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.
As part of the public impacts evaluation work conducted for the Explore Science: Earth & Space activity toolkits developed and created through the NASA-funded Space and Earth Informal STEM education (SEISE) project, this summative evaluation study of the toolkits was designed to address and answer questions regarding the number and range of audiences reached by the project, visitor engagement, relevance, science identity, and their understanding around NASA’s Science Mission Directorate (SMD) content areas (astrophysics, planetary science, heliophysics, Earth science). The results are based on
NASA's Universe of Learning provides resources and experiences that enable diverse audiences to explore fundamental questions in astronomy, experience how science is done, and discover the universe for themselves. Using its direct connection to science and science experts, NASA's Universe of Learning creates and delivers timely and authentic resources and experiences for youth, families, and lifelong learners. The goal is to strengthen science learning and literacy, and to enable learners to discover the universe for themselves in innovative, interactive ways that meet today's 21st century needs. The program includes astronomical data tools, multimedia resources, exhibits and community programs, and professional learning experiences for informal educators. It is developed through a unique partnership between the Space Telescope Science Institute, Caltech/IPAC, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, and Sonoma State University.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Denise SmithGordon SquiresKathy LestitionAnya BifernoLynn Cominsky
Pacific Science Center will expand its Science, Technology, Engineering and Math—Out-of-School Time (STEM-OST) model to new venues in the Puget Sound region to improve science literacy and increase interest in STEM careers for youth. STEM-OST brings hands-on lessons and activities in physics, engineering, astronomy, mathematics, geology, and health to elementary and middle school children in underserved communities throughout the summer months. The center will modify lessons and activities to serve students in grades K-2, align the curriculum with the Next Generation Science Standards, and increase the number of Family Science Days and Family Science Workshops offered to enhance parent involvement in STEM learning. The program will employ a tiered mentoring approach with outreach educators, teens, and education volunteers to increase interest in STEM content and provide direct links between STEM and workforce preparedness.
A partnership between Carthage College and the Appalachian Mountain Club has delivered a successful public education and outreach program that merges natural environment topics and astronomy. Over the four years of activity, over 25,000 people have received programming. The effort has trained nature educators, permanent and seasonal AMC staff, and undergraduate physics and astronomy students to integrate diverse topical material and deliver high quality programming to the lay public. Unique to the program is the holistic nature of the material delivered - an 'atypical' astronomy program. Linking observable characteristics of the natural world with astronomical history and phenomena, and emphasizing the unique sequence of events that have led to human life on Earth, the program has changed attitudes and behaviors among the public participants. Successful interventions have included hands-on observing programs (day and night) that link nature content to the observed objects; table-talk presentations on nature/astronomy topics; dark skies preservation workshops; and hands-on activities developed for younger audiences, including schools, camps, and family groups. An extensive evaluation and assessment effort managed by a leading sociologist has demonstrated the effectiveness of the approach, and contributed to continuous improvement in the program content and methods.
The National Science Festival Network project, also operating as the Science Festival Alliance, is designed to create a sustainable national network of science festivals that engages all facets of the general public in science learning. Science Festivals, clearly distinct from "science fairs", are community-wide activities engaging professional scientists and informal and K-12 educators targeting underrepresented segments of local communities historically underserved by formal or informal STEM educational activities. The initiative builds on previous work in other parts of the world (e.g. Europe, Australasia) and on recent efforts in the U.S. to create science festivals. The target audiences are families, children and youth ages 5-18, adults, professional scientists and educators in K-12 and informal science institutions, and underserved and underrepresented communities. Project partners include the MIT Museum in Cambridge, UC San Diego, UC San Francisco, and the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. The deliverables include annual science festivals in these four cities supported by year-round related activities for K-12 and informal audiences, a partnership network, a web portal, and two national conferences. Ten science festivals will be convened in total over the 3 years of the project, each reaching 15,000 to 60,000 participants per year. STEM content includes earth and space science, oceanography, biological/biomedical science, bioinformatics, and computer, behavioral, aeronautical, nanotechnology, environmental, and nuclear science. An independent evaluator will systematically assess audience participation and perceptions, level/types of science interest stimulated in target groups, growth of partnering support at individual sites, and increasing interactions between ISE and formal K-12 education. A variety of qualitative and quantitative assessments will be designed and utilized. The project has the potential to transform public communication and understanding of science and increase the numbers of youth interested in pursuing science.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Loren ThompsonJeremy BabendureBen Wiehe
