The impacts of changes in the climate at local and global levels threaten how people live. Some frontline communities, especially in historically disenfranchised and under-resourced areas, are particularly vulnerable to the devastating effects of climatological events such as wildfires, flooding, and urban heat islands. As such, there is an urgent need for collective, evidence-based understanding and engagement to prevent and prepare for these potentially fatal events. Led by the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) in Portland, Oregon, in collaboration with local and national partners, Youth Lead the Way is an early-stage Innovations in Development project that offers a theory-based approach for youth in climatologically vulnerable communities to work in climate science research alongside field researchers, develop leadership skills, and engage in timely conversations that impact their own communities. The project will develop and evaluate a Youth Advisory Research Board model to equip and support youth and informal STEM education institutions to conduct evidence-based research on local climate impacts and communicate the findings of their research to their communities. Youth Lead the Way advances the work of several previous NSF-funded projects on climate education, youth advisory boards, and collaborative networks to engage the public in informal STEM learning. Findings from this project will support ongoing efforts in the informal STEM education field to meaningfully engage youth and to more effectively communicate science related to climate and its impacts to the public.
During this initial two-year early-stage project, youth predominantly from racial and ethnic groups underrepresented in STEM will engage in a year-long extended STEM experience. These youth will work collaboratively with scientists and museum professionals to enhance their skills as climate researchers, science communicators, and educational leaders, while reaching an estimated 4,000 or more public audience members through research and events at OMSI, in their schools, and in their communities. Using a cohort model, the youth will conduct scientifically based research studies on various local climate impact topics while concurrently serving in an advisory role at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, where they will participate in shaping relevant museum programs and practices. The youth will also develop and present climate stories, a communication approach based on storytelling, to raise public understanding and awareness about local climatological changes and impacts. In addition to the youth component, a companion workshop will be held at the Sciencenter in Ithaca, New York, a partner organization, to train staff and formatively assess the feasibility of scaling the model in other museums. At the program level, an exploratory qualitative research study will be conducted to identify the factors of the overall model that contribute to desired outcomes of youth engagement, climate impact education, and informal science education professional development. Interviews, surveys, focus groups, group chats among youth cohort members, and reviews of artifacts generated by the youth will inform this exploratory study. A theory-based guide outlining key findings, considerations, and recommendations will also be produced. The dissemination of this work will be multi-tiered, reaching thousands within the target communities through public programs, professional networks, at conferences, and a live virtual professional development event hosted by the Association for Science-Technology Centers. If successful, Youth Lead the Way will lay the groundwork for a model that promotes youth and public engagement in STEM through climate science research and identifies promising pathways for future research and similar efforts well beyond this project.
This early-stage Innovations in Development project is funded by the NSF Advancing Informal STEM Learning 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.
Very little is known about the experiences of people with learning disabilities in informal learning environments such as science centers and museums. This project will describe the ways in which engagement and intrinsic motivation for learning are and are not supported for visitors with learning disabilities, and build capacity for informal STEM education practitioners to apply this learning for the benefit of those with learning disabilities as well as any visitor who needs more support in the context of self-directed learning. Broadening participation science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) is a core goal of the National Science Foundation and its Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program. This project pursues this goal with a focus on young people with learning disabilities. As the largest group of individuals with disabilities in the United States, people with learning disabilities make up an estimated 20% of the U.S. population. Science professions offer many life- and work-related opportunities for individuals with learning disabilities, and the flexible experiences of informal learning spaces offer important opportunities to promote participation, engagement in and motivation for science. This work represents the next generation of accessible design to broaden participation in, and impacts of, informal STEM learning opportunities. This project will generate guidelines and resources to support inclusive design for this group of visitors. Resources will include a Toolkit of Visual Assets that can be shared digitally and in print with youth with learning disabilities, informal STEM practitioners, and the learning disability research and practice community.
