Learning to See, Seeing to Learn is a National Science Foundation-funded project to develop www.macroinvertebrates.org, a digital observation tool and set of informational resources that can supplement volunteer biomonitoring trainings and improve aquatic macroinvertebrates identification. Project researchers are interested in how trainers and volunteers use the tool, as well as how training that incorporates the tool impacts volunteers’ confidence in and accuracy around aquatic macroinvertebrates identification. In November 2018, project partner, Stroud Water Research Center, conducted a
Char Associates conducted an evaluation of the four-year, NSF-funded project, Interpreters and Scientists Working on Our Parks (iSWOOP). The project brought interpreters and scientists together in multi-day professional development sessions at five national parks with the purpose of showcasing scientific research that usually goes unseen and unappreciated by park visitors. iSWOOP coordinated the development and delivery of digital libraries including animations, still photos, thermal and high-speed videos, and maps to give visual support to explanations of particular scientific studies. In
This document represents the story of Native Universe: Indigenous Voice in Science Museums and how it has unfolded at the project level, the three case study museum sites, and through partnerships between tribal communities and the three science museums. Modeled on the project itself, our research and evaluation team brings together Indigenous and conventional, western evaluation and research practices, through a collaborative partnership between the Lifelong Learning Group, based at COSI’s Center for Research and Evaluation (Columbus, OH) and Native Pathways (Laguna, NM). The results of
The RASOR project is designed to increase engagement of students from rural Alaska communities in biomedical/STEM careers. Rural Alaskan communities are home to students of intersecting identities underrepresented in biomedical science, including Alaska Native, low-income, first generation college, and rural. Geographic isolation defines these communities and can limit the exposure of students to scientifically-minded peers, professional role models, and science career pathways. However these students also have a particularly strong environmental connection through subsistence and recreational activities, which makes the one-health approach to bio-medicine an intuitive and effective route for introducing scientific research and STEM content. In RASOR, we will implement place-based mentored research projects with students in rural Alaskan communities at the high school level, when most students are beginning to seriously consider career paths. The biomedical one-health approach will build connections between student experiences of village life in rural Alaska and biomedical research. Engaging undergraduate students in research has proved one of the most successful means of increasing the persistence of minority students in science (Kuh 2008). Furthermore, RASOR will integrate high school students into community-based participatory research (Israel et al. 2005). This approach is designed to demonstrate the practicality of scientific research, that science has the ability to support community and cultural priorities and to provide career pathways for individual community members. The one-health approach will provide continuity with BLaST, an NIH-funded BUILD program that provides undergraduate biomedical students with guidance and support. RASOR will work closely with BLaST, implementing among younger (pre-BLaST) students approaches that have been successful for retaining rural Alaska students along STEM pathways and tracking of post-RASOR students. Alaska Native and rural Alaska students are a unique and diverse population underrepresented in biomedical science and STEM fields.
The concept of One Health emphasizes the connection between human health, the health of animals and the health of the environment – with the goal of improving all health. The One Health approach supports collaborations between physicians, veterinarians, dentists, nurses, ecologists, and other science, health and environmentally-related disciplines. The One Health approach is increasingly important as our population rises, agriculture intensifies, and habitat destruction increases.
The goal of our “One Health” project is to increase adolescents’ understanding of One Health concepts and the importance of One Health collaborations. We will accomplish this by developing and disseminating: (1) Classroom lessons for high school students that are case-based, incorporate hands-on activities, and align with the Next Generation Science Standards, and; (2) Activities for middle and high school students that are suitable for use in a variety of informal (non-school) education settings. During this five-year project we will:
• Collaborate with scientists and life science teachers to develop case-based, hands-on One Health lessons for high school students.
• Develop and use a reliable and valid pre/post assessment to determine the impact of the One Health lessons on student learning.
• Implement a dissemination plan in which we will recruit, train and support a national network of “teacher-presenters” to lead professional development workshops for their peers throughout the US.
• Develop activities that will be used for middle school and high school One Health field trip programs at the University of Rochester’s Life Sciences Learning Center.
• Collaborate with informal educators to create One Health activities to be used in their outreach programs.
This project is significant because it will improve students’ understanding of the One Health approach to promoting the health of people, animals, and the environment. This project will also significantly impact teachers’ awareness of One Health, and how One Health concepts are aligned with NGSS and can be incorporated into their existing curriculums. This project is innovative because it will develop One Health lessons and activities for use in a variety of settings, through partnerships with scientists, science teachers, and informal science educators. This project will also feature an innovative model for disseminating the One Health lessons to teachers nationwide using peer-to-peer professional development.