This evaluation reports on the Mission: Solar System project, a 2-year project funded by NASA. The goal of the Mission: Solar System was to create a collection of resources that integrates digital media with hands-on science and engineering activities to support kids’ exploration in formal and informal education settings. Our goal in creating the resources were: For youth: (1) Provide opportunities to use science, technology, engineering, and math to solve challenges related to exploring our solar system, (2) Build and hone critical thinking, problem-solving, and design process skills, (3)
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
The Museum of Aviation: STEM-ulating Georgia's Future Workforce Through Outreach project will build partnerships between the Museum of Aviation, STARBASE, six Georgia school districts, NASA, and volunteer mentors that promote STEM literacy, awareness of NASA's mission, and encourage the pursuit of STEM careers. This goal will be achieved through meeting the following objectives: -Promote lifelong learning by students, educators, and families, using NASA-themed STEM and missions via six outreach programs serving 10,750 participants (including 9,000 students, 1,600 parents, and 150 teachers). -Improve the understanding of NASA's missions, contributions to STEM disciplines and careers by students and faculty in grades pre K-8 by at least 35%. To accomplish the objectives, 6 STEM-based outreach programs will be provided to 12 school districts and will serve students, parents, and teachers. -ACE on the Go - STEM Modules use hands-on interactive activities for 2nd-5th graders -Family STEM Night - provides 2nd-5th graders and their families an opportunity to partake in 15 or more hands-on, interactive experiments that demonstrate STEM principles. -Aviation Outreach - introduces 6th-8th graders to aviation, and to STEM related careers. -STEM Afterschool - 6th-8th graders will learn about forces and motion and how forces make flight possible. -STARBASE 2.0 Afterschool STEM Mentoring Club consists of two components - a STEM Academy and a STEM Mentoring Afterschool Program both for underserved and at-risk youth in grades 6-8. -Teacher Training – STEM Workshops for teachers through the Georgia NASA RERC. This project will help to strengthen Georgia's future workforce by targeting students traditionally underserved and underrepresented in communities and in STEM fields. It will help attract and retain students in STEM disciplines by engaging students in STEM education and exposing them to STEM careers, and connect students, teachers, and families to NASA's mission by building strategic partnerships with formal education providers. The project will also help to strengthen the nation's and NASA's future workforce, attract and retain students in STEM disciplines, and engage Americans in NASA's mission.
Curious Scientific Investigators (CSI): Flight Adventures immerses children and families in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) disciplines. Launched in February 2012, the project supports NASA’s Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD), focusing on “innovative ideas to convey the fundamentals of flight, flight technology, and NASA’s role in aeronautics.” The project’s audience includes youth ages 6-18 and the Museum’s more than 1 million annual visitors of all ages. The project’s lead agency, The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis (Museum), developed and implemented the project in Indianapolis in partnership with the Academy of Model Aeronautics and NASA Dryden Flight Research Center. The project’s goals focus on inspiring children and families to develop an interest in STEM concepts and learn about NASA’s role in science and aeronautics research and the evolution of flight, and on engaging and educating them through inquiry-based programs that facilitate understanding of STEM concepts and knowledge and NASA’s contributions to flight. Centered on an original Multimedia Planetarium Show on flight, Flight Adventures, the Museum designed several components, all of which complement the show and the messages it conveys. Among these components are an exhibit area composed of a movable wind tunnel, a display of models, low- and high-tech interactives; a Unit of Study; a TV show, Wings Over Indiana; a website; and a variety of educational and family programs.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Jennifer Pace-RobinsonGordon Schimmel
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.
Roto, an exhibition design and production firm, contracted Randi Korn & Associates, Inc. (RK&A) to conduct a front-end evaluation of Speed, an exhibition being developed for The Science Museum of Virginia (SMV) in Richmond, Virginia. RK&A explored visitors’ thoughts, perceptions, and understandings of exhibition concepts related to speed, defined as change over time. How did we approach this study? RK&A worked closely with Roto to identify the goals and objectives for the Speed exhibition. Findings from the front-end evaluation were designed to help Roto and SMV find common ground between