The Detroit Zoo will partner with community-based organizations serving youth in metropolitan Detroit to implement a program to develop and present remote STEM programming for students in this area, targeting low- to moderate-income students of color. Staff from the zoo and three afterschool programs (American Institutional Management Services, Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services, and Boys and Girls Clubs of Southeast Michigan) will participate in professional development workshops on virtual, inquiry-based, humane STEM education. They will then utilize skills developed in the workshops to develop and lead virtual education programming for a total of 24 groups of 20 middle school youth.
The University of Montana will create “Transforming Spaces” to foster a more inclusive, culturally responsive space for Missoula’s urban Indian population and to better meet the community’s needs. The project will explore cross-cultural, collaborative approaches to STEM and Native Science. In collaboration with Montana’s tribal communities, the museum’s education team and advisory groups will design and implement hands-on activities that engage visitors with Native Science. The project will engage tribal role models and partner with tribal elders to create a library of videos for tribal partners, K–12 schools, and organizations. The project will offer teachers professional development designed to fulfill the statewide mandate of Indian Education for All. The exhibit will connect Native and non-Native museum visitors, close opportunity and achievement gaps, and ensure that all Missoula children feel a sense of belonging in museums, higher education, and STEM.
The University of Montana spectrUM Discovery Area will implement “Making Across Montana” —a project to engage K–12 students and teachers in rural and tribal communities with making and tinkering. In collaboration with K–12 education partners in the rural Bitterroot Valley and on the Flathead Indian Reservation, the museum will develop a mobile making and tinkering exhibition and education program. The exhibition will be able to travel to K–12 schools statewide. The project team will develop a K–12 teacher professional development workshop, along with accompanying curriculum resources and supplies. The traveling program and related materials will build schools’ capacity to incorporate making and tinkering—and informal STEM experiences more broadly—into their teaching.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Jessie Herbert-Meny
resourceresearchProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
The ChemAttitudes project recieved supplemental funding to create materials for train-the-trainer workshops in order to inoculate the chemistry outreach community with members who have the knowledge and resources to train others on strategies for stimulating interest, sense of relevance, and feelings of self-efficacy that were tested in the earlier work of the project. The project team recruited participants from minority serving professional organizations as a strategy for broadening participation. Can it work? Did it work?
This poster was presented at the 2021 NSF AISL Awardee Meeting.
ChemAttitudes: Using Design-Based Research to Develop and Disseminate Strategies and Materials to Support Chemistry Interest, Relevance, and Self-Efficacy (ChemAttitudes, NSF DRL-1612482) is a collaborative project between the Museum of Science, Boston (MOS), the National Informal STEM Education Network (NISE Net), and the American Chemical Society (ACS) among others. As a part of this project, researchers and educators from MOS and the Science Museum of Minnesota (SMM) used design-based research to create chemistry hands-on activities meant to positively impact visitors’ attitudes towards
This poster was presented at the 2021 National Science Foundation (NSF) Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) Awardee Meeting.
The goal of this two-year project is to examine systemic issues within learning spaces and provide educators with anti-racist approaches that validate and uplift Black learners. Through a combination of media, educator and role model professional development, and intentional outreach, Black SciGirls will create more gender-equitable and anti-racist informal STEM learning environments for Black girls.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Rita KarlAdrienne StephensonLataisia JonesRonda Taylor BullockAngel Miles NashJohnavae Campbell
This report summarizes the project work and research findings for a project designed to address racial justice through a STEM lens, in Minnesota communities, in the wake of George Floyd's murder. The project was rooted in principles of power sharing and co-creation. Though ultimately challenging, and not entirely successful according to the original goals, this report provides an overview of research findings and lessons learned.
Appendices include instruments.
This project will draft a framework to guide citizen science projects in addressing issues of equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI). Citizen science, sometimes called community science, involves volunteers who use science research procedures to collect valid scientific data for research projects and who often learn much about science in the process. These projects contribute directly to scientific research and often collect data of direct relevance to many communities. Although there are millions of citizen science volunteers, only a small proportion come from marginalized communities. The project will host a series of six, half-day virtual (online) workshops with scholars and practitioners with deep understanding of the participatory sciences and issues related to EDI. Workshop participants will discuss topics relevant to preparing a framework to provide guidance for integrating support EDI practices in citizen science. The project will disseminate the framework and workshop recommendations through publications for researchers and practitioners, a new website that will serve as a hub for relevant resources and EDI professional development, blogposts, and webinars.