The project will develop empirical knowledge to support informal STEM practitioners to better facilitate the inclusion of youth with learning disabilities. Using the lens of Self-Determination Theory as an explanatory framework, this research will be pursued in three phases. Self-Determination Theory describes the psychological needs that must be met, such as autonomy and feelings of efficacy, to create an environment that supports individuals' engagement in self-motivated behaviors. Phase 1 will be an exploratory study describing the engagement and motivation of adolescents (ages 10-17) with learning disabilities when experiencing varied STEM exhibits. This first phase will adapt validated scales, employ an existing observation protocol, and conduct stimulated recall interviews with youth. Phase 2 will explore, develop and investigate design strategies to improve the intrinsic motivation of youth with learning disabilities at educational STEM exhibits. This second phase will involve a set of experimental studies in which design strategies related to intrinsic motivation are manipulated to inform principles of inclusive design for visitors with learning disabilities. As in the previous phase, Phase 2 will adapt validated scales and employ an existing observation protocol. Phase 3 will focus on design charrettes in which researchers and practitioners work with high school students with learning disabilities in a co-design process. The charrettes will generate guidelines and case examples of exhibit components using Universal Design for Learning to balance varying design priorities and effectively, inclusively design exhibits for this population. This third phase will rely on qualitative coding of co-design charette artifacts, field notes and researcher reflections; member checking will play an important role in the coding process. Dissemination efforts for this project will target youth with learning disabilities, informal STEM education practitioners, and the broader field of learning disability researchers and practitioners. In addition to the exhibit design guidelines and Toolkit described above, the project will publish peer reviewed articles and develop manuscripts aimed at educational research and practice.
This Research in Service to Practice project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning 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.
As part of its overall strategy to enhance learning in informal environments, the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program funds innovative research, approaches, and resources for use in a variety of settings.
Making, which supports interest-driven skill-development and learning, has been recognized as having the potential to engage underserved youth in STEM. Makerspaces are community spaces that allow participants to create items using tools, such as 3-D printers, computer-aided design, and digital fabrication technologies. Makerspaces and making-related programs are often inaccessible, unaffordable, or simply not available to underserved youth. Digital Harbor will partner with recreation centers, two in Pittsburgh and two in Baltimore, to research, refine and implement an equity-based approach to making that will engage underserved youth aged 12-16 in making. The project will prepare out-of-school time (OST) educators to collaboratively develop culturally sensitive curricula with underserved youth to engage them in maker-based technology and computer science experiences. The project will (1) design a professional development program that will prepare and support local educators to collaboratively design and deliver localized, maker-based, STEM curricula; (2) research the impact of these programs on both educators' and youth's self-efficacy, creativity, and attitudes towards STEM; and (3) develop and evaluate an online Localization Toolkit that will prepare educators in makerspaces across the nation in using an equity-based approach to create localized content. The project will result in four new maker sites (two in Baltimore and two in Pittsburgh directly impact 4 sites (10 educators and 240 youth). The project will result several resources that will support the development and educational programs of other community sites. The resources will include the Localization Toolkit, Case Studies, Best Practices, and Research Study. The Localization Toolkit has the potential to strengthen infrastructure and capacity building in OST maker-based programs, as well as other informal and formal education programs using similar pedagogies and design principles.
The project will use a mixed-methods approach in researching the challenges and processes involved in establishing the four maker sites in Baltimore and Pittsburgh, the approaches and effectiveness of the professional development program on OST educators, and the impacts of the project of participation on the self-efficacy, creativity, and attitudes on participating youth and educators. The research study will apply several instruments and data collection sources to develop quantitative data, including youth attendance logs, the Upper Elementary and Middle/High School Student Attitudes toward STEM survey, a retrospective technology self-efficacy survey and pre-post surveys. In addition to project document review, the researchers will collect qualitative data through educator interviews, educator focus groups, and youth focus groups. Project research and resources will reach key audiences of learning scientists and OST educators through articles in peer-reviewed and practitioner journals, public events and professional conferences. These audiences will also be reached through the project website, which will share project resources. The project will reach OST sites across the country directly through dissemination partners, including the National Recreation and Parks Association, Association of Science and Technology Centers, and statewide out-of-school networks.
This Innovations in Development 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.
