The National Science Teachers Association will convene a conference that will bring together STEM researchers and practitioners to review the growing connected science learning movement. A connected science learning environment has been described as a robust science ecology containing a wide variety of programs, across a range of institutions and places, allowing youth different and multiple ways to engage with STEM. Such environments can include small partnerships, such as a science museum and K-12 schools, or a large, community-wide network of a variety of organizations such as K-12 schools, museums, universities, government agencies, and community organizations. The conference will bring together over forty participants, who will meet in a series of several online meetings. The conference will result in a series of papers, articles in the online Connected Science Learning journal and other publications, a series of webinars and online forums where participants can engage with themes identified in the conference, and conference presentations at the annual meetings of organizations including the National Science Teachers Association, the Association of Science-Technology Centers, and others. This award 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 conference will: (1) document the research foundation that supports and demonstrates the impact and value of high-quality connected science learning experiences; (2) identify areas for which future research is recommended; and (3) provide effective, practitioner-focused resources that advance connected STEM learning. The conference will include participants that represent a wide range of researchers and practitioners in informal and formal STEM education, as well as representing gender, racial/ethnic and geographical diversity. The results and products of the conference will be instrumental in developing the understanding and appreciation for connecting STEM learning and ultimately improving connected STEM learning for K-12 youth. The importance of emphasizing diversity, equity, and accessibility will be strongly represented in the key evidence identified through the conference and will be reflected in the resources that will be disseminated to a broader audience.
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 science communication develops as a field of both practice and research, it needs to address issues of equity, diversity, and inclusion across a wide range, including race, power, class, gender. Doing so will require deeper understanding of conceptual work and practical activities that address those issues. This brief comment introduces a series of commentaries that provide one approach: feminist approaches to science communication.
This is a project to offer the Forum on Inclusive STEMM Entrepreneurship (FISE), a novel effort to broaden the participation of underrepresented minority women in STEMM entrepreneurship and to enhance the diversity of the science and engineering workforce. Through a convening of educators, entrepreneurs, aspiring entrepreneurs, industry leaders, investors and policy experts, entrepreneurial education thought leaders, and intersectionality scholars the PI proposes to use this conference as a platform for building capacity in the preparation and development of future entrepreneurs from underrepresented groups. The PI also seeks to contribute to the emerging field of research that bridges tech entrepreneurship and education policy.
The proposed forum has the potential to advance knowledge in the field of entrepreneurship education and engineering education. Given the dearth of research-based interventions to broaden participation in tech entrepreneurship, this conference offers an opportunity for participants to contribute to the leading edge of research and interventions in this field.
The convening and associated activities will leverage the social capital of knowledgeable experts in the academy and industry, investors, entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs to address critical needs of the nation that relate to enhanced global competitiveness, an improved national economy, and the participation of underrepresented cohorts in entrepreneurship and commercialization.
This is a conference review of the 2nd Commemoration of the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, which had the theme Gender, Science and Sustainable Development: The Impact of Media. It was held in United Nations Headquarters, New York City, U.S.A., and a parallel event was held simultaneously in Valetta, Malta. There were 45 listed speakers from 24 countries, with a gender ratio of 2:1 in favour of women. The contribution of the media to socio-cultural barriers facing girls and women in STEM was well-illustrated. However, few actionable solutions were proposed.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Emer Emily NeenanAine O'Neill
resourceprojectProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education and workforce development in the US are critical for global competitiveness and national security. However, the U.S. is facing a decrease in entrants to the STEM workforce which is not shared evenly across demographics. Specifically, women, underrepresented minorities, and people with disabilities obtain STEM degrees and enter the STEM workforce at levels significantly below their demographic representation in the U.S. The National Science Foundation's (NSF) Inclusion across the Nation of Communities of Learners of Underrepresented Discoverers in Engineering and Science (NSF INCLUDES) program supports models, networks, partnerships and research to ensure the broadening participation in STEM of women, members of racial and ethnic groups that have been historically underrepresented, persons of low socio-economic status, and people with disabilities. This conference focuses on collective impact as a strategy to address the broadening participation challenge. Collective impact is distinguished from collaboration in that the alliances require a backbone organization to succeed. The goal of this project is to organize a conference to inform backbone organizations toward broadening participation in STEM education and the workforce.
