The NSF-funded project titled An Informal Learning Model of Genetic and Genomic Education for Adult Bilingual Learners, was led by Joanne Sandberg, PhD. The project included three phases:
Phase I: Investigation of knowledge and beliefs about transmission of traits, genetic and genomic concepts, gene-environment interactions, and environmental exposures in Latinx adults born in Mexico or Central America and who have limited literacy.
Phase II: Development of two educational interventions in Spanish that address:
Information about environmental exposures that can be detrimental to
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Louisa Stark
resourceevaluationProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
This document is the final evaluation report for the Teen Science Cafes for Advancing STEM in Rural Places project.
A Teen Science Café is a free, regularly occurring event during the school year in which a local scientist, engineer, or STEM expert discusses their field experiences with the teen attendees. Ideally, a Teen Leader cohort, under the mentorship of an Adult Leader, organizes and implements each Café.
The Teen Science Café Network is a community of practice linking the various youth-serving organizations, institutions, community settings, and individuals that host Teen Science
This summary brief captures highlights from the evaluation report for the first year of the NSF-funded WaterMarks project (also available on this page). The purpose of this document is to communicate key updates from evaluation in a less technical way with the many different audiences who have an interest in keeping up with WaterMarks.
This is the evaluation report for the first year of the NSF-funded WaterMarks project. It reflects an initial summary of available evidence about the intended outcomes of program activities to date, as well as commentary on how the project is using (or could use) this information moving forward. This report contains descriptions of embedded measures (i.e. anonymized drawings and reflections captured on a thematic postcard) included in community walks and analyses of secondary data (i.e., interviews conducted by other members of hte project team), as well as reflections emerging from the
Through the T523: Formative Evaluation for Educational Product Development course, our team conducted a semester-long formative evaluation for the Museum of Science, Boston (MoS) Gaia Exhibit. The Gaia Exhibit (Gaia) is a new, temporary art installation located in the MoS’s Blue Wing exhibition hall. Gaia that strives to inspire appreciation for the earth and climate change awareness. The exhibit displays imagery of the Earth’s surface on a twenty feet diameter, three-dimensional globe. Additional exhibit elements include projected questions on the floor to prompt reflection and exhibit-
Over the past two decades the prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) has nearly tripled and yet there is much to learn about serving this audience well. After high school exit, most are left to navigate the world without appropriate support or the requisite skills necessary for success. Educators working in informal science institutions (ISI) can better promote both social interaction and engagement in STEM education for individuals with ASD. A learning environment in which the learner chooses content aligned with their personal interests and where learning can be multifaceted (verbal, hands-on, fast or slow, social or solitary, directed or inquiry based, physical, etc.) is consistent with the central tenets of an evidence-based, outcome-driven approach for autism intervention. ISI educators have the desire but may not have sufficient and timely knowledge and skills to engage and support this audience. Currently, many are working at the local level to develop new programs and approaches for patrons with ASD, with little evaluation or research and not building on each other's work. The project will develop a rigorous customized professional learning experience designed to enhance capacity of ISIs broadly in ASD support techniques and strategies. The goal is to enable more inclusive opportunities for people with ASD based on current and emerging promising practices. The project's theory of action is that the ability of people with ASD to participate in traditional, mainstream experiences will improve their motivation to seek other similar opportunities, build interpersonal skills critical to successful interaction in society, formal education, and careers. This, in turn, will help individuals with ASD gain the skills and confidence needed to pursue STEM academically and professionally. The project is a collaboration between the Institute for Learning Innovation, the SciTech Institute, and the Southwest Autism Research & Resource Center (SARRC). This project is funded by the Advanced 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.