This project will examine the characteristics and outcomes of a large sample of environmental education field trip programs for youth to elucidate program characteristics that most powerfully influence 21st century learning outcomes. Environmental education programs for youth, particularly day-long school trip programs, are popular and reside at the intersection of formal and informal STEM education. Such field trips provide opportunities for diverse audiences to participate in shared learning experiences, but current understanding of what leads to success in these programs is limited. This large-scale study will address this gap in knowledge by investigating the linkages between program characteristics and participant outcomes for at least 800 single-day environmental education field trip programs for youth in grades 5-8, particularly programs for diverse and underserved audiences. This study will result in the identification of evidence-based practices that will inform future program design for a wide variety of settings, including nature centers, national parks, zoos, museums, aquaria, and other locations providing informal environmental education programs.
This Research in Service to Practice study is guided by two research questions: 1) What program characteristics (context, design, and delivery) most powerfully influence learner self-determination and learner outcomes? And 2) Do the most influential program characteristics differ across diverse and underserved audiences (e.g. African American, Hispanic/Latino, economically disadvantaged) and contexts (e.g. rural versus urban)? This project will examine a wide range of program-related factors, including pedagogical approaches and contextual characteristics. A valid and reliable protocol for observing 78 program characteristics hypothesized to influence learner outcomes developed by a previous project will be used to systematically sample and observe 500 single-day environmental education field trip programs for youth in grades 5-8 distributed across at least 40 U.S. states and territories. Programs for diverse and underserved youth will be emphasized, and a diverse set of programs in terms of program type and context will be sought. Data from this sample will be combined with those of an existing sample of 334 programs provided by over 90 providers. The final combined sample of over 800 programs will provide sufficient statistical power to confidently identify which program components are most consistently linked with learning outcomes. This sample size will also enable stratification of the sample for examination of these relationships within relevant subpopulations. Principal component analyses will be used to reduce data in theoretically meaningful and statistically valid ways, and multilevel structural equation modeling will be employed to examine the influences of both participants' individual characteristics and program and context characteristics on participant outcomes. Since one research question focuses on whether program outcomes are the same across different audiences, the project will include at least 200 programs for each of three specific audiences to ensure sufficient statistical power for confidence in the results: primarily African American, primarily Hispanic/Latino, and primarily White.
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.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Robert PowellMarc SternBrandon Frensley
Recognizing that race can influence African American youths' perception of which academic disciplines and careers are available to them, this pilot study will explore how African American youths' physical and social communities can be leveraged to support the evolution of their STEM identity and their ability to recognize their potential as scientists. Unfortunately, many of these youths live in communities that are void of critical resources that research has demonstrated time and time again are critical for success in STEM disciplines and careers. This lived reality for many African American youth is the direct result of long-standing disparities in access and opportunities, fueled by racial socialization and biased institutional structures. This pilot will empower youth to recognize these disparities and use science to provide solutions. One perilous societal disparity experienced in many predominately African American communities is the lack of access to fresh produce and healthy food. As a mechanism for potential resolution, this project will consider the utility of community gardens to address this important community need and as a strategy to engage youth in STEM content and skill development. While this notion is not novel to NSF, the intent to utilize an augmented reality (AR) storytelling platform for data collection and project experiences is innovative. This technology will also provide a space for participants to share their work with each other and their broader communities. To our knowledge, this pioneering approach has not been previously piloted in this context. In addition, the pilot will engage multiple youth serving community-based organizations such as park and recreation centers and faith-based organizations in this work, which is also innovative. This is significant, as youth serving community-based organizations are often play important role in the social, educational, and cultural lives of youth and their families in communities. These organizations are often at the heart of the community, figuratively and literally. If successful, this pilot could be transformative and provide a strong basis to support similar work in other communities.
Over the two-year project duration, eighty African American youth ages 11 -14 will participate in the year-long program, across three youth-serving, community-based organizations at four sites. They will be exposed to relevant agricultural, geological, engineering and technological content through a newly developed curriculum called "Cultivating My Curriculum." Community mentors and undergraduate role models will facilitate the instruction and hands-on experiences in the garden and with the AR platform. A capstone event will be a held for the participants and community to convene to learn more about the results of the pilot and share recommendations with community leaders for improving the disparities identified during the pilot. The research component will focus on: (a) the impact of the sociocultural theoretical framework grounding the work on youths' STEM identities, (b) the integration of the AR tool, and (c) mentorship. Formative and summative evaluation will take place through focus groups, surveys, journals, and youth storytelling. Ultimately, the project endeavors to advance the narrative that African Americans are scientists and that science can be used to improve the lives of African Americans and other groups challenged by structural and racial disparities.
