This project examines the design principles by which computer-based science learning experiences for students designed for classroom use can be integrated into virtual worlds that leverage students' learning of science in an informal and collaborative online environment. GeniVille, developed and studied by the Concord Consortium, is the integration of Geniverse, a education based game that develops middle school students' understanding of genetics with Whyville, developed and studied by Numedeon, Inc., an educational virtual word in which students can engage in a wide variety of science activities and games. Genivers has been extensively researched in its implementation in the middle school science classroom. Research on Whyville has focused on how the learning environment supports the voluntary participation of students anywhere and anytime. This project seeks to develop an understanding of how these two interventions can be merged together and to explore mechanisms to create engagement and persistence through incentive structures that are interwoven with the game activities. The project examines the evidence that students in middle schools in Boston learn the genetics content that is the learning objective of GeniVille. The project uses an iterative approach to the modification of Geniverse activites and the Whyville context so that the structured learning environment is accessible to students working collaboratively within the less structured context. The modification and expansion of the genetics activities of the project by which various inheritance patterns of imaginary dragons are studied continues over the course of the first year with pilot data collected from students who voluntarily engage in the game. In the second year of the project, teachers from middle schools in Boston who volunteer to be part of the project will be introduced to the integrated learning environment and will either use the virtual learning environment to teach genetics or will agree to engage their students in their regular instruction. Student outcomes in terms of engagement, persistence and understanding of genetics are measured within the virtual learning environment. Interviews with students are built into the GeniVille environment to gauge student interest. Observations of teachers engaging in GeniVille with their students are conducted as well as interviews with participating teachers. This research and development project provides a resource that blends together students learning in a computer simulation with their working in a collaborative social networking virtual system. The integration of the software system is designed to engage students in learning about genetics in a simulation that has inherent interest to students with a learning environment that is also engaging to them. The project leverages the sorts of learning environments that make the best use of online opportunities for students, bringing rich disciplinary knowledge to educational games. Knowing more about how students collaboratively engage in learning about science in a social networking environment provides information about design principles that have a wide application in the development of new resources for the science classroom.
This paper is the first report on an extensive ethnographic study of two professional schools of art and design in the United States. The overall purpose of the study is to identify general principles for how to design learning environments that prepare learners to be creative. First, I document the cultural model of teaching and learning held by the faculty and students, and analyze the pedagogical practices used. This studio model is of interest because it emerged naturally in a community of educational practice. I argue that it is distinct from the two cultural models most familiar to
This CRPA award addresses the issue of multidisciplinary science and the public's awareness of the ideas. The PIs believe that the prevalence of multidisciplinary science is high and growing fast. Thus, the public and particularly the younger generations need to understand these concepts and to begin thinking in those terms. Thus, they will derive hands-on modules for three age groups that are age appropriate. The project team includes 7 NSF funded researchers who do multidiscipline-based research in biology, mathematics and engineering. These modules will be tested at the Boy and Girls Club of Dane County prior to being exhibited at the Madison Children's Museum and the Aldo Leopold Nature Center. Further, the local PBS TV station (WPT) will air some of the demonstrations giving the project more visibility and impact. Each set of modules designed for the three age groups shall be evaluated separately using age specific goals and objectives. The project is a collaboration between 7 scientists and engineers, the Boys and Girls Club of Dane County, the Aldo Leopold Nature Center, the Madison Children's Museum, and the Wisconsin Institutes of Discovery of the University of Wisconsin.