Virtual Reality (VR) shows promise to broaden participation in STEM by engaging learners in authentic but otherwise inaccessible learning experiences. The immersion in authentic learner environments, along with social presence and learner agency, that is enabled by VR helps form memorable learning experiences. VR is emerging as a promising tool for children with autism. While there is wide variation in the way people with autism present, one common set of needs associated with autism that can be addressed with VR is sensory processing. This project will research and model how VR can be used to minimize barriers for learners with autism, while also incorporating complementary universal designs for learning (UDL) principles to promote broad participation in STEM learning. As part of its overall strategy to enhance learning in informal environments, the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program funds innovative research, approaches, and resources for use in a variety of settings. This project will build on a prototype VR simulation, Mission to Europa Prime, that transports learners to a space station for exploration on Jupiter's moon Europa, a strong candidate for future discovery of extraterrestrial life and a location no human can currently experience in person. The prototype simulation will be expanded to create a full, immersive STEM-based experience that will enable learners who often encounter cognitive, social, and emotional barriers to STEM learning in public spaces, particularly learners with autism, to fully engage and benefit from this STEM-learning experience. The simulation will include a variety of STEM-learning puzzles, addressing science, mathematics, engineering, and computational thinking through authentic and interesting problem-solving tasks. The project team's learning designers and researchers will co-design puzzles and user interfaces with students at a post-secondary institute for learners with autism and other learning differences. The full VR STEM-learning simulation will be broadly disseminated to museums and other informal education programs, and distributed to other communities.
Project research is designed to advance knowledge about VR-based informal STEM learning and the affordances of VR to support learners with autism. To broaden STEM participation for all, the project brings together research at the intersection of STEM learning, cognitive and educational neuroscience, and the human-technology frontier. The simulation will be designed to provide agency for learners to adjust a STEM-learning VR experience for their unique sensory processing, attention, and social anxiety needs. The project will use a participatory design process will ensure the VR experience is designed to reduce barriers that currently exclude learners with autism and related conditions from many informal learning opportunities, broadening participation in informal STEM learning. Design research, usability, and efficacy studies will be conducted with teens and adults at the Pacific Science Center and Boston Museum of Science, which serve audiences with autism, along with the general public. Project research is grounded in prior NSF-funded research and leverages the team's expertise in STEM learning simulations, VR development, cognitive psychology, universal design, and informal science education, as well as the vital expertise of the end-user target audience, learners with autism. In addition to being shared at conferences, the research findings will be submitted for publication to peer-reviewed journals for researchers and to appropriate publications for VR developers and disseminators, museum programs, neurodiverse communities and other potentially interested parties.
This Innovations in Development 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:
Teon EdwardsJodi Asbell-ClarkeJamie LarsenIbrahim Dahlstrom-Hakki
National priorities recommend the U.S. fortify a culture of innovation by encouraging broader participation in invention and STEM. The Game Changers is an Innovations in Development exhibition project with embedded research that advances knowledge about how museum exhibits can activate STEM-related inventive identities among the public. The project is a collaboration between the Smithsonian's Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation at the National Museum of American History (NMAH-LC), educational researchers, an exhibition design firm, and community based organizations. While the Game Changers exhibition theme of inventiveness in sports provides an initial spark for broad audience interest and engagement, its ultimate intent is to foster and enhance inventive identity among diverse audiences, particularly girls and young women ages 10-17, African American youth ages 10-17, and people of all ages with disabilities. Visitors will be met by a brief introductory display to launch their journey from passive learner to active inventor. A diverse array of athletes and inventors provide relevant motivational exemplars and ask visitors "How will YOU Change the Game?" Examples of invention challenges include, applying the principles of physics and materials science to aid in designing a safer helmet and exploring computational fluid dynamics to design a faster swimsuit. Throughout the exhibition experience, visitors will draw on an array of STEM skills and knowledge essential to sports, including physiology, kinesiology, and biomechanical engineering, physics, biomimicry, robotics, computer science, data analysis, and virtual and augmented reality. Throughout the project, the team will work with priority audiences, starting with front-end research and evaluation; progressing iteratively through stages of formative research, design, and evaluation; and conducting summative evaluation to ensure that the STEM-based content and design strategies are impacting inventive identity and meeting audiences' interests and needs. In coordination with the exhibition development and evaluation teams, educational researchers will iteratively explore and develop a model for innovative identity development in informal learning environments.
Educational psychologists from Old Dominion University and Temple University will collaborate closely with the NMAH-LC team, exhibition design-fabrication firm Roto, and evaluators from Randi Korn & Associates to adapt a theoretical model of identity from a formal education setting to an informal learning context. In the model, identity is conceptualized as a complex dynamic system, with interdependent internal and external elements (ontological/epistemological beliefs; self-perceptions; purpose and goals; perceived action possibilities) and reciprocal influences in a process of continuous emergence. Using design based research and a previously developed coding manual, the team will iteratively apply, test, and further advance the inventive identity development model, a set of inventive identity indicators for future research and development, and a list of exhibition design techniques for activating inventive, STEM-based identity development in informal learning environments. The research team will prioritize diverse audiences for iterative cycles and focus groups, including participants from the Girl Scouts of the Nation's Capital, Smithsonian Accessibility Program, Smithsonian's Anacostia Community Museum, and YMCA of Washington, DC. The exhibition's research, evaluation, and design outcomes will be disseminated widely across the AISL field and through project collaborators.