This pilot study is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which seeks to advance new approaches to, and evidence-based understanding of, the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments. This includes providing multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM learning experiences, advancing innovative research on and assessment of STEM learning in informal environments, and developing understandings of deeper learning by participants.
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.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Harrison PinckneyDavid BoyerBarry GarstDilrukshi Thavarajah
This project will engage community members and youth in 13 rural, tribal, and Hispanic communities in the Four Corners Region of the south western U.S. with the science and cultural assets of water. Water is a significant and scarce resource in this geographic area. The Four Corners Region experiences low annual precipitation and high year-to-year fluctuations in water availability. Thus, water is a topic of great interest to community members, whose lives are shaped by water-related events such as drought, flood, and wildfires. Rural tribal, and Hispanic communities are often underserved with respect to science programming; their public libraries often function as the local science center. The project's inter-disciplinary team will develop, deploy, research, and evaluate an interactive traveling exhibit for small libraries, designed around regional water topics and complemented by interactive programming and community engagement events. Additionally, the team will build local capacity by fostering a community of practice among the host librarians, including participation through a support system--the STAR Library Network--to increase their science programming.
This project creates a traveling exhibit and complementary programming around water topics. Through an exhibit co-design model, communities will provide input in the exhibit development, identify water topics that are critical to them, and engage the multi-generational audiences. The exhibit merges the captivating attraction of water with the underlying science content and community context, giving patrons the opportunity to explore these topics through active learning stations, informational panels, citizen science-based activities, and an interactive regional watershed model. Artistic representations of water will be developed by community groups and incorporated into the exhibit as a dynamic display element.
Project goals are to:
Spark interest in and increase understanding of water as a critical resource and cultural asset across rural, tribal, and Hispanic communities in the Four Corners Region.
Increase availability of and access to engaging programming for underserved rural, tribal, and Hispanic communities focusing on the science and cultural aspects of water in the Four Corners Region.
Build capacity for libraries to implement water-focused science programs, and increase available science learning and science communication resources tailored to these informal learning settings.
Foster a Community of Practice (CoP) for participating librarians to support the development of their programming and content knowledge.
Advance the body of research on informal learning environments and their role in developing community members' science ecosystems and science identities, particularly in library settings.
The project team will rigorously assess the extent to which program approaches and components stimulate patrons' interest in science, increase science knowledge, and support building a personal science identity. The model is based on the STEM Learning Ecosystems Framework. Robust evaluation will guide the program development through a front-end needs assessment and iterative revision cycles of implementation strategies.
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.
American Indian and Alaska Native communities continue to disproportionately face significant environmental challenges and concerns as a predominately place-based people whose health, culture, community, and livelihood are often directly linked to the state of their local environment. With increasing threats to Native lands and traditions, there is an urgent need to promote ecological sustainability awareness and opportunities among all stakeholders within and beyond the impacted areas. This is especially true among the dozens of tribes and over 50,000 members of the Coast Salish Nations in the Pacific Northwest United States. The youth within these communities are particularly vulnerable. This Innovations in Development project endeavors to address this serious concern by implementing a multidimensional, multigenerational model aimed at intersecting traditional ecological knowledge with contemporary knowledge to promote: (a) environmental sustainability awareness, (b) increased STEM knowledge and skills across various scientific domains, and (c) STEM fields and workforce opportunities within Coast Salish communities. Building on results from a prior pilot study, the project will be grounded on eight guiding principles. These principles will be reflected in all aspects of the project including an innovative, culturally responsive toolkit, curriculum, museum exhibit and programming, workshops, and a newly established community of practice. If successful, this project could provide new insights on effective mechanisms for not only promoting STEM knowledge and skills within informal contexts among Coast Salish communities but also awareness and social change around issues of environmental sustainability in the Pacific Northwest.
