involvement in STEM; introduce science centers to additional non-visual methods that facilitate the involvement of the blind in their exhibits; educate parents as to their students' ability to be independent both inside and outside the STEM classroom; provide preservice teachers of blind students with hands-on experience with blind students in STEM; and conduct research to inform a field that is lacking in published material. The NCBYS will a) conduct six regional, two-day science programs for a total of 180 blind youth, one day taking place at a local science center; b) conduct concurrent onsite parent training sessions; c) incorporate preservice teachers of blind students in hands-on activities; and d) perform separate, week-long, advanced-study residential programs for 60 blind high school juniors and seniors focused on the design process and preparation for post-secondary STEM education. The NCBYS will advance knowledge and understanding in informal settings, particularly as they pertain to the underrepresented disability demographic; but it is also expected that benefits realized from the program will translate to formal arenas. The proposed team represents the varied fields that the project seeks to inform, and holds expertise in blindness education, STEM education, museum education, parent outreach, teacher training, disability research, and project management. The initiative is a unique opportunity for science centers and the disability population to collaborate for mutual benefit, with lasting implications in informal STEM delivery, parent engagement, and teacher training. It is also an innovative approach to inspiring problem-solving skills in blind high school students through the design process. A panel of experts in various STEM fields will inform content development. NCBYS advances the discovery and understanding of STEM learning for blind students by integrating significant research alongside interactive programs. The audience includes students and those responsible for delivering STEM content and educational services to blind students. For students, the program will demonstrate their ability to interface with science center activities. Students will also gain mentoring experience through activities paired with younger blind students. Parents and teachers of blind students, as well as science center personnel, will gain understanding in the experiences of the blind in STEM, and steps to facilitate their complete involvement. Older students will pursue design inquiries into STEM at a more advanced level, processes that would be explored in post-secondary pursuits. By engaging these groups, the NCBYS will build infrastructure in the informal and formal arenas. Society benefits from the inclusion of new scientific minds, resulting in a diverse workforce. The possibility for advanced study and eventual employment for blind students also reduces the possibility that they would be dependent upon society for daily care in the future. The results of the proposed project will be disseminated and published broadly through Web sites; e-mail lists; social media; student-developed e-portfolios of the design program; an audio-described video; and presentations at workshops for STEM educators, teachers of blind students, blind consumer groups, researchers in disability education, and museum personnel.
Project LIFTOFF works with local, regional, and national partners to engineer statewide systems for Informal Science Education that inspire: YOUTH to pursue STEM education and careers through increased opportunities for quality, hands-on STEM learning. AFTERSCHOOL STAFF to facilitate STEM learning experiences that contribute to the overall STEM education and aspirations of youth in their programs. PROGRAM ADMINISTRATORS to encourage and support staff in the integration of STEM enrichment into the daily programming. STATE LEADERS to sustain and expand afterschool learning opportunities so that all students have access to engaging STEM experiences outside of the regular school day. Project LIFTOFF is dedicated to the development of the following essential elements of statewide systems for informal science education:
Access to appropriate STEM Curriculum for youth of all ages, abilities, and socio-cultural backgrounds that meets the needs and interests of individual community programs
Systematic STEM Professional Development that matches individual skills in positive youth development with abilities to facilitate discovery and science learning
A diverse Cadres of Trainers who will deliver the professional development, technical assistance and curriculum dissemination in their local communities
Authentic Evaluation of informal science efforts that determine the impacts on youth aspirations and the capacity of youth programs to provide quality STEM experiences
Local STEM education leadership to identify the ways in which collaborative education efforts can advance the development of 21st Century Skills and the preparedness for STEM workforce and higher education
Partnerships in support of youth development and informal science education that convene local, regional, and statewide organizations and stakeholders
To advance national initiatives and states' sySTEM engineering efforts, LIFTOFF coordinates an annual convening, the Midwest Afterschool Science Academy, that brings together national informal science experts, system leaders and youth development professionals to elevate the levels of science after school. The 5th MASA will be in the spring of 2014 in Kansas City, MO
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Missouri AfterSchool NetworkJeff Buehler
The importance of reporting current science to the general public is more important now than ever before. The best way to ensure enthusiastic support for science is to engage the general public as directly as possible. Unlike schooling, learning in a museum is self-motivated, self-directed, and can be lifelong. The partnership between Columbia University's MRSEC (Materials Research Science and Engineering Center) and the New York Hall of Science will do this in an exciting manner by development of innovative 'rolling exhibits' (Discovery Carts) that are visually attractive, intellectually stimulating and demonstrate current research. This project will unite a dynamic University research faculty, dedicated graduate students, and high school teachers from one of the largest and best known teacher research experience programs in the country. NY Hall of Science, specialists in public science education, have developed exhibitions, over the past 20 years, for school and family group visitors in biology, chemistry and physics. Most recently, the Hall opened an 800-foot biochemistry discovery lab featuring ten experiments that teach visitors about the role of molecules in everyday life. The lab is facilitated by an explainer, and hundreds of families use the lab throughout the year. All exhibits and programs have rigorous science presented in an engaging manner in an educationally non-threatening environment. Columbia University is one of the premier research institutions in the country. Columbia's MRSEC is engaged in multi-faceted educational outreach activities in the New York metropolitan area, including a close working relationship with Columbia's 16 year old RET program. Together these institutions are well situated to involve the research community in public education activities that will inform the public about the current advances in science. Teachers and graduate students who have worked in MRSEC labs will assist in bringing new skills and ideas to the development of museum programming and exhibits. The teachers have experienced both the research projects first-hand and have had the experience in translating the research into meaningful classroom activities for their students. The graduate students have worked alongside the teachers, assisting them in making the research meaningful to high school students. Broader Impact: Highly skilled educators who can improve a young person's chances for success are like gold for the nation's schools, which are under pressure for tough accountability standards. Teachers will influence over a thousand students during the course of their careers. The Hall's Explainers are of high school and college age. These two groups will have positive impacts on our society for years to come. They will benefit from participation, and the tens of thousands of visitors to the museum will learn about cutting edge research.
Measures students' views about the nature of knowledge and learning in the physical sciences along five non-orthogonal dimensions (structure of scientific knowledge, nature of knowing and learning, real-life applicability, evolving knowledge, & source of ability to learn.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Andrew ElbyJohn FrederiksenChristina SchwarzBarbara White