This project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning 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.
As part of its overall strategy to enhance learning in informal environments, the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program 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. The project aims to understand ways to empower Latinx families (adult caregivers) to feel confident in their ability to support their middle school-aged girls in science and engineering activities. The project involves seven weeks of family programming around rockets or urban farming, as well as separate conversation groups for adult family members and girls. The project is relevant for several reasons: females and Latinx individuals are both underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) coursework and careers; girls tend to lose interest in STEM by middle school age; and adult family members may have an impact on their children's attitudes and interests. The project partners with school districts and nonprofit organizations in Arizona and California.
This multidisciplinary project's priority is broadening participation, with a focus on increasing Latina girls' science and engineering interests through Family Project-Based Learning Activities, Conversation Groups, and a cultivated Community of Learners. It is based on the frameworks of Social Cognitive Career Theory and Community Cultural Wealth. The project aims to empower families (adult caregivers) to feel confident in their ability to support their daughters in science and engineering activities, which is often low especially among Latinx parents. The project will develop and evaluate two out-of-school enrichment methods for aiding families in encouraging and supporting their daughters in science: Family Problem-Based Learning Activities, which focus on rockets and urban farming, and Conversation Groups, which provide information and discussion for separate groups of parents and girls. A series of pilot studies will be conducted with 80 families to iteratively evaluate and improve the materials and procedure prior to the main study with 180 families, featuring a factorial design with a control group.
The materials developed and research findings may inform similar projects, especially those for students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds and projects seeking to enhance the role of families in learning. The hypothesis guiding the project is that the greatest gains will be produced with the synergistic combination of enrichment methods. Another component that can potentially have broad impact is working to create environments where Community Cultural Wealth is recognized and enhanced through interactions of different families, creating Communities of Learners. This can inform projects that recognize the importance of community and/or that seek to use culture as an asset. The proposed study will engage three geographically distributed universities and several community partners. It will also provide university students and community leaders opportunities for work on instructional design, implementation, and research. The team will disseminate their findings and methods through multiple avenues to reach researchers, parents, leaders, curators, and educators in informal and K-12 settings.
This Research in Service to Practice 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:
Katherine Short-MeyersonPeter RilleroPeter MeyersonMargarita Jimenez-SilvaChristopher Edwards
As part of its overall strategy to enhance learning in informal environments, the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program funds innovative resources for use in a variety of settings. This Innovations in Development project addresses the need to broaden girls' participation in STEM studies and career pathways. While women make up 47% of the U.S. workforce, they hold only 28.3% of STEM jobs and only 1 in 10 employed engineers and scientists are minority women. Girls of low socioeconomic status start losing interest and confidence in STEM during middle school, and this decline often continues as girls get older. Multiple sociocultural barriers contribute to girl's loss of confidence including gender and ethnic stereotypes; lack of culturally responsive programming; limited exposure to women role models; and few or no hands-on STEM experiences. This project builds upon the success of SciGirls, the PBS television show and national outreach program, which provides professional development on research-based gender equitable and culturally responsive teaching strategies designed to engage girls in STEM. It is a collaboration between Twin Cities Public Television, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, and the National Park Service. The project's goal is to create media-rich citizen science experiences for girls, particularly girls of color and/or from rural areas, which broaden their STEM participation, build positive STEM identities and increase girls' understanding of scientific concepts, while leveraging citizen science engagement at national parks. Project deliverables include 1) creating five new PBS SciGirls episodes that feature real girls working with women mentors in 16 National Parks, 2) producing five new role model videos of women National Park Service STEM professionals, nationally disseminated on multiple PBS platforms, 3) providing professional development for educators and role models. This project will increase access to STEM education for girls of color and/or from rural areas, inspiring and preparing them for future STEM workforce participation. It will build the capacity of educators and National Park Service women role models to create educational and professional programs that are welcoming to girls of varying racial, ethnic, socioeconomic, and geographic backgrounds. SciGirls' massive reach to diverse audiences via PBS broadcast and multiple PBS digital platforms will amplify public scientific literacy, particularly for 21st- century audiences that connect, learn and live online.