Over a five-year period, the project will build upon an extant curriculum and findings codified in a pilot study. Each aspect of the pilot work will be refined to ensure that the model established in this Innovations and Development project is coherent, comprehensive, and replicable. Workshops and internships will prepare up to 200 Coast Salish Nation informal community educators to implement the model within their communities. Over 2,500 Coast Salish Nation and Swinomish youth, adults, educators, and elders are expected to be directly impacted by the workshops, internships, curriculum and online toolkit. Another 300 learners of diverse ages are expected to benefit from portable teaching collections developed by the project. Through a partnership with the Washington State Burke Natural History Museum, an exhibit and museum programming based on the model will be developed and accessible in the Museum, potentially reaching another 35,000 people each year. The project evaluation will assess the extent to which the following expected outcomes are achieved: (a) increased awareness and understanding of Indigenous environmental sustainability challenges; (b) increased skills in developing and implementing education programs through an Indigenous lens; (c) increased interest in and awareness of the environmental sciences and other STEM disciplines and fields; and (d) sustainable relationships among the Coast Salish Nations. A process evaluation will be conducted to formatively monitor and assess the work. A cross cultural team, including a recognized Coast Salish Indigenous evaluator, will lead the summative evaluation. The project team is experienced and led by representatives from the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community, Oregon State University, Garden Raised Bounty, the Center for Lifelong STEM Learning, the Urban Indian Research Institute, Feed Seven Generations, and the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture.
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.
Polar Literacy: A model for youth engagement and learning will foster public engagement with polar science. The project targets middle-school aged underserved youth and polar research scientists, with the goal to increase youth interest in and understanding of Polar Regions, and to hone researchers' science communication skills. The project will develop affordable and replicable ways of bringing polar education to informal learning environments, extend our understanding of how polar education initiatives can be delivered to youth with maximum effect, and design a professional development model to improve the capacity for Polar Region researchers to craft meaningful broader impact activities. Polar Literacy will create and test a model which combines direct participation by scientists in after-school settings, with the use of curated polar research data sets and data visualization tools to create participatory learning experiences for youth. Beyond the life of the project funding, many of the project deliverables (including kits, videos, and other resources) will continue to be used and disseminated online and in person through ongoing work of project collaborators.
Polar Literacy: A model for youth engagement and learning will advance the understanding of informal learning environments while leveraging the rich interdisciplinary resources from polar investments made by the National Science Foundation (NSF). The project's key audiences -- polar researchers, informal educators, and out-of-school time (OST) youth in grades 4-7 (ages 9-13) -- will connect through both place-based and internet-based experiences and work collaboratively to generate a flexible, scalable, and transferable education model. The project will 1) design OST kits and resource guides (focused on Polar Literacy Principles) and include "Concept in a Minute" videos designed to highlight enduring ideas, 2) provide professional development for informal educators, 3) synthesize a club model through adaptation of successful facets of existing informal learning programs, and 4) create Data Jam events for the OST Special Interest (SPIN) clubs and camp programs by modifying an existing formal education model. A research design, implemented at four nodes over three years, will answer three research questions to evaluate the impact of professional development on informal educators, as well as the impact of programs on youth, and the effectiveness of the model. In addition to the project team and collaborators who are informal education practitioners, an advisory board composed of experts in youth programming, informal education, and evaluation will guide the project to ensure that it advances the body of informal STEM learning research.
Polar Literacy is an Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) Innovations in Development project in response to the Dear Colleague Letter: Support for Engaging Students and the Public in Polar Research (NSF 18-103). Polar Literacy is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which seeks to advance new approaches to, and evidence-based understanding of, the design and development of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) learning in informal environments. This project has co-funding support from the Antarctic section of the Office of Polar Programs.
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.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Janice McDonnellOscar SchofieldCharles LichtenwalnerJason Cervenec
This collaborative project will facilitate rural community education on climate impacts. The Carnegie Natural History Museum and the University of Pittsburgh will work together to form a network of interested community members in Mercer County and Powdermill Nature Reserve in western Pennsylvania to explore the impacts of climate and how its effect could be mitigated or accommodated. The project is has three related ideas: (1) museums hold valuable resources for understanding environmental change, (2) museums are not serving rural audiences well, and (3) complex socio-scientific environmental topics are deeply connected to social decision making in rural communities. This project will bring an inclusive approach to the discussion of socio-scientific issues in rural Western PA, through building relationships between local public audiences, STEM professionals, and informal learning specialists, creating opportunities for co-development of resources and building organizational capacity. The overarching goals of the project are to explore how museums can better serve rural stakeholders and increase the capacity for science-based conversations about human-caused climate impacts.
