The American Museum of Natural History (AMNH), in collaboration with New York University's Institute for Education and Social Policy and the University of Southern Maine Center for Evaluation and Policy, will develop and evaluate a new teacher education program model to prepare science teachers through a partnership between a world class science museum and high need schools in metropolitan New York City (NYC). This innovative pilot residency model was approved by the New York State (NYS) Board of Regents as part of the state’s Race To The Top award. The program will prepare a total of 50 candidates in two cohorts (2012 and 2013) to earn a Board of Regents-awarded Masters of Arts in Teaching (MAT) degree with a specialization in Earth Science for grades 7-12. The program focuses on Earth Science both because it is one of the greatest areas of science teacher shortages in urban areas and because AMNH has the ability to leverage the required scientific and educational resources in Earth Science and allied disciplines, including paleontology and astrophysics.
The proposed 15-month, 36-credit residency program is followed by two additional years of mentoring for new teachers. In addition to a full academic year of residency in high-needs public schools, teacher candidates will undertake two AMNH-based clinical summer residencies; a Museum Teaching Residency prior to entering their host schools, and a Museum Science Residency prior to entering the teaching profession. All courses will be taught by teams of doctoral-level educators and scientists.
The project’s research and evaluation components will examine the factors and outcomes of a program offered through a science museum working with the formal teacher preparation system in high need schools. Formative and summative evaluations will document all aspects of the program. In light of the NYS requirement that the pilot program be implemented in high-need, low-performing schools, this project has the potential to engage, motivate and improve the Earth Science achievement and interest in STEM careers of thousands of students from traditionally underrepresented populations including English language learners, special education students, and racial minority groups. In addition, this project will gather meaningful data on the role science museums can play in preparing well-qualified Earth Science teachers. The research component will examine the impact of this new teacher preparation model on student achievement in metropolitan NYC schools. More specifically, this project asks, "How do Earth Science students taught by first year AMNH MAT Earth Science teachers perform academically in comparison with students taught by first year Earth Science teachers not prepared in the AMNH program?.”
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Maritza MacdonaldMeryle WeinsteinRosamond KinzlerMordecai-Mark Mac LowEdmond MathezDavid Silvernail
Discover NASA is the Discovery Museum’s endeavor to engage students in grades K through 12 as well as members of the general public in innovative space science and STEM-focused learning through the implementation of two modules: upgrades to the Challenger Learning Center, and the creation of K through 12 amateur rocketry and spacecraft design programming. The programming will be piloted at the Discovery Museum and Planetarium, and at the Inter-district Discovery Magnet School and the Fairchild-Wheeler Multi-Magnet High School, with an additional strategic partnership with the University of Bridgeport, which will provide faculty mentors to high school seniors participating in the rocketry program. Through these two modules, the Discovery Museum and Planetarium aims to foster an early interest in STEM, increase public awareness about NASA, promote workforce development, and stimulate an interest in the future of human space exploration. Both modules emphasize design methodologies and integration of more advanced space science into the STEM curriculum currently offered by Discovery Museum to visitors and public schools. The Challenger Learning Center upgrades will enable the Museum to deliver simulated human exploration experiences related to exploration of the space environment in Low Earth Orbit and simulated human exploration of Moon, Mars, and beyond, which will increase public and student awareness about NASA and the future of human space exploration. The development of an amateur rocketry and spacecraft development incubator for education, the general public, and commercial space will stimulate the development of key STEM concepts.
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.
This CRPA award deals with inspiring youth to science careers and specifically in space science. The Green Bank Telescope in collaboration with the Pulsar Search Collaboratory, the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, and West Virginia University will develop a documentary film describing what pulsars are, how they are identified, and how youths participate in these investigations and discoveries. Through this experience youths learn aspects of space science, mathematics, physics, and computational science. Several young students have discovered new pulsars. The film will describe the concepts behind pulsars, how they are identified, and how the students can participate. The idea here is that potential students will see that other kids are participating and they may be successful as well. In the film, several well known scientists will be interviewed including Neil degrasse Tyson, Director of the Hayden Planetarium and Dame Jocelyn Bell-Burnell, the lady in Great Britain who discovered the first pulsar. Moreover, they will interview several young scientists who discovered the most recent pulsars through this program. The objectives of this effort are to be inspirational to young people and to engage the public with the concepts of space science and pulsars.