The pilot's main research questions are: (1) To what degree does the professional learning program support the learning outcomes in knowledge, awareness, interest, skills, attitude, and behavior change in informal science education providers? and (2) What features of the program do educators consider most effective for improving their ability to serve this audience? Four Arizona ISIs will participate in a research-based design study; their staff will also comprise the founding members of a Community of Practice aimed at sharing promising practices and promoting broader engagement among the informal science education community. The professional development (PD) will be provided by SARRC. New formative evaluation skills will support ongoing innovation and build participant capacity. Leveraging this training, the ISIs will create and test new approaches and programs, apply new skills in formative evaluation, and develop internal workplace programs to create cultures of ASD understanding. A pilot research study will recruit 20 diverse individuals with ASD who will visit each institution prior to and after the PD for staff. The research will measure the degree to which the PD impacts attendee experience as well as assess the science learning that occurred because of their visit. This project will advance collaboration between ASD experts and ISI educators to iteratively develop effective museum learning strategies. Other goals of this work are to provide important insights into (a) the current state of accessibility programs in ISI venues nationally, (b) how PD can be leveraged to help institutions reach true inclusion, and (c) initial evidenced-based approaches for inclusion of individuals on the Autism spectrum in mainstream informal environments. In addition to the research findings, deliverables include an ASD PD model, national inventory of current practices and programs that support ASD learning and participation, and the establishment of a Community of Practice.
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.
Familiarity with statistical and data literacy is important in many areas of modern life, but there is little research on how adults continue to build mathematical literacy beyond formal schooling. Mass media science news stories contain much data, assuming that adults will understand the content.This 4-year project will first map the landscape of adult statistical literacy in the US, particularly as it relates to news consumption. The second phase will build on results from the first phase through a longitudinal study. In the third phase, the project will develop a range of experiments to manipulate mathematical explainers embedded in STEM news stories and test techniques with adult audiences, with the goal of identifying the attributes and affordances that best improve confidence and competence in the underlying math principles and their meaning to news stories. in addition to the research, project components include 12 broadcast video and social media pieces each year that will form the basis for testing with audiences, a one-day symposium for professional science journalists, and a written best practice guide that summarizes key findings and implications for practitioners.
Critical research questions are: How do mathematical competence and confidence differ among different segments of the adult population? How can STEM journalists improve adult mathematical competence and confidence through their reporting techniques? Phase 1 of the research will be a landscape review of mathematical content in the news including a baseline study of adult statistical literacy. Phase 2 will be a longitudinal study with news audiences recruited to participate in a panel study. Phase 3 will be iterative testing of the digital content based on the findings from Phases 1 and 2 and will use both focus groups and online testing. External evaluation will be conducted by TERC including an evaluation of the symposium for professional journalists.
The broader impacts of this project are twofold: the science videos created will be broadcast and made available free to a national audience including those in rural areas; and the training of science journalists has the potential for multiple, long term impact by increasing their ability to communicate statistics meaningfully to their readers/viewers.
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.
This program will derive knowledge on extreme weather and its concepts to be shared with youth in the Boston and Kansas City areas. Subsequently, the youth will share this knowledge by displaying it as art work on the rapid transit systems. The art projects will culminate in broad-based exhibition at the end of each group's sessions. The project will involve 200 youth per region resulting in an impact of 1000 youth per year, 80 adult mentors and 20,000 adult transportation riders in learning about extreme weather concepts. Participant organizations are the University of Mass-Boston, University of Mass-Lowell, The Massachusetts College of Art, the University of Kansas Center for Research Inc., and the Goodman Research Group Inc.
The goals of this project are to bring the topic of extreme weather to the foreground by educating youth and in turn having them educate a selected group of adults that use the rapid transit system. Groups of youths will learn about the topic through a series of meetings with mentors who are experts on the issues around extreme weather. The youth will derive their own art-works with their interpretation. These art-works will be displayed on the rapid transit systems in New England (Merrimack Valley and Worcester regions) and the Mid-West (Topeka and Kansas City areas). Using a quasi-experimental mixed methodology (demographics, bus ridership, initial level of science awareness, and interest) the goal is to understand science learning outcomes associated with the creation and public display of youth art. Research questions of importance in this regard are 1. In what ways does blending art with the science enhance youth learning about extreme weather concepts? 2. To what extent does youth art support adult learning of science? and 3. How does regional context affect learning about extreme weather?
Broader impacts will result from the youth diversity as well as the diversity of riders of the rapid transit systems where the art of extreme weather is displayed.
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 ChenLois HetlandJill LohmeierStephen MisholSteven SchrockClaudia Bode