This project involves a cross-disciplinary team with Carnegie Museum of Natural History providing expertise in interpretation and ecological science, the University of Pittsburgh Center for Learning in Out of School Environments (UPCLOSE) providing expertise in learning research, and rural Hubs centered at Powdermill Nature Reserve (PNR) and the Mercer County Conservation District providing expertise in environmental education, conservation, and engagement with rural communities. The Hubs will coordinate professional development workshops, collaborative design sessions, and community gatherings to bring local stakeholders together to examine and adapt existing resources, including environmental science data and climate education tools, to local issues. These activities will be structured through a Research Practice Partnership. Each will have its own unique mix of geography, demographics, resources, and challenges.
The Research questions are: 1. How can the project effectively support the creation of socially safe spaces for rural Western PA communities to have science-based discussions around climate impacts? 2. How does work with rural partners influence the development of the museum's Center for Climate Studies and its mission to offer programs designed to support public engagement?
3. In what ways have museums been able to support learning about climate topics in rural communities? Data will be gathered from interviews and case studies. There will be two longitudinal studies of local network change and museum change. A survey will also be done to assess the impact of the project on the public. Protocols will be developed in collaboration with the Hubs.
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.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Lauren GiarrataniNicole HellerKevin Crowley
Water is an essential, basic need. It is the sustenance for living organisms. For many Native American communities, like the Ojibwe tribes of Minnesota, water is a sacred valuable life source that permeates all aspects of their culture. In these communities, water stories are often used to communicate the value and impact of water on their lives and the lives of others. These stories signal geohydrologic, sociocultural, and sociopolitical societal shifts over time. This pilot study will explore the feasibility of using Native water stories and informal learning experiences to bring water science and issues of water sustainability to youth and public audiences. A significant outcome of the pilot will be a youth-museum-educator co-created public planetarium show and program based on the water stories collected and archived. This approach is particularly novel. It provides an entry into STEM through a dynamic, multimedia context that typically does not engage youth as co-creators of the experiences. Water Values will give voice and a public platform to youth and their communities to elevate ecological issues that are relevant and timely within their own communities. It will also promote scientific discourse through field experiences, interactions with scientists and STEM professions, and community leadership development. Further, this pilot will also test a reciprocal relationship model among its partners. Analogous feasibility research to the Water Values pilot does not exist in the current NSF portfolio. Therefore, the project will not only contribute to the emerging literature base on the intersectionality of STEM, storytelling and Native cultures, but it will also contribute to broader discourse about water health, access, management, and sustainability.
The pilot study will bring together the long standing gidakiimanaaniwigamig program, with its master teachers who are experts in culturally responsive education for Native American youth, and the Bell Museum, which has decades of experience in developing informal STEM learning programs for a broad community. Thirty-five middle school aged youth, five educators, and over 200 community members will engage in the work. During the summer residential program, youth will be exposed to STEM content and important water science concepts through field-based research and a culturally relevant, placed-based curriculum focused on water and communicating water stories. These experiences will be extended during the academic year through weekend science activities that will focus on the compilation of water stories from Native communities, especially from the Ojibwe tribes of Minnesota, and creatively integrating the stories into a fully operational youth-museum co-created public planetarium program. This capstone planetarium show and program will be piloted at the Bell Museum. With regards to the research, four overarching question will guide the study: (1) How does participation in creating water journey stories increase Native students' motivation to learn and engage with STEM, (2) How does participation in creating and presenting water journey stories build change in sociopolitical awareness among Native students? (3) How do Native community members engage with water stories for sociopolitical change and greater participation in STEM? and (4) How does collaboration between gidakiimanaaniwigamig, the Bell, and the UMN impact STEM interest and participation in students and a Native community for transformative experience? Data will be collected from the youth participants, instructors and leaders, and community members. These data will be collected from content surveys, student logs, self-reported intrinsic motivation instrument, observations, and artifacts. The results will be disseminated through various mechanisms within and beyond the target communities. Formative and summative evaluations will inform that work and will be led by an external evaluation firm, Erikkson Associates.
This feasibility study is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which seeks to advance new approaches to, and evidence-based understanding of, the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments. This includes providing multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM learning experiences, advancing innovative research on and assessment of STEM learning in informal environments, and developing understandings of deeper learning by participants.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Bhaskar UpadhyayDiana DalbottenJonee Brigham