The Wayne State University Math Corps is a mathematics enrichment and mentoring program that operates during summers and on Saturdays. The curriculum and the pedagogies in this informal learning program have documented success of supporting youths' mathematics learning as well as raising achievement levels in school. Through rigorous research and evaluation, this project seeked to analyze and understand the nature, extent, and reasons for Math Corps' success with youth learning in Detroit as well as the processes of program replication in three sites: Cleveland, OH; Utica, NY; and Philadelphia
Future City, operating since 1992, is “a national, project-based learning experience where students in sixth, seventh, and eighth grade imagine, design, and build cities of the future. Students work as a team with an educator and engineer mentor to plan cities using SimCityTM software, research and write solutions to an engineering problem, build tabletop scale models with recycled materials, and present their ideas before judges at regional competitions in January. Regional winners represent their region at the National Finals in Washington, DC in February.
Future City’s cross-curricular
This is the summative evaluation report from the Move2Learn Project, a collaboration between researchers and museum practitioners in the US and UK to study embodied learning in the context of early childhood informal learning. This summative report covers the effectiveness of the collaboration and documents best practices for large interdisicplinary teams.
PLUM LANDING a digital media PBS Kids series that is designed to motivate six- to nine-year-old children to investigate the natural world. Content developers from WGBH Boston and researchers from the Education Development Center (EDC) used an iterative research and design process to create the Plum Landing Explore Outdoors Toolkit. The Toolkit includes digital media resources (animated stories, live-action videos, an online badging system, a digital game, and an app for families), hands-on science activities, and support materials for parents, caregivers, educators, and program directors to
PLUM LANDING a digital media PBS Kids series that is designed to motivate six- to nine-year-old children to investigate the natural world. Content developers from WGBH Boston and researchers from the Education Development Center (EDC) used an iterative research and design process to create the Plum Landing Explore Outdoors Toolkit. The Toolkit includes digital media resources (animated stories, live-action videos, an online badging system, a digital game, and an app for families), hands-on science activities, and support materials for parents, caregivers, educators, and program directors to
This report presents highlights from a Fall 2020 evaluation conducted with 69 STEAM teachers from across the U.S., all of whom are part of the National Air and Space Museum's Teacher Innovator Institute (TII). Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on classrooms and the museum's teacher PD program, the evaluation in Fall 2020 focused on understanding the conditions, adaptations, challenges, and success stories of this population of teachers from across the country. The findings in this report provide insight into the variations in teaching conditions (depending on geography and urbanity
Final External Evaluation Report for Informal STEM Learning at Biological Field Stations, an NSF AISL Exploratory Pathways project, which studied the pedagogical and andragogical characteristics of informal educational outreach activities at field stations. This report summarizes the project team’s major research activities and the contextual factors that supported that work.
Appendix includes interview protocol.
In 2015, Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden (Fairchild), located in Miami-Dade County, Florida, entered into partnership with NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) to help advance NASA’s plant research through classroom-based STEM citizen science with a project entitled, Growing Beyond Earth (GBE). The project, initially launched with 3,600 students at 97 middle and high schools primarily in Miami-Dade County, has expanded to include 10,639 students at 210 schools in 26 states and Puerto Rico. GBE is designed to:
a) Increase middle and high school students’ interest and skills in science by
DATE:
TEAM MEMBERS:
Catherine RaymondMarion LitzingerYang WenAmy PadolfCarl Lewis
resourceevaluationProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
For the SciGirls Strategies supplemental activity, ten educators were trained to be SciGirls Strategies trainers during June 2019. During that time, they developed action plans for their local teacher training. The goal was for each Trainer to train ten or more teachers in their local schools/districts. Trainers could plan and schedule their workshops to fit their local context in order to accomplish the objectives of building teacher’s confidence and skills in using gender equitable and culturally responsive teaching strategies.
After the training workshop, the trainers met once a month
For the SciGirls Strategies project supplement, ten educators were trained to be SciGirls Strategies Trainers through a four-day in person workshop in June 2019. During the workshop, educators learned about the Gender Equitable Teaching and Advising Strategies (GETAS) course content, the research-based SciGirls Strategies framework and instructional strategies and began to develop plans for their localized professional development for STEM and CTE educators.
The goal of the Train-the-Trainer program was for each Trainer to train 10 teachers in their school and/or school district. Trainers