Part I - At the same time communities all over the US are struggling to deal with climate change, resilience, and environmental justice, the nation faces a shortage of geoscientists who can work on these issues. This shortage is especially acute for marginalized and underserved communities. Gaps in the pathways to careers in geoscience begin as early as middle school?the last time many students encounter Earth science content in the classroom. To address these challenges, this project will create opportunities for students in three diverse communities (Atlanta, GA; San Bernardino, CA; and Oklahoma) to develop their scientific skills and knowledge while working on authentic, local problems as they progress from middle school to college and beyond, into the workforce. Part II - The project design is informed by research findings that students are more engaged and invested in learning science when it is connected to issues of concern to their local community and that use of authentic, mentored, real world research experiences increase retention and persistence. Bringing together partners who have led relevant, successful national efforts with partners in the three regions the project team will design and begin implementation of inclusive pathways that lead from an early interest in Earth to careers that require geoscience skills and knowledge. Each pathway will include multiple opportunities for students to 1) learn geoscience in the context of compelling local issues, 2) use geoscience to address local challenges, and 3) explore geoscience career pathways. Experience gained by initial program partners and regional pilots will be used to create national support structures for developing integrated geoscience pathways and a collective action framework for expanded partnerships.
This project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning program, which seeks to advance new approaches to, and evidence-based understandings of, the design and development of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) learning in informal environments. Roughly one million refugees resettled in the United States in the past decade, many of whom are school-aged youth. During secondary school, resettled refugee youth are often still developing English language literacy and STEM skills needed for successful postsecondary experiences in the United States. At the same time, these youth bring rich cultural and linguistic resources that they can use as an asset as they grow their STEM skill sets, prepare for future success, and make positive impacts on U.S. society. To promote these assets and engage youth in developing STEM literacy, this after-school program engages these youth in critical STEM literacy development. The project focuses on STEM learning, specifically the relationship between human life and climate, as well as developing youths' STEM identities and agency.
The project will develop and implement a community-based afterschool program that provides resettled Burmese refugee youth with STEM learning experiences. By drawing upon youths' experiences, the program will engage youth in learning about climate science and developing digital stories to communicate with broader audiences. To do so, the team will implement a program that builds on principles of responsive teaching, funds of knowledge, and English literacy development in authentic meaning-making contexts. The project will examine how youth expand their STEM knowledge, develop STEM identities and agency, and develop their expertise in communicating about STEM within and beyond their participation in the after-school program. The research team will explore existing and innovative data collection and analysis methods by drawing on principles of ethnography, video ethnography, mediated discourse analysis, and phenomenological and ethnomethodological analysis of interviews. These analyses will document learning over time in informal STEM learning settings. As there is very little prior research on STEM learning in this population, this project will generate knowledge about how to support STEM sense-making and critical STEM literacy. Furthermore, by testing the designed curriculum and building a partnership with a local community organization, the project will build capacity for broadening participation in informal STEM learning practices.
Whereas the evolution of snow cover across forested mountain watersheds is difficult to predict or model accurately, the presence or absence of snow cover is easily observable and these observations contribute to improved snow models. We engaged citizen scientists to collect observations of the timing of distributed snow disappearance over three snow seasons across the Pacific Northwest, U.S.A. . The primary goal of the project was to build a more spatially robust dataset documenting the influence of forest cover on the timing of snow disappearance, and public outreach was a secondary goal
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Susan Dickerson-LangeKarla EitelLeslie DorseyTimothy LinkJessica Lundquist
A hybrid combination of art and science is used to communicate science in a primary school setting. The purpose of the work is to enhance student awareness of the science behind understanding the global climate system with a focus on the cryosphere. An experiment in communicating science is conducted by taking the collaborative experiences of a professional artist and scientist, which are then combined and projected onto an ostensibly everyday primary school classroom project. The tangible end result is a stand-alone contemporary art work that then is the focal point of community-based
A public event series, “Ecohumanities for Cities in Crisis,” will bring humanities scholars and the public together in Miami, FL to discuss the tension between humans and nature over hundreds of years. Miami is on the verge of an environmental crisis from a warming planet and rising seas. As the region grapples with policy and science issues, humanities scholars have a unique role to play. The project will frame humanistic discussion about urban environments, risk, and resilience. The centerpiece is a public forum in March 2016 which includes a plenary of scholars from diverse humanities disciplines, a walking tour, and a panel on diversity and justice in environmental advocacy. There will be five subsequent public programs through the Fall 2016, an on online archive of all events, professional development activities for high school teachers, a graduate public environmental history course, and a curated museum exhibit.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