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
This poster was presented at the 2014 AISL PI Meeting. The project seeks to understand the effects of interactive and immersive environments on the learning of science concepts in informal settings, specifically the role of embodied interactions and whether cueing students to physically enact critical ideas in physics will support middle school students' learning, engagement, and identification with science. This is done using an environment called MEteor, a simulation of planetary astronomy where students use their body to make predictions about how an asteroid will move through space.
This poster was presented at the 2014 AISL PI Meeting in Washington, DC. It describes a media project that created a documentary film about the Pulsar Search Collaboratory, as well as developing programming to be used both in the classroom and in diverse settings throughout the community.
This poster was presented at the 2014 AISL PI Meeting in Washington, DC. STAR Library Education Network (STAR_Net) is a national program led by the Space Science Institute’s National Center for Interactive Learning (NCIL). STAR stands for Science-Technology Activities and Resources (www.starnetlibraries.org). Core partners include the American Library Association, Lunar and Planetary Institute, and the National Girls Collaborative Project. Other partners include the National Academy of Engineering, Engineers Without Borders-USA, IEEE-USA, the National Renewable Energy Lab, American Geophysical
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TEAM MEMBERS:
SPACE SCIENCE INSTITUTE/National Center for Interactive LearningPaul Dusenbery
resourceresearchWebsites, Mobile Apps, and Online Media
This poster describes Skynet Junior Scholars (NSF award numbers 1223687, 1223235, 1223345) project. Skynet Junior Scholars engages middle and high school aged youth in the study of the Universe using the same tools as professionals by: targeting youth audience enrolled in the 4-H program; building accessibility standards into the SJS design ; using research quality, multi-wavelength telescopes. These telescopes are part of the Skynet Robotic Telescope Network.
The Virginia Air & Space Center (VASC): Creating an Exciting NASA Inspired Education Program was a two-year project to develop and deliver teacher workshops, classroom outreach visits to students of those teachers, and on-site educational experiences for those students, which introduce and reinforce NASA STEM resources. These are followed up by surveys from the teachers and students for evaluation purposes. The VASC partnered with the National Institute of Aerospace (NIA) and NASA Langley Research Center to develop and deliver 15 professional development workshops to a total of 185 formal and informal educators. NASA materials were aligned to the Virginia Standards of Learning guidelines (SOLs) for ease of integration into the teachers’ curricula. The goal was to provide six professional development workshops, but we delivered 15 workshops, 250% of our goal. Of the 185 educators who attended the workshops, 155 were formal classroom teachers, and 30 were informal educators. NASA STEM outreach programs were delivered to 8,437 students ranging from grades K-12. On-site NASA STEM programs were presented to 2,507 students at VASC. Pre-and post-program surveys were collected and evaluated from both outreaches and on-site programming. This informal education program helped to increase awareness of NASA's contributions to scientific knowledge and fulfill NASA's three major Education goals, namely: (1) strengthen NASA and the nation's workforce; (2) attract and retain students in STEM disciplines, and (3) engage Americans in NASA's mission, and VASC staff was able to build exciting new partnerships and programs with the different school systems in the Hampton Roads area.
NASA Now: Using Current Data, Planetarium Technology and Youth Career Development to Connect People to the Universe uses live interpretation and new planetarium technology to increase awareness, knowledge and understanding of NASA missions and STEM careers among schoolchildren, teens and the general public. Pacific Science Center seeks to achieve two primary goals through this project. The first goal is to create and deliver live planetarium shows both on- and off-site to schoolchildren and the general public that showcase NASA missions and data, as well as careers in physics, astronomy, aerospace engineering and related fields. The second goal is to engage underrepresented high school students through a long-term youth development program focused on Earth and space science that provides first-hand knowledge of science and careers within the NASA enterprise along with corresponding educational pathways. Over the course of this project Pacific Science Center will develop four new live planetarium shows that will be modified for use in an outreach setting. All of these shows (for both on- and off-site delivery) will be evaluated to determine the impact of the program on various audiences. In addition, the project will provide an understanding of the impact that an in-depth youth development program can have on high school students.