Xraise provides experiences that empower individuals by making science familiar and accessible. Immersed with scientists themselves, we facilitate hands-on, minds-on activities that involve the direct exploration of physics phenomena. Our relationship with K12 students, educators and community partners provides us with a platform for exploring personal intuitions, developing understandings and fostering excitement in science.
This Cyberlearning Integration and Deployment (INDP) project brings together an interdisciplinary research team from the MIT Media Lab, the Digital Media and Learning Hub at University of California Irvine, and Harvard University's Berkman Center for Internet and Society to explore development and use of new types of online tools, activities, and gatherings to engage more young people in developing computational fluency, particularly youth from groups currently underrepresented in computing. The project builds on the success of the NSF-funded Scratch programming language and online community (http://scratch.mit.edu), where more than 1.5 million young people have created interactive stories, games, animations, and simulations based on their interests. The Coding for All project aims to provide new pathways into Scratch for youth from populations that are not currently drawn in easily to technological and scientific discourse and activities. The PIs are designing and refining a variety of interest-based microworlds -- introductory programming environments that are customized to particular interests of youngsters in those populations -- to provide easier and more inviting entry points for getting started with coding, and they aim to develop guidelines for designing microworlds that are simple enough not to be overwhelming, engaging enough to draw youngsters in, rich enough to allow creative expression, and tuned well enough to the interests and prior knowledge of new participants to foster curiosity and learning. In addition, the team is exploring how to use personnel in libraries and other spaces where low-income youth congregate to support initial introduction to and engagement with these microworlds and developing and refining tools to support interest-based on-line hangouts and unconferences, where young people who become engaged through these microworlds can meet peers and mentors to share ideas, form collaborations, and increase their programming and expressive capabilities. The PIs are collecting much data about the engagement and participation of youngsters, the development of their skills and understanding, and the development of their interests, and their analysis will contribute to deeper understanding of needed supports, pathways, and outcomes related to computational fluency. This project addresses the need to draw in and promote learning among those in populations not served well by current educational practices and important national priorities in workforce development, equity, and the need for a technologically fluent public. The project's tools and activities will provide alternative pathways into coding, increasing opportunities for young people in non-dominant communities to develop computational fluency. The focus on public libraries explores how to use public educational institutions most geared towards serving the technology needs and diverse interests of non-dominant communities in taking advantage of new online learning opportunities. The findings from this research will inform researchers and practitioners concerned with STEM-related learning, online educational resources, equity in education, and cyberlaw.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Mizuko ItoMitchel ResnickNatalie RuskUrs Gasser
This project develops an interdisciplinary and transformative in- and out of-school science education and technology program that engages high school aged youth and their teachers in 1) the production of food using hydroponics, and 2) the use of green energy technologies (solar, and wind) to power hydroponic systems. This distinctive program integrates food production, a novel model of parental outreach, a focus on green career development, and an authentic reason (growing their own produce for selling at a market) for learning how and why to use alternative energy technologies. The project creates an approach to sustainability in which students not only give back to their community, but are in a position to provide a continuous revenue stream to the school in order to operate their indoor urban garden indefinitely. The partnership with the Boston Youth Environmental Network provides youth opportunities for summer internships with green energy companies. The project builds upon a learning progressions model in which youth gradually learn about complex scientific systems and economic principles throughout their years in the program. Rather than a onetime experience, youth are engaged in a long-term experience building their knowledge and skills regarding science, economics, and college preparedness. This project has the potential to impact thousands of students informally and over 2000 students (in classrooms) directly with a minimum of 60 students receiving focused and in depth learning experiences during the summer and on weekends during the school year. With the passage of laws encouraging local schools to partner with local farms, the need for locally grown produce will increase; in that context, the program brings the farm to the school in a way that allows food to be grown year round. Thus, a model is developed that any school or informal learning center could adopt to grow their own food while simultaneously creating a living and learning laboratory for youth in their own program.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
George BarnettEric StraussDavid BlusteinCatherine WongElizabeth Bagnani