This project takes advantage of the charismatic nature of arachnids to engage the public in scientific inquiry, dialogue, and exploration. The project has two specific programs: (1) The development, implementation, and assessment of an informal museum event entitled 'Eight-Legged Encounters' which now has more than 25 associated activity stations. These activities encompass stations relating to (a) classification and systematics (e.g., 'What is an Arthropod', 'Create a Chelicerate', and 'Assemble an Arachnid'), (b) spider-specific stations focused on silk (e.g., 'Build a Burrow', 'Cribellate vs. Ecribellate Silk', 'Weave a Web', and 'Catch a Moth'), and (c) research related stations (e.g., 'Microscope Madness' and 'Community Experiment'). In addition, there is a stand-alone module entitled the 'Path of Predators' that includes an activity booklet and eleven stations that walk participants through the eleven living arachnid orders. Each stations has original artwork backdrops, clay sculptures, trading cards, and collectible stamps (participants place stamps on a phlylogenetic tree depicting the current hypothesis of evolutionary relationships among the eleven orders). Most stations have live animals and prizes are given to participants that complete their stamp booklet. 'Eight-Legged Encounters' has been hosted at the Nebraska State Museum (Morrill Hall) twice, with record-breaking attendance (>800 people in
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University of Nebraska-LincolnEileen Hebets
"Hybrid spaces for science learning" refers to the merging of real and virtual worlds to produce new environments and visualizations where physical and digital objects co-exist and interact in real time. Learning science within hybrid spaces can be a fun, engaging, and reflective experience. Further, hybrid spaces are inherently social, facilitating dialogue and social exchange, as well as the construction of knowledge, paralleling the nature of contemporary science. This symposium brings together several research programs that address learning "across contexts" that span classroom activities
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Ole SmordalJim SlottaTom MoherMichelle LuiAlfredo Jornet
WaterBotics is the underwater robotics curriculum and program that is being disseminated to four regions through a National Science Foundation grant, in collaboration with national and state partners. Its goal is to provide hands-on experiences for middle and high school age youth to engineering design, information technology tools, and science concepts, and to increase awareness and interest in engineering and IT careers. The curriculum, which can be used either in traditional classroom settings or in after-school and summer-camp situations, is problem-based, requiring teams of students to work together to design, build, test, and redesign underwater robots, or “bots” made of LEGO® and other components. Students use the NXT and LEGO Mindstorms® software to program their robots to maneuver in the water, thereby gaining valuable experience with computer programming. Teams must complete a series of increasingly sophisticated challenges which culminates with a final challenge that integrates learning from the prior challenges.
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Stevens Institute of TechnologyMercedes McKayPatricia Holahan
The Decapoda - shrimp, lobsters, and crabs - are an economically important, diverse group of animals whose geologic history extends back 400 million years. Living representatives, numbering over 15,000 species, are global in distribution and nearly ubiquitous in oceanic and non-oceanic environments. They exert a major impact on ecosystems; understanding the dynamics of their fossil record will illuminate their historical impact on ecosystems. We will test the hypothesis that decapods are arrayed in a series of discrete evolutionary faunas; remarkably, the vast array of living and fossil decapods in diverse interrelated groups have exploited four basic body plans repeatedly. Other hypotheses to be tested are that the Decapoda have repeatedly adopted a limited number of baupläne, or generalized architectures, throughout their history; that they have experienced explosive evolutionary radiations followed by periods of no determinable change; and that they are generally resistant to mass extinction events. These hypotheses will be tested using a unique dataset compiled and assessed by the Principle Investigators: a compilation of all fossil decapod species, arrayed in a classification scheme including fossil and living taxa, with geologic and geographic ranges of all species, including a phylogeny (i.e. "family tree") for many sub-groups within the Decapoda. The dataset will be expanded to include ecological data for each taxon and will be entered into the Paleobiology Database, an NSF-supported vehicle for analyzing the fossil record. Employing its methodology, patterns of diversity and macroevolution of the decapods will be generated at levels ranging from the entire Order to species level. This will result in a comprehensive analysis of macroevolutionary patterns of this major group for the first time. Available paleoecological data derived from field studies and published records will be used to determine the effects of various environmental factors such as seafloor conditions, reef development, water depth, and temperature on morphology, extinction survivorship, and diversity. Because decapods have a remarkable range of morphological variation preservable in the fossil record, the diversity of the groups of decapods can be assessed in relation to their morphological characteristics. Defining the history of taxa with specialized morphology will permit recognition of body plans that have been exploited by different decapod groups throughout the history of the clade.
Intellectual merit. This study will provide the most comprehensive analysis of macroevolution of the Decapoda yet conducted, all based upon a unique dataset that is internally consistent by virtue of its having been developed entirely by the investigators. It will document the significance of employing a high resolution, species-level database for interpretation of diversity. The hypotheses and conclusions derived here will provide a model and the foundation for future work on Decapoda, Arthropoda, and macroevolution of well-constrained groups. It will provide a test for the efficacy of PBDB data versus a constrained dataset assessed by specialist systematists.