The research study conducted by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology will address these questions: 1) To what extent does the use of culturally responsive and gender equitable multimedia in citizen science programming affect girls' learning outcomes, and contribute to the development of positive STEM identity' 2) how will their experiencing citizen science in the parks influence girls' connection to nature? At the beginning of the project all participating girls (n=160) will complete a survey on their interest in science, efficacy for doing science, and knowledge of citizen science and project-specific subject matter. Researchers will use the suite of DEVISE instruments most of which have been validated for youth to measure these constructs. To measure connection to nature, researchers will use the Connection to Nature Index, a scale developed for children. Interviews with the girls will be used to obtain qualitative data to supplement the survey data. Pre-post data will be analyzed to determine the influence of the culturally responsive media and experiences on girls' STEM identities. Researchers will share findings with the project evaluator to triangulate data between educators' implementation of the strategies and girls' learning outcome providing a more holistic picture of the overall program.
This Innovations in Development 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.
For thousands of years, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander (NHPI) seafarers have successfully utilized systemic observation of their environment to traverse vast expanses of open ocean and thrive on the most remote islands on earth. Developing NHPI trust in the scientific enterprise requires building connections that bridge the values and concepts of 'ike kupuna (traditional knowledge) with scientific knowledge systems and contemporary technology. This project will develop and research a pop-up science exhibit that connects indigenous Hawaiian knowledge with contemporary Western science concepts. The exhibit will show how community knowledge (that is consistent with underlying scientific principles and natural laws) has informed innovation by indigenous peoples. This community-initiated and developed project will begin with a single pop-up exhibit designed to incorporate several hands-on culture-based STEM activities that integrate traditional and modern technologies. For example, the exhibit may cover indigenous systems of star navigation for ocean voyaging, systems of netting for food and water containers, or systems of home design with local and natural materials. This project seeks to develop preliminary evidence of the effectiveness of such an approach for supporting rural Hawaiian youths' STEM engagement, understanding, and personal connections to Native Hawaiian STEM knowledge. Findings from this pilot and feasibility study will inform the development of a larger pop-up science center grounded in indigenous Hawaiian STEM knowledge, and advance intellectual knowledge around culturally sustaining pedagogy by helping informal STEM education practitioners understand community initiated and developed STEM exhibits.
This pop-up science center pilot will be led by a local Hawaiian community organization, INPEACE, in collaboration with several local community members and other community-based organizations. The preliminary research will iteratively explore whether and how an existing Hawaiian culture-based framework can be used to design hands-on STEM exhibits to enhance rural learner engagement, depth of STEM knowledge, and connection to Native Hawaiian STEM knowledge. Research efforts led by Kamehameha Schools, which has a long history of conducting research from an indigenous worldview, will engage 120 learners from various rural communities across Hawaii, from which 40 will be pre-selected middle-school youth, and 80 individuals will be from public audiences of learners ages 12 and up. Through a series of observations, interviews, pre and post surveys with validated instruments, and focus groups, the research will probe: (1) The learners' thoughts on the science practice and its relevance to old and new Hawaii and modern society. (2) The level at which related STEM topics have been understood, and (3) The learners' perceptions about their connection to Native Hawaiian STEM knowledge. Results from this pilot study will inform a future pop-up science center development project, and add to the scarce literature on community-driven, culturally sustaining exhibition development.
This Pilots and Feasibility Studies project is funded by the NSF Advancing Informal STEM Learning 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.
As new technologies continue to dominate the world, access to and participation in science, technology, engineering, mathematics (STEM), and computing has become a critical focus of education research, practice, and policy. This issue is exceptionally relevant for American Indians, who remain underrepresented as only 0.2% of the STEM workforce, even though they make up 2% of the U.S. population. In response to this need, this Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) project takes a community-driven design approach, a collaborative design process in which Indigenous partners maintain sovereignty as designers, to collaboratively create three place-based storytelling experiences, stories told in historical and cultural places through location-based media. The place-based storytelling experiences will be digital installations at three culturally, politically, and historically significant sites in the local community where the public can engage with Indigenous science. The work is being done in partnership with the Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation (NWBSN).
