This is a brief literature review examining the theory and practice of Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR). It highlights CBPR's liberatory intent, and focuses on CBPR practice in indigenous communities and among youth.
In this paper we investigate how people become engaged with open data, what their motivations are, and the barriers and facilitators program participants perceive with regard to using open data effectively.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Jack ShanleyCamillia MatukOded NovGraham Dove
Having a central scientific language remains crucial for advancing and globally sharing science. Nevertheless, maintaining one dominant language also creates barriers to accessing scientific careers and knowledge. From an interdisciplinary perspective, we describe how, when, and why to make scientific literature more readily available in multiple languages through the practice of translation. We broadly review the advantages and limitations of neural machine translation systems and propose that translation can serve as both a short- and a long-term solution for making science more resilient
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Emma SteigerwaldValeria Ramírez-CastañedaDébora Y C BrandtAndrás BáldiJulie Teresa ShapiroLynne BowkerRebecca D Tarvin
The study contributes to mediatization research. Mediatization is understood as a process during which individual and collective actors adapt towards the demands of publicity and public attention. The manuscript introduces a differentiation of mediatization strategies, ranging from defensive to offensive strategies. This conceptual differentiation is applied empirically regarding relevant stakeholders within the German science-policy constellation from politics, science, and science funding. Results are based on 35 in-depth interviews with decision makers. The results section deals with
This commentary aims to shed light on the neglected space of queer people in science communication. In this piece, we introduce queer theory to science communication literature to examine issues from the past, present, and future. We argue that to queer our field may entail a radical interrogation of some of science communication's deeply rooted cultural traits and working towards a rainbow-tinted future.
This article reflects the results of the project “Open Access Statistics”, which was designed to collect standardized usage figures for scientific documents. The data gathered were primarily intended to provide impact values based on document usage for Open Access documents as these were excluded from databases used to provide citation based impact scores. The project also planned the implementation of more sophisticated procedures such as network analyses, but was confronted with complex legal requirements.
This commentary introduces a preliminary conceptual framework for approaching putative effects of scholarly online systems on collaboration inside and outside of academia. The first part outlines a typology of scholarly online systems (SOS), i.e., the triad of specialised portals, specialised information services and scholarly online networks which is developed on the basis of nine German examples. In its second part, the commentary argues that we know little about collaborative scholarly community building by means of SOS. The commentary closes with some remarks on further research questions
This Research Advanced by Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering (RAISE) project is supported by the Division of Research on Learning in the Education and Human Resources Directorate and by the Division of Computing and Communication Foundations in the Computer and Information Science and Engineering Directorate. This interdisciplinary project integrates historical insights from geometric design principles used to craft classical stringed instruments during the Renaissance era with modern insights drawn from computer science principles. The project applies abstract mathematical concepts toward the making and designing of furniture, buildings, paintings, and instruments through a specific example: the making and designing of classical stringed instruments. The research can help instrument makers employ customized software to facilitate a comparison of historical designs that draws on both geometrical proofs and evidence from art history. The project's impacts include the potential to shift in fundamental ways not only how makers think about design and the process of making but also how computer scientists use foundational concepts from programming languages to inform the representation of physical objects. Furthermore, this project develops an alternate teaching method to help students understand mathematics in creative ways and offers specific guidance to current luthiers in areas such as designing the physical structure of a stringed instrument to improve acoustical effect.
The project develops a domain-specific functional programming language based on straight-edge and compass constructions and applies it in three complementary directions. The first direction develops software tools (compilers) to inform the construction of classical stringed instruments based on geometric design principles applied during the Renaissance era. The second direction develops an analytical and computational understanding of the art history of these instruments and explores extensions to other maker domains. The third direction uses this domain-specific language to design an educational software tool. The tool uses a calculative and constructive method to teach Euclidean geometry at the pre-college level and complements the traditional algebraic, proof-based teaching method. The representation of instrument forms by high-level programming abstractions also facilitates their manufacture, with particular focus on the arching of the front and back carved plates --- of considerable acoustic significance --- through the use of computer numerically controlled (CNC) methods. The project's novelties include the domain-specific language itself, which is a programmable form of synthetic geometry, largely without numbers; its application within the contemporary process of violin making and in other maker domains; its use as a foundation for a computational art history, providing analytical insights into the evolution of classical stringed instrument design and its related material culture; and as a constructional, computational approach to teaching geometry.
This project is funded by the National Science Foundation's (NSF's) Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which supports innovative research, approaches, and resources for use in a variety of learning settings.