This project will focus on EDI issues in institution-led, large-scale, citizen science projects. The project will organize workshops addressing issues relating to: (1) designing multipurpose projects that can be useful for empowering communities with data addressing community needs, providing researchers a large and robust data set, and providing learners with opportunities to develop a deeper understanding of research; (2) developing diverse leadership and engaging marginalized communities in framing research priorities; and (3) supporting strategies across citizen science projects to address barriers to participation, identity professional development needs, and create inclusive models that foster trust, create supportive networks, and build capacity for EDI in citizen science. The workshop will include approximately 20 participants, including researchers, project leaders and practitioners, with a majority of workshop participants belonging to groups underrepresented in science, such as Black, Hispanic, and Indigenous people.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Caren Cooper
resourceprojectProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
This project will host a workshop in order to identify and synthesize research findings from NSF awards that addressed the unanticipated effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on STEM teaching and learning. The interruptions from the pandemic had dramatic, widespread effects in education. Across the nation, teachers, students, parents, staff, and school administrators experienced extended school closures and a rapid and unexpected shift to virtual instruction. Although long-term consequences are unknown, early observations revealed deeper disparities in access and opportunity for many students of color. These inequities extend beyond STEM education and include challenges to student’s mental health and wellbeing. In spring 2020, NSF invited researchers to submit educational research proposals in response to this national crisis. Each award has its own dissemination and plans for broader impacts, yet the public is underserved by separate reports published in many different venues. To enable stakeholders to find and discern the most important insights, our research team will aggregate and organize major findings across these projects via a workshop, synthesize key findings, identify unresolved issues, and communicate overall insights to broader audiences.
To synthesize findings, Digital Promise will organize and convene a workshop with NSF awardees who conducted research on the educational impacts of the pandemic. Workshop attendees will participate in answering four questions: (1) What are the major themes and topics across the different NSF awards? (2) How were imperatives to address emerging inequities related to STEM education addressed in research plans and findings? (3) Within each topic or theme, what are the major findings, insights and recommendations for teaching and learning in STEM? (4) Across awardees, what was learned about doing RAPID research during a pandemic, and what are recommendations for improvement when subsequent needs for RAPID research in education arise? Data sources for the synthesis will be collected from project artifacts (e.g., reports, journal articles, practitioner resources, etc.), pre/post-workshop surveys, and workshop outputs from workshop presentations, panel discussions, and small group discussions. Interviews with a subset of workshop attendees will provide insight into what was learned about conducting research during a global pandemic. Data will be codified, categorized, and coded using established qualitative methods. Digital Promise’s broad network of partners and collaborators will achieve broad dissemination and outreach to education stakeholders at both the K-12 and postsecondary levels. This project is jointly funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, the Discovery Research PreK-12 program (DRK-12) program, the EHR Core Research (ECR:Core) program, and the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Vanessa PetersJudith Fusco
resourceprojectProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
Persistent racial injustices and inequities in the United States and in STEM fields underscore the need for creative, research-based approaches to address these concerns. In particular, creative approaches are needed for studying and addressing racial injustices and inequities in STEM education, where racial equity and STEM learning are both given careful and thoughtful consideration. This project focuses on supporting emerging scholars who have new ideas and approaches for approaching racial equity in their scholarship and work. This workshop, implemented as a series of sessions over the course of a year, will support early career scholars in STEM education and the learning sciences in preparing proposals to submit to the National Science Foundation. The workshop is designed to serve scholars who are within five years of obtaining their PhD and who have never before been principal investigator or co-principal investigator of a federally-funded grant. Participants will include early career scholars who focus their work on racial equity. Too often, such scholars have indicated that they have received little to no training on writing grant proposals.
