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. This exploratory Pilot study project brings together a diverse set of partners that include the Watertown Children's Theatre (WCT) which is west of Boston, and, from Boston College a team of science educators, learning science researchers, and positive youth development experts. The goal is to design and develop a project for middle school-aged youth. The pilot project, which integrates hands-on science learning experiences, experiments, and field trips with the student-led production of short plays, will engage youth in expressing their beliefs, passions, and their own identities about STEM by examining how the intersection of skills and practices used in both domains (science and theatre) can enable them to learn about science concepts, principles and methods as well as to develop science-focused identities. Middle-school youth will be engaged in a three-week summer program where they will be led by science teachers, playwrights, and high school students to conduct hands-on investigations in science in conjunction with developing original, ten-minute plays around a specific scientific theme relevant to their life experience, for example, the potential impact on their lives of heavy metals in water and poor air quality. After a science theme is chosen, the principal investigators will identify the big ideas that are important for youth to understand and be able to explain. Upon identification of the key science ideas, youth will then engage in pertinent science activities, visits to local sites, reading current news articles and then in identifying the local impacts and how the underlying science relates to those local impacts. The youth will perform their ten-minute plays at the end of the summer program. Following this showcase event, they will engage in additional science learning experiences and also revise their productions throughout the academic year in preparation for a youth science festival, where their creations will be performed by professional adult actors as a part of the Cambridge Science Festival taking place in the spring. The broader impact of the work focuses on broadening participation in STEM, specifically, the engagement of youth from under-represented populations in the sciences, such as African-Americans, Latinxs, and women with partner Boston Public Schools. The Pilot study will investigate the student learning and organizational dimensions of the model being developed.
The Boston College researchers will study youth's sense of purpose and identity toward science, particularly how youth's identity discrepancy changes through participation in the project. The work places youth voice at the center of the creation of STEM-based theatre plays. The theoretical foundation of the work is grounded in part in the concept of "path to purpose." The major research questions are: How do youth perceptions (interest, science anxiety, identity) toward science shift as they participate in the project? What is the residual impact on parents (family members) and youth on their discussions about science, and how does participation in the project impact those discussions? Research methods include surveys, interviews and observations. The external evaluation study will focus on understanding project implementation and progress toward meeting the project goals, in particular, how well the initiative works to establish a model for the informal STEM learning field that the team and others can apply beyond the Pilot study.
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.
Science Museum of Minnesota will create three live theater productions highlighting current laboratory and field research studies of science issues with strong topical relevance to families with school-age children, school groups, and adult lifelong learners. Shows will align with the appropriate grade levels of the Minnesota Science Education Standards in three age levels: early elementary (grades 1–3), upper elementary and middle school (grades 4–8), and high school students and adult learners. The shows will be performed in daily rotation at the museum to entertain, inform, and challenge visitors to reflect on current science issues. Theater staff will disseminate the shows through various national conferences, websites, and professional associations, enabling colleagues nationwide to download the scripts free of charge and present topical science issues at their own museums.
Dynamic Patterns Theatre, an independent production company, is bringing a unique educational and entertainment experience to Central Illinois with upcoming performances of QED: A Play by Peter Parnell. Featuring a day in the life of Nobel Laureate Richard Feynman, the show interweaves strands from his professional biography, including the Manhattan project and the Challenger inquiry, and provides a window into many of his personal emotions and challenges, all the while offering several great discussions of physics ideas presented for a general audience. As the first production of a new "Science at the Theatre Series", QED (which stands for quantum electrodynamics, the physics model for which Feynman was awarded the Nobel Prize) will be incorporated with a unique informal educational opportunity along with the traditional theatrical experience for patrons to enjoy. Dynamic Patterns Theatre is collaborating with local physicists and teachers to host an informal forum highlighting aspects of Feynman's life and career and feature science topics discussed in the play. With an interactive format of "Ask a Physicist", patrons will be free to ask the panel any questions they might have about science for a unique opportunity to increase their appreciation for science and how the Universe works, if only just a bit. "My academic background is in physics, so I am personally excited to merge my theatre and science interests into a new cultural event that has not be attempted before in Central Illinois", said Matthew T. Dearing, co-producer of dynamic patterns theatre and director for QED. Richard Feynman is portrayed by Al Scheider, a long-time regional actor from Decatur who has performed in over sixty community theatre productions in thirty-seven years, and has directed theater for twelve years. The supporting role of Miriam Field, a young Caltech student, is played by Lynexia Dawn Chigges, who is an LPN with Memorial Physician Services, and has performed on stages from San Diego to Springfield, Illinois. QED: A Play performs for three weekends in three communities, with the opening on September 13, 14 at 8:00 pm in Springfield at the Hoogland Center for the Arts, September 20, 21 at 7:30 pm in Jacksonville at the Playhouse on the Square, and October 4, 5 at 8:00 pm in Decatur and the Madden Arts Center.
