Hands-on tinkering experiences can help promote more equitable STEM learning opportunities for children from diverse backgrounds (Bevan, 2017; Vossoughi & Bevan, 2014). Latine heritage families naturally engage in and talk about engineering practices during and after tinkering in a children’s museum (Acosta & Haden, in press). We asked how the everyday practice of oral stories and storytelling could be leveraged during an athome tinkering activity to support children’s informal engineering and spatial learning.
This project engages families in engineering design challenges through a sustainability and biomimicry lens. Families advance their engineering proficiencies while learning from nature to create a livable future.
This poster was presented at the 2021 NSF AISL Awardee Meeting.
This poster was presented at the 2021 NSF AISL Awardee Meeting.
Middle Ground Expanded (MGE), an interactive public placemaking project, showcases social-science concepts and transforms underutilized places into informal learning platforms. This broad implementation project is a collaboration between the Exploratorium, Urban Alchemy, San Francisco Recreation and Parks, and the San Francisco Public Library. Sixteen columns housing interactive, multilingual exhibits will help visitors explore how we think, feel, and interact with other people all within an immersive outdoor experience in the
Awareness of a STEM discipline is a complex construct to operationalize; a learner’s awareness of a discipline is sometimes viewed through the lens of personal identity, use of relevant discourse, or knowledge of career pathways. This research proposes defining engineering awareness through a learner’s associations with engineering practices - fundamental processes involved in engineering such as identifying criteria and constraints, testing designs, diagnosing issues and assessing goal completion. In this study, a learner’s engineering awareness was determined by examining 1) their ability to
This paper provides detailed descriptions of the goals, theoretical perspectives, context, and methods used in A study of collaborative practices at interactive engineering challenge exhibits (the C-PIECE Study), the first of two studies in the Designing Our Tomorrow (DOT) research program. The C-PIECE Study supported foundational and exploratory lines of inquiry related to engineering practices used by families engaging with design challenge exhibits. This paper describes the study background and methods as an anchor to four other products that detail these four specific lines of inquiry and
Informal science learning (ISL) organizations that are successful at providing meaningful science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics (STEAM) experiences for Latino children, youth, and their families share some common traits. They have leaders and staff who believe in the importance of developing culturally relevant models and frameworks that meet the needs and acknowledge the legacy of STEAM in Latino communities. Such organizations are willing to take risks to create experiences that are culturally meaningful, garner funding and implement programs by working closely with their
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Cheryl JuarezVerónika NúñezExploratorium
The U.S. Education system is becoming more and more diverse and educators must adapt to continue to be effective. Educators must embrace the diversity of language, color, and history that comprises the typical classroom; this means becoming culturally competent. In doing so, comes with it the prospect of using culture to enhance the learning experience for students and the educator. Although the process of becoming culturally competent can be outlined, the realization of a culturally competent educator depends on changing one’s own perceptions and beliefs. The need for cultural competency and
This poster was presented at the 2016 Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) PI Meeting held in Bethesda, MD on February 29-March 2. REVEAL is using a two-phase research design, including a phase 1 design-based research study followed by a phase 2 experimental study, to investigate and measure the impact of staff facilitation on family mathematical discourse at exhibits and identify factors that influence the outcomes of these interactions. The project has an emphasis on culturally responsive research and education approaches.
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
These slides were presented at the NSF Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) Principal Investigators' Meeting held in Bethesda, MD from February 29-March 2, 2016. The presentation describes NSF INCLUDES, a funding opportunity that leverages collective impact strategies to broaden participation in STEM.
This poster was presented at the 2014 AISL PI Meeting in Washington, DC. Using STEM America (USA) is a two-year Pathways project designed to examine the feasibility of using informal STEM learning opportunities to improve science literacy among English Language Learner (ELL) students in Imperial County, California.