The conference takes place at the University of California, San Diego January 20-22, 2017 and brings together Project Investigators from the Design and Development pilots, along with stakeholders in broadening participation in STEM on a local, regional, and national scale. The overarching goal of the conference is to develop the knowledge base of participants in the application of the collective impact model, and the role of backbone organizations to address specific issues and transition points of the STEM pipeline. Conference participants include K-12, community college, and university representatives; leaders in graduate education, policy makers and private sector employers. The conference includes plenary sessions, flash presentations, and interactive workgroups engaged in the development of collective impact approaches to problems in Broadening Participation in STEM. Workgroups share their insights, and audience feedback is electronically curated via Twitter and Storify. To respond in real time to participant questions or insights this conference uses the innovative platform, IdeaWave, to solicit, sort and value ideas from the attendees before, during, and after the conference. Conference results are integrated into a final report to inform the NSF INCLUDES Alliances backbone organizations. The intellectual merit of the project is that it advances knowledge about the barriers to broadening participation in STEM education and the workforce, the collective impact model, and the role of the backbone organization to guide the vision and strategy, and support the activities, evaluation, and communication of the NSF INCLUDES Alliances. The broader impact of this project is that it benefits society by informing backbone organizations, which leads to broadening participation of the STEM workforce and ultimately increases U.S. global competitiveness and national security.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Kim Barrett
resourceprojectProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
This award supports a conference and related activities which will bring together researchers, higher education administrators, industry representatives, members of professional societies, and other community members to design collective impact initiatives to improve the retention and continuation of Hispanics, women, and other underrepresented groups in STEM fields. Retention and continuation to the next step in their educational careers is a particular challenge for underrepresented minorities and first-generation students, whether in community college, four-year institutions, or graduate programs (Ishitani 2006, Sowell et al. 2015). The conference focuses explicitly on this critical issue, and will identify potential remedies that can scale across different types of institutions, communities, and underrepresented groups.
This conference will employ a collective impact, networked improvement approach to help fill this gap and engage the broader community. This approach offers a means of identifying and agreeing upon shared, measurable objectives, mechanisms for coordination across individuals and organizations, a commitment to contrast and comparison, and an ethic of continuous improvement. Drawing from the extant literature and recommendations from a wide array of stakeholders, the team will propose measurable strategies for Alliances and the National INCLUDES (Inclusion across the Nation of Communities of Learners that have been Underrepresented for Diversity in Engineering and Science) Network that can be implemented, tested, enhanced, and expanded. The workshop team will draw on evidence-based knowledge, leveraging findings from disciplinary and interdisciplinary fields and from differing types of institutions and educational levels to determine whether strategies identified can yield large-scale progress towards INCLUDES goals. Results will inform the INCLUDES Alliances and the backbone organization supporting the Alliances.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Marjorie ZatzAnn GatesDeborah Santiago
resourceprojectProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
The National Science Foundation's (NSF)Inclusion across the Nation of Communities of Learners of Underrepresented Discoverers in Engineering and Science (NSF INCLUDES) program supports models, networks, partnerships and research to ensure the broadening participation in STEM of women, members of racial and ethnic groups that have been historically underrepresented, persons of low socio-economic status, and people with disabilities.
The University of Akron will convene a two-day conference to develop a backbone organization to support the preparation and advancement of underrepresented minorities K-12 through careers in the biosciences, a high growth area for engineering (biomechanics, biometrics and biomaterials). This conference draws on the expertise of a wide range of organizations, professional associations, K-20+, community based organizations, industry and museums. The intent is to strengthen the network among participants and leverage learning on how to engage youth in the biosciences.
The results of this first conference will be a white paper that will be disseminated to several professional societies that outlines a backbone infrastructure for addressing both short-term and longer-term aspects of an NSF INCLUDES alliance centered on bioengineering, biomechanics, biomedical engineering and biomaterials.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Brian DavisCarin HelferRouzbeh Amini
resourceprojectProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
This award supports a conference entitled "Accelerating Data-Driven Collaboration for Large-Scale Progress" which will support the progress of INCLUDES (Inclusion across the Nation of Communities of Learners that have been Underrepresented for Diversity in Engineering and Science) Launch Pilots toward their broadening participation goals. The issues and challenges affecting the persistence of students of color, students from low-income households, females, and students with disabilities in STEM learning surpass the scope of programs designed to promote awareness of STEM career options. The Launch Pilots will need technical assistance to leverage their strategic plans, become poised for the next level of becoming an Alliance, and ultimately show impact that results in large-scale progress.
The conference will support the Launch Pilots in their broadening participation goals by providing opportunities to (1) develop innovative new ways to gather data and make evidence-based decisions, (2) connect with best practices on the frontiers of data-driven collaboration, and (3) apply new knowledge and innovations to their projects that address societal needs. The overarching design of Data-Driven Collaboration is to facilitate the sharing of ideas, struggles, and promising practices in a collaborative and participatory manner. This will occur by fostering a network improvement community (within and across Launch Pilots), engaging participants in systems thinking and problem-solving through collaborative modeling, and a 2.5-day Public Support and Engagement Lab conference. Launch Pilots who engage support from Data-Driven Collaboration will have a variety of technical assistance services available between November 2016 and April 2017.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Alexis PetriRonda Jenson
resourceprojectProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
The National Science Foundation's (NSF) Inclusion across the Nation of Communities of Learners of Underrepresented Discoverers in Engineering and Science (NSF INCLUDES) intiative supports models, networks, partnerships and research to ensure the broadening participation in STEM of women, members of racial and ethnic groups that have been historically underrepresented, persons of low socio-economic status, and people with disabilities.
The University of Cincinnati, lead for a tri-state (OH, KY, IN) project, will convene a three-day conference to convene national and local experts to explore the best practices that support the development of a backbone organization in the context of using a social innovation model for broadening participation in STEM. The intent is to strengthen the network among participants and leverage learning from the Cincinnati Strive experience with collective impact across the Midwest and beyond.