Broader impacts. The work will introduce undergraduate students at Kent State at Stark, an undergraduate campus, and Kent State at Kent, to research that involves paleoecological, paleogeographical, and functional morphological elements which, in turn, will be communicated to other students. Because decapods are known to virtually everyone, they form an excellent group to use to inform the public about ancient patterns of diversity and the relationship between the morphology of organisms, variations in their environmental requirements, and their adaptability to different physical conditions. This will be conveyed in a professionally constructed display which has the potential to be exhibited in museums and universities around the country. Small kits designed for use in elementary and middle schools will be available to allow students to make their own observations about the adaptations of decapods to their environment and its effect on diversity. Published papers and presentations on results of research at meetings will be prepared throughout the course of the research. Because the study of modern biodiversity is a concern of the general public, presentations to broader audiences as well as geology classes will provide a broad historical context for understanding modern patterns of diversity. Data entered into Paleobiology Database and Ohio Data Resource Commons will be openly available to other researchers and the general public. Combined, the databases will assure archival storage and public access, following a proprietary period.
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.
The Dynamic Earth: You Have To See it To Believe It is a public exhibition and suite of programming designed to educate and excite K-8 students, teachers, and families about weather and climate science, plate tectonics, erosion, and stream formation. The Dynamic Earth program draws attention to the importance of large-scale earth processes and the human impacts on these processes, utilizing real artifacts, hands-on models, and NASA earth imagery and data. The program includes the exhibition, student workshops, family workshops, annual professional development opportunities for classroom teachers, innovative theater shows, lectures for adults by visiting scientists, and interpretive activities. The Montshire Museum of Science has partnered with Chabot Space and Science Center (CA) and the US Army Corps of Engineers Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (NH) on various components. The project has broadened our internal capacity for providing quality earth science programming by greatly expanding our program titles and allowing us to create hands-on materials for use by our educators and to loan to schools in our Partnership Initiative. Programming developed during the grant period continues to reach thousands of students and teachers each year, both on-site and as part of our rural outreach efforts.
Stennis Space Center (SSC) Office of Education and Visitors Center provided relevant education activities and experiences for teachers, students, and the general public. Activities included partnerships with INFINITY Science Center, 4-H of Mississippi, the Boys & Girls Club of America, development and delivery of educator professional development workshops that meet national curriculum standards; inquiry-based activities that emphasized the International Space Station, robotics, aeronautics, and propulsion testing; and development and installation of an interactive exhibit at the Infinity Science Center. The opening of the Infinity Science Center at Stennis Space Center in April 2012 allowed a new opportunity for SSC to partner and expand NASA’s outreach. A commercial-grade playground was professionally installed at the Infinity Science Center, along with OSHA-approved safety matting. The goal of the project was to utilize a commercially available playground and add graphics and quiz-based activities modifications enabling young visitors to INFINITY at NASA Stennis Space Center, the official visitor center for Stennis Space Center, to have an interactive, yet educational, experience.
The primary purpose of the STARS: Strengthening Teaching, Awareness and Resources in Science project from the Challenger Learning Center of the San Joaquin Valley is to build upon the CLC's resources and partnership in order to maximize the impact of informal science education in creating a STEM pipeline for the San Joaquin Valley region. The goals are to promote lifelong learning among the general public regarding STEM fields and NASA's contribution to American society through a series of high-profile community events, strengthen K-12 partnerships to ensure the long-term utilization of the CLC as a STEM education resource, and further develop the CLC's partnership with the University of California Merced to ensure continuity of the STEM pipeline from K-12 to higher education, integrating informal science education to inspire students to pursue STEM learning throughout this progression.
The NASA Science Research Mentoring Program (NASA SRMP) is an established mentoring program that presents the wonders of space exploration and planetary sciences to underserved high school students from New York City through cutting-edge, research-based courses and authentic research opportunities, using the rich resources of the American Museum of Natural History. NASA SRMP consists of a year of Earth and Planetary Science (EPS) and Astrophysics electives offered through the Museum’s After School Program, year-long mentorship placements with Museum research scientists, and summer programming through our education partners at City College of New York and the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies. The primary goals of the project are: 1) to motivate and prepare high school students, especially those underrepresented in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields, to pursue STEM careers related to EPS and astrophysics; 2) to develop a model and strategies that can enrich the informal education field; and 3) to engage research scientists in education and outreach programs. The program features five in-depth elective courses, offered twice per year (for a total of 250 student slots per year). Students pursue these preparatory courses during the 10th or 11th grade, and a select number of those who successfully complete three of the courses are chosen the next year to conduct research with a Museum scientist. In addition to providing courses and mentoring placements, the program has produced curricula for the elective courses, an interactive student and instructor website for each course, and teacher and mentor training outlines.