Human-induced global change has triggered the sixth major extinction event on earth with profound consequences for humans and other species. A scientifically literate public is necessary to find and implement approaches to prevent or slow species loss. Creating science-inspired art can increase public understanding of the current anthropogenic biodiversity crisis and help people connect emotionally to difficult concepts. In spite of the pressure to avoid advocacy and emotion, there is a rich history of scientists who make art, as well as art–science collaborations resulting in provocative work
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Jennifer HarrowerJennifer ParkerMartha Merson
This project will advance efforts of the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program to better understand and promote practices that increase students' motivations and capacities to pursue careers in fields of science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) by developing a suite of digital tools designed to support positive messaging around skill-based education and careers and to improve mentors' communication with middle school-aged youth mentees. Maintaining U.S. economic advantage requires attracting talent to high-growth, high-demand skill-based, STEM-related careers that are traditionally attained through Career and Technical Education (CTE). Replacing old negative perceptions with new, more accurate messages about CTE and then reaching youth with these messages before high school is essential. Career-focused mentoring is a vehicle for delivering these messages and supporting youth exploration of CTE as a possible path for their own lives. Investigators will explore the hypothesis that through strong connections between those best positioned to articulate industry needs (mentors) and those most receptive to filling that need (mentees), this project will improve youth awareness and interest in CTE and the rewarding careers that are available to them. Research and development activities will be carried out collaboratively in informal learning environments in Boston and New York City that serve middle school-aged youth from underrepresented communities, through career-focused mentoring programs. The project team, led by media producers of the WGBH Education Foundation, includes market researchers and communications strategists at Global Strategy Group, learning scientists at Education Development Center, and mentorship program partners at SkillsUSA, Learning for Life's Middle School Explorer Clubs, and Boy Scouts of America's Scoutreach. If promising, the career-focused mentoring programs of SkillsUSA, Learning for Life, and Boy Scouts of America will incorporate the messaging roadmap and digital tools to support their mentoring curricula, which impact greater than one million youth in each year.
In the first phase of research, investigators will study perceptions of STEM-focused CTE from a nationwide sample of 800 middle school-aged youth and 30 mentors from skill-based STEM industries. In the second phase, investigators will work with six program leaders and 30 mentors from SkillsUSA, Explorer Clubs, Scoutreach, and other mentoring programs to document the needs of mentors for support as they enter into the mentoring process. The third phase will engage mentorship program leaders and 36 mentors in the iterative development of a suite of digital tools that would support positive messaging around skill-based education and careers and that would improve mentors' communication with youth mentees. In addition, a pre-post mentorship program pilot study will explore the promise of the digital tools for effectively supporting mentor-mentee communications that improve youth awareness and interest in STEM-focused CTE and skill-based, STEM-related careers. Thirty six mentors and 288 of their youth mentees will participate in the pilot study. Data sources for research include interviews and surveys of program leaders, mentors, and mentees, as well as tracking mentor activity within the online digital tool environment. This research would advance knowledge of how mentors influence disadvantaged youth perceptions of and interest in CTE and skill-based, STEM career pathways, in which there is currently little evidence as to how mentor preparation shapes ability to positively impact youth outcomes. Major outcomes will include a) deeper understandings of youth and mentor perceptions of CTE and mentors' needs for supporting their work with mentees, b) a messaging roadmap and digital tools that prepare mentors for their work with middle school youth, and c) empirical findings regarding the potential of the digital tools for effectively supporting mentor-mentee communications that improve youth's awareness and interest in CTE and skill-based, STEM-related careers. Outcomes will be shared widely to research, education, and industry communities, locally and nationally, through social media, partner networks, conference presentations, and research publications. An advisory board will provide independent review on the project activities.
The goals of the project were to build an understanding about the perception of career and technical education (CTE) as an option for middle school students in pursuing skill-based STEM-related careers, and to use that information to develop an innovative suite of digital tools designed to improve mentors’ and school counselors’ communication with middle school–aged students.
The ACCEYSS (Association of Collaborative Communities Equipping Youth for STEM Success) Network and Model project, an NSF INCLUDES Design and Development Launch Pilot, at Texas State University is forming a university-community partnership between interdisciplinary researchers (ACCEYSS research team), faith leaders and other community partners to implement an innovative model that prepares underrepresented and underserved youth to pursue undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) degrees. The inaugural ACCEYSS network will include Texas State University, San Marcos Consolidated Independent School District, San Marcos Youth Service Bureau, City of San Marcos-Office of the City Manager, Hays County Youth Initiative, the Calaboose African American History Museum, and several local faith-based organizations. Many historic advancements have been made through the efforts and activities of faith and community leaders uniquely poised to motivate and galvanize community-based action. A collaboration among these academic institutions, social/cultural organizations, and faith partners to work with the families and youth of underrepresented/underserved populations will be an essential asset for generating new perspectives and ideas for improving STEM academic and career outcomes related to broadening participation in the scientific enterprise.
During this launch pilot, the ACCEYSS research team and network will collaborate to design and develop the ACCEYSS model as a culturally-relevant, blended-learning strategy that integrates online and in-person STEM enrichment activities (e.g., summer institute, afterschool clubs) that are aligned with the Science and Engineering Practices and Disciplinary Core Ideas Dimensions of the K-12 Next Generation Science Education Standards. The collective impact framework will be used to build diverse capacity, leverage asset-based community development, and sustain mutually reinforcing non-exclusive policies and practices for STEM diversity and inclusion. Additionally, in this launch pilot, a multifaceted design-based research approach will be utilized to support middle and high school students' interest in and pursuit of STEM studies.