Results from the NextLivesHere: Social Change Innovation Summit, will be disseminated in the tri-state region through the Greater Cincinnati STEM Collaborative (GCSC and the Ohio STEM Learning Network (OSLN). National dissemination will occur through informal and formal STEM professional organizations and publications as well as through participation in the NSF-developed national backbone organization.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Kathie MaynardRoss MeyerShiloh TurnerGeoffrey ZimmermanGisela Escoe
resourceprojectProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
This award supports the collaborative efforts of the National Alliance for Partnerships in Equity Education Foundation, FSG, the Aspen Institute, the Collective Impact Forum, 100Kin10, National Girls Collaborative Project, Women in Engineering Pro-Active Network, MentorNet, Science Museum of Minnesota, Changing Communities, National GEM Consortium, American Society for Engineering Education and the Education Development Center to implement a project to inform the design of the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Inclusion across the National of Communities of Learners of Underrepresented Discoverers in Engineering and Science(INCLUDES)Initiative. The NSF INCLUDES program supports models, networks, partnerships and research to ensure the broadening participation in STEM of women, members of racial and ethnic groups that have been historically underrepresented, persons of low socio-economic status, and people with disabilities. The purpose of this conference is to inform the most critical design features of the structures and supports needed so that the NSF INCLUDES Alliance mini-backbones and the National backbone can work effectively and build the capacity to transform the STEM ecosystem.
This conference will bring together the most qualified current experts in inter-organizational collaboration, intersectionality and broadening participation in STEM to apply their collective wisdom to the design of the support structures of the NSF INCLUDES Alliances and National Network. Applying the understanding of complexity theory, adaptive leadership, intersectionality and collaboration models to the field of broadening participation in STEM has the potential to disrupt the current system enough to build capacity to create impactful Alliances. The outcomes of this convening have the potential to advance knowledge for all organizations working to broaden impact in STEM as well as those applying inter-organizational collaboration to the field of social innovation. Using intersectionality as a lens in developing more effective collaborative efforts that are responsive to the organizational partners and the context of the communities they serve can add a critical element to this field. The diverse members of the organizing committee can disseminate the results of this work to multiple networks where the results can impact the practice of inter-organizational collaboration and broadening participation in STEM.
Jobs are growing most rapidly in areas that require STEM knowledge, causing business leaders to seek skilled American workers now and in the near future. Increase in the number of students pursuing engineering degrees is taking place but the percentages of underrepresented students in the engineering pipeline remains low. To address the challenge of increasing the participation of underrepresented groups in engineering, the National Society of Black Engineers, the American Indian Science and Engineering Society, the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, and the Society of Women Engineers have formed the 50K Coalition, a collaborative of over 40 organizations committed to increasing the number of bachelors degrees awarded to women and minorities from 30,000 annually to 50,000 by 2025, a 66% increase. The 50K Coalition is using the Collective Impact framework to develop an evidence-based approach that drives management decision-making, improvements, sharing of information, and collective action to achieve success. The first convening of the 50K Coalition in April, 2016, brought together 83 leaders of the engineering community representing 13 professional societies with over 700,000 members, deans of engineering, minority engineering and women in engineering administrators from 11 leading colleges of engineering, and corporate partners representing six global industries. Consensus was reached on the following Common Agenda items: 1.) Undergraduate support and retention; 2.) Public awareness and marketing; 3.) K-12 support; 4.) Community College linkages; 5.) Culture and climate. The Coalition will encourage member organizations to develop new programs and scale existing programs to reach the goal.
The Coalition will use shared metrics to track progress: AP® Calculus completion and high school graduation rates; undergraduate freshmen retention rates; community college transfer rates and number of engineering degrees awarded. The 50K Coalition will develop the other elements of the Collective Impact framework: Infrastructure and effective decision-making processes that will become the backbone organization with a focus on data management, communications and dissemination; a system of continuous communication including Basecamp, website, the annual Engineering Scorecard, WebEx hosted meetings and convenings; and mutually reinforcing activities such as programs, courses, seminars, webinars, workshops, promotional campaigns, policy initiatives, and institutional capacity building efforts. The National Academy of Sciences study, Expanding Underrepresented Minority Participation: America's Science and Technology Talent at the Crossroads recommended that professional associations make recruitment and retention of underrepresented groups an organizational goal and implement programs designed to reach that goal by working with their membership, academic institutions and funding agencies on new initiatives. While these types of organizations work together now in a variety of ways, the relationships are one-on-one. The 50K Coalition brings together, for the first time professional societies, engineering schools, and industry to consider what mutually reinforcing activities can most effectively encourage students from underrepresented groups to complete calculus and graduate from 4-year engineering programs.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Karl ReidBarry CorderoSarah EcohawkKaren Horting
This special report describes NSF INCLUDES (Inclusion across the Nation of Communities of Learners of Underrepresented Discoverers in Engineering and Science), a comprehensive initiative to enhance U.S. leadership in science and engineering discovery and innovation by proactively seeking and effectively developing science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) talent from all sectors and groups in our society. By facilitating partnerships, communication and cooperation, NSF aims to build on and scale up what works in broadening participation programs to reach underserved populations