The Maryland Science Center, in partnership with SK Films, Inc. received NSF funding to produce a large format, 2D/3D film and multi-component educational materials and activities on the annual migration of monarch butterflies, their life cycle, the web of life at select sites where they land, and the citizen science efforts that led to the monarch migration discovery. Project goals are to 1) raise audience understanding of the nature of scientific investigation and the open-ended nature of the scientific process, 2) enhance and extend citizen science programs to new audiences, and 3) create better awareness of monarch biology, insect ecology and the importance of habitat. Innovation/Strategic Impact: The film has been released in both 3D and 2D 15/70 format. RMC Research Corporation has conducted evaluation of the project, both formatively and summatively, including a study of the comparable strengths of the 2D and 3D versions of the film. RMC has conducting formative evaluation and is currently conducting summative evaluation to assess the success of project materials in communicating science and achieving the project's learning goals. Collaboration: This project employs a collaborative model of partnerships between the project team and the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA), the University of Minnesota's Monarchs in the Classroom and Monarch Watch. Project advisors represent world-renown monarch butterfly research scientists and educators, including Dr. Karen Oberhauser, named a "Champion of Change" by President Obama in June 2013, and Dr. Chip Taylor, founder and director of Monarch Watch at the University of Kansas.
The Lawrence Hall of Science proposes to develop a major public education program, including a traveling exhibition, two planetarium programs, a play, and a kit for schools entitled "Columbus' Great Experiment." Emphasizing science and technology, Columbus' first voyage is portrayed as an experiment aimed at testing the hypothesis (based on doubtful evidence) that sailing to the west was a more practical way of reaching the Indies than by sailing east around the Horn of Africa. As with many scientific experiments, the results were quite different from what the experimenter had in mind: instead of finding a sea route to the Indies, Columbus vastly expanded knowledge about our planet and spurred developments in science and technology. These events occurred within a social and cultural context that were critical to the development of modern science, and resulted in far-reaching changes in the population and ecology of the world which continue today. The National Endowment for the Humanities has recently awarded a grant for the development of the exhibits. The present proposal requests that NSF join with NEH to complete and expand the project, by funding: a) components of three additional copies of the exhibition to be constructed by other museums, thus expanding the public audience to 19 million visitors; b) two participatory planetarium programs; c) a play about the scientific aspects of Columbus' voyage; and d) school kits that will enable teachers to present the most important ideas embodied in the exhibition to students who are unable to view the exhibition at a science center. Interest in these programs will peak around Columbus Day, 1992, we anticipate that the materials will be sufficiently interesting, informative, and entertaining to be used for many years to come.
The Great Lakes Science Center plans to enhance an existing facility by adding the Great Lakes Situation Room. This addition makes innovative use of live theater techniques to provide interactive programming for the visiting audience. The Great Lakes Science Center is a relatively new addition to the Informal Science arena but the visitation has double the expected projections. The programs for the situation room are: Science and Information Technology Show; Great Lakes Data Quest; My Own House Data Quest; and Mathematics All Around Us. These new programs, linked to the Great Lakes Environment and exhibitions throughout the facility will further enable the visitor to actually learn about science, environment, and technology using a unique format and "state of the arts" tools made available by informational technology. This project will impact a large, diverse audience in the Great Lake's area and beyond. It has the potential for replication in other museums and science centers. The goals of this project are to enhance the visitor's experiences and learning while at the science center. The themes for the programs will explore some popular topics among the visiting audience. This is a three-year project that will quintuple the programming capacity of the theater, enhance its role in providing Informal Science Education, provide new active learning experiences and expand the center's capacity for accommodating larger audiences of families and school students. The cost sharing for this award is 66.5% of the projected total budget.