April Merleaux
resourceprojectProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
This proposal is from a coalition of cross disciplinary investigators at the Lawrence Hall of Science/Center for Ocean Sciences Education Excellence at the University of California, Berkeley. The investigators intend to create a communications network for ocean sciences in an informal setting to improve the communication of ocean science concepts. The network would foster relationships between ocean and climate scientists in institutions of higher education and build the capacity for educators to communicate with the public about science. The network is intended to impact visitors to informal science centers, docents, educators, and scientists. It would provide experiences with new scientific knowledge about the oceans and promote climate literacy for the landlocked states of the country where ocean sciences are not usual topics for educational programs. The network includes: 1. Long Beach Aquarium of the Pacific and University of Southern California; 2. Hatfield Marine Science Center and Oregon Sea Grant at Oregon State University; 3. Virginia Aquarium and Science Center and the Minorities in Marine Science Program, Hampton University; 4. Liberty Science Center and the Institute for Marine Coastal Sciences and Rutgers University; 5. Lawrence Hall of Science and Earth & Planetary Science and Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley; 6. Birch Aquarium at Scripps and Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego; and 7. Purdue University. The goal of the project is to help a new generation of scientists and informal educators to better understand and more effectively communicate with the public the essential principles and fundamental concepts of Ocean Literacy, Climate Literacy, and Earth Science Literacy. The content is integral to understanding climate science and the science of climate change such as ocean circulation, causes of sea level rise, the influence of the ocean on weather and climate, the role of the ocean in Earth's energy, water and carbon systems, and the need for continued exploration of the ocean system.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Catherine HalversenCraig StrangLynn Tran
The Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow (CoCoRaHS) network is an existing backyard citizen science project that is enhancing the research efforts of scientists and promoting climate literacy among the public by engaging volunteers in precipitation-monitoring activities. More than 14,000 volunteer citizen scientists of all ages in 50 states currently measure precipitation from their homes, schools, public areas and businesses using rain gauges, snow rulers and hail pads, and then post their data to the CoCoRaHS website. Building on this work, the current Broad Implementation project is enhancing CoCoRaHS' network and making it possible for more people from across the country to monitor precipitation. The enhancements include (1) installing a new generation of data entry, storage, management, analysis and visualization tools, (2) collecting evapo-transpiration data to improve scientists' water cycle models, (3) revising and creating new citizen science training materials (print and multimedia), (4) expanding national collaboration and outreach via integration of social networking and mobile device technologies, and (5) developing a standards-aligned K-12 education outreach component that has a national reach. Citizen scientists are being equipped and trained to be neighborhood climate data analysts and are provided with new tools for data analysis and inquiry learning. The enhancements will allow new collaborations between museums and science centers, targeted outreach to underserved audiences, and recruitment of thousands of new volunteers for the CoCoRaHS network. Through a partnership with the National Association of Conservation Districts, the project will conduct educational outreach to all 3,140 counties in the country. Anticipated results include increased numbers of people, particularly younger people, participating in precipitation-monitoring activities, and increased participant knowledge, skills, interest, and involvement in climate science and scientific inquiry. Building the project's capacity to involve 20,000-50,000 more volunteers across nation will increase the density of precipitation-monitoring stations, providing scientists with higher quality weather data.
The purpose of this Communicating Research to Public Audiences project is to develop a suite of media products to raise awareness about global-warming-induced sea level rise and how scientists study it. The project will focus on Dr. Maureen Raymo's NSF funded research which looks to the Pliocene era thought to be the most recent time in geologic history with a concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere with levels as high as today. The multimedia materials including video footage, photographic images, and audio recordings will be widely distributed on the internet, on kiosks in science centers, and through podcasts. Collaborations with numerous organizations will ensure widespread dissemination of the multimedia materials. Some of the collaborators include Climate Central, a new nonprofit science and media organization; Encyclopedia of Earth, a peer-review, open access electronic reference about the Earth; and Audubon magazine among others. The project will also disseminate its resources through organizations and websites that reach teachers and students in classrooms. Rockman Et Al will evaluate the project impacts conducting both formative and summative evaluations. Focus groups and online surveys will be conducted at various stages providing feedback to the project team as well as a summative evaluation of audience impacts.