The principal investigator and the NWBSN will investigate: (a) what are effective strategies and processes to conduct community-driven design with Indigenous partners?; (b) how does designing place-based storytelling experiences develop tribal members' design, technical, and computational skills?; (c) how does designing these experiences impact tribal members' scientific, technological, and cultural identities? The goals are to establish a process of community-driven design, build infrastructure to support this process, and understand how this methodological approach can result in culturally-appropriate ways to engage with science through technology. The principal investigator will work with the tribe to complete three intergenerational design cycles (a design cycle is made up of multiple design iterations). Each design cycle will result in one place-based storytelling experience. The goal is to include roughly 15 youth (ages 6-18), 10 Elders, and 10 other community members (i.e. members ages 18-50, likely parents) in each design cycle (35 tribal members total). Some designers are likely to participate in multiple design cycles. The tribe currently has 48 youth ages 6-18 and the project aims to engage at least 30 across all three design cycles. Over four years of designing three different experiences, the NWBSN aims to recruit at least 100 tribal members (just under 20% of the tribe) to make contributions (as designers, storytellers, or to provide cultural artifacts or design feedback).
This CAREER award 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.
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.
The goal of the National Science Foundation?s Research Coordination Network (RCN) program is to advance a field or create new directions in research or education by supporting groups of investigators to communicate and coordinate their research, training and educational activities across disciplinary, organizational, geographic and international boundaries. This RCN will bring together scholars and practitioners working at the intersection of equity and interdisciplinary making in STEM education. Making is a culture that emphasizes interest-driven learning by doing within an informal, peer-led and creative social environment. Hundreds of maker spaces and maker-oriented classroom pedagogies have developed across the country. Maker spaces often include digital technologies such as computer design, 3-D printers, and laser cutters, but may also include traditional crafts or a variety of artist-driven creations. The driving purpose of the project is to collectively broaden STEM-focused maker participation in the United States through pursuing common research questions, sharing resources, and incubating emergent inquiry and knowledge across multiple working sites of practice. The network aims to build capacity for research and knowledge, building in consequential and far-reaching mechanisms to leverage combined efforts of a core group of scholars, practitioners, and an extended network of formal and informal education partners in urban and rural sites serving people from groups underrepresented in STEM. Maker learning spaces can be particularly fruitful spaces for STEM learning toward equity because they foster interest-driven, collective, and community-oriented learning in making for social and community change. The network will be led by a team of multi-institutional and multi-disciplinary researchers from different geographic regions of the United States and guided by a steering committee of prominent researchers and practitioners in making and equity will convene to facilitate network activities.
Equitable processes are rooted in a commitment to understand and build on the skills, practices, values, and knowledge of communities marginalized in STEM. The research network aims to fill in gaps in current understandings about making and equity, including the many ways different projects define equity and STEM in making. The project will survey the existing research terrain to develop a dynamic and cohesive understanding of making that connects to learners' STEM ideas, communities, and historical ways of making. Additionally, the network will collaboratively develop central research questions for network partners. The network will create a repository for ethical and promising practices in community-based research and aggregate data across sites, among other activities. The network will support collaboration across a multiplicity of making spaces, research institutions, and community organizations throughout the country to share data, methodologies, ways of connecting to local communities and approaches to robust integration of STEM skills and practices. Project impacts will include new research partnerships, a dissemination hub for research related to making and equity, professional development for researchers and practitioners, and leveraging collective research findings about making values and practices to improve approaches to STEM-rich making integration in informal learning environments. The project is funded by NSF's Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which supports innovative research, approaches, and resources for use in a variety of settings. As part of its overall strategy to enhance learning in informal environments, the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program funds innovative research, approaches, and resources for use in a variety of settings.
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.
The Center for Integrated Quantum Materials pursues research and education in quantum science and technology. With our research and industry partners, the Museum of Science, Boston collaborates to produce public engagement resources, museum programs, special events and media. We also provide professional development in professional science communication for the Center's students, post-docs, and interns; and coaching in public engagement. The Museum also sponsors The Quantum Matters(TM) Science Communication Competition (www.mos.org/quantum-matters-competition) and NanoDays with a Quantum Leap. In association with CIQM and IBM Q, the Museum hosted the first U.S. museum exhibit on quantum computing.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Robert WesterveltCarol Lynn AlpertRay AshooriTina Brower-Thomas
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.