In collaboration with the libraries of Oklahoma State University (OSU) and Mount Holyoke College, the American Library Association proposes a traveling exhibit and public programs for 40 libraries examining the history and legacy of the Dust Bowl. The project spotlights Ken Burns' film "The Dust Bowl," and brings to public view two little known Dust Bowl archives: online oral history interviews of Dust Bowl survivors at OSU, and letters and essays of Caroline Henderson, a Mount Holyoke alumna who farmed in Oklahoma throughout the Dust Bowl. Libraries will display the exhibit for 6 weeks and present at least 3 public humanities programs from a list provided. The project humanities themes include the interaction between humans and nature; the different ways human beings respond to adversity; and how people living in the Dust Bowl tried to understand their social, economic, and ecological environment.
Educators in informal settings can be a key part of the learning experience, yet they are often poorly supported as professionals. This study followed the professional development of museum educators who participated in iterative implementation of a new school trip program focused on climate change. The learner-centered pedagogy, inquiry format, and controversial content of this program all presented challenges to the educators' existing models of learning and teaching in the museum. We offer four case studies that explore how part-time museum docents engaged in reflective practice through
This Advancing Informal Science Learning Pathways project, Using Technology to Research After Class (UTRAC), explores whether a combination of technology (e.g., iPad-enabled sensors, web-based inquiry-focused portal) and facilitated visits improves learning outcomes for rural and Native American elementary-age youth in after school programs. Expected outcomes include improved engagement, knowledge, skills, and attitudes toward science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). Project goals include promoting STEM learning through science inquiry activities keyed to specific Next Generation Science Standards as well as improving how technology can be used to enhance learning outcomes in afterschool programs. The experimental design of this project - testing the effects of physical or virtual facilitation visits on learning outcomes - will lead to improvements in STEM learning outcomes among rural and underrepresented students. This project will employ several innovations in utilizing technology to teach STEM topics including: (i) hands-on, real-time, crowd sourced data collected by participants in their schoolyards; (ii) a pedagogic emphasis on communication of schoolyard data among and between participants; (iii) testing of motivational incentives; and (iv) partnerships between after school providers, preservice teachers, and university researchers as facilitators. The entire process will be modularized so that it can be modified in terms of place, STEM topic or student cohort. The topic focus of the project -- Life Under Snow -- is relevant to participating students, as Montana school playgrounds lie blanketed under snow for the majority of the school year; it includes elements of snow science, carbon cycle science, and a combination at the intersection of three recent literacy initiatives (e.g., Earth Science, Climate, or Energy). UTRAC will pilot and evaluate facilitated snow science/carbon cycle science activities that couple real-time schoolyard data with tools patterned after those available through WISE (Web-based Inquiry Science Environment; wise.berkeley.edu). Participants will collect and compare data with other youth participants, and researchers will use formative assessments to define interventions with potential to maximize student engagement and learning improvements among underserved youth. The project will advance understanding of informal education's potential to improve STEM engagement, knowledge, skills and attitudes by quantifying how - and to what extent - youth engage with emerging technologies iPad-enabled sensors, and crowdsourcing and visualization tools. The deliverables include a quantifying metric for learning outcomes, a training model for the iPad sensors and web application, an orientation kit, a social media portal, and database for the measurements.
The National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA), in collaboration with the National Park Service and other organizations, will organize a climate adaptation science and education workshop that will focus on engaging diverse public audiences in learning about climate adaptation. The outcomes of the workshop will include: a strong regional network to continue and sustain the initiative; a strategic plan for Sandy Hook that will result in model for using parks as laboratories for climate adaptation education; and the identification of existing climate adaptation education projects that can inform the strategic plan and the model. These outcomes will have broad relevance for the many environmental science and education projects funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning Program. The workshop, centered on Gateway National Recreation Area and surrounding New York/New Jersey communities, will engage diverse stakeholders including community members, research scientists, park staff, and others. Participants will assess and further develop research findings that reveal the potential of place-based contexts, such as parks and recreation areas, as settings for learning about global adaptation issues such as sea level rise, impacts on fish habitat due to inundation and changes in water quality, impacts on recreational fishery, and coastal resilience. Workshop findings will be disseminated broadly through the NPCA national network, national parks, and other organizations concerned with climate adaptation education.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Karen Hevel-MingoJodie RiesenbergerGerald GlaserMarc Stern