Ten participants will be supported by the project through a year-long series of workshops that include different aspects of the grant writing process including reading through a solicitation, writing a narrative, and creating a budget. In addition to these workshop sessions, the project approach also considers the importance of a professional network and of mentoring, informed by a Communities of Practice theoretical framework and existing research on mentoring practices. As such, each early career scholar will be paired with a senior mentor in the field whose work is aligned with the mentee's. The outcomes of the workshop for early career scholars will include a complete or nearly complete proposal that is aligned with one of the programs within the NSF's Division of Research on Learning. The workshop will highlight strategies for developing CAREER proposals along with considerations for preparing proposals for other programs. More generally, the workshop will create a model for supporting and mentoring early career scholars in proposing STEM education projects centered in racial equity work and will be able to identify areas of need for successful grant proposal writing. All workshop materials will be made freely available to the general public.
The Discovery Research preK-12 program (DRK-12) seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) by preK-12 students and teachers, through research and development of innovative resources, models and tools. Projects in the DRK-12 program build on fundamental research in STEM education and prior research and development efforts that provide theoretical and empirical justification for proposed projects. This project is also funded through the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL), CS for All: Research and RPPs, and Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) programs.
Creating science education that can contribute to cultivating just, culturally thriving, and sustainable worlds is an important issue of our time. Indigenous peoples have persistently been under-represented in science reproducing inequalities in a myriad of ways from educational attainment, participation in and contributing to innovations in foundational knowledge, to effective policy making that upholds and respects Indigenous sovereignty. The development of models of science education that attend to intersections of knowledge and development, socio-scientific decision-making and civic leadership, and the complexities and contradictions of these realities, is imperative. This five-year Innovations in Development project broadens participation and strengthens infrastructure and capacity for Indigenous learners to meet, adapt to, and lead change in relation to the socio-ecological challenges of the 21st century. The project engages multi-sited community-based design studies to develop and research the impacts of Indigenous informal field-based science education with three Indigenous leadership communities from the Pacific Northwest and the Great Lakes. This project will have broader impacts through model development, building infrastructure to transform the capacity of informal field-based science education, and will produce cutting edge foundational knowledge about pressing 21st century issues with a particular focus on Indigenous communities. The project increases Indigenous participation in research through 1) engagement of Indigenous community members as research assistants, 2) training of Indigenous graduate fellows, and post-doctoral fellows, and 3) supporting the careers of more junior Indigenous scholars.
This research seeks to identify key design features of an Indigenous field (land/water) based model of science education and to understand how learners’ and educators’ reasoning, deliberation, decision-making, and leadership about complex socio-ecological systems and community change evolve in such learning environments. The project also examines key aspects of co-design and partnership with Tribal communities and how these methods of co-production of new science enable new capacities for systems transformation. This multi-layered project is organized through 3 panels of studies including: Panel 1) community-based design experiments to develop and refine a model of Indigenous informal science education; Panel 2) co-design and implementation of professional learning programs for Indigenous informal science education; and Panel 3) foundational studies in cognition and learning with respect to socio-ecological systems thinking and the impact on learning and instructional practices. Of particular importance in this research is the rigorous development and articulation of effective pedagogical practices and orientations. More broadly, findings will have clear implications for theories of cognitive development, deliberation and environmental decision making and especially those pertaining to how knowledge is shaped by culture and experience.
This project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Filiberto Barajas-LopezAnna LeesMegan BangAnna LeesFiliberto Barajas-Lopez
resourceprojectProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
Among scientists, science communication is an increasingly important area of practice, scholarship, and research, especially with early career scientists. The growing interest in combating widespread disinformation and inaccurate public perception of science has increased demand for training in science communication; however, there is a significant gap in both research and training for scientists from diverse racial and ethnic cultural backgrounds. The project will address this knowledge and research gap by applying intercultural communication theory to the design, development, and testing of a new curriculum that will provide evidence-based methods to make science communication trainings inclusive and intersectional. The curriculum will be designed and evaluated to build capacity among science communication trainers and practitioners. Sixty pre-tenure environmental science faculty of diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds will be trained in strategic science communication skills using cultural perspectives and academic goals in science communication. The project will gather research data in collaboration with the national SciComm Trainers Network. In addition to advancing science communication research, training, and practice, the project will implement a novel, peer-reviewed podcast for broader impact. The project Fellows will be prepared to engage in a wide range of science communication activities throughout their careers and lead related efforts at their home institutions. Following a final workshop to develop culturally responsive guidance for science communication trainers, the project team will share findings to the field to inform future practice and societal impacts from advancing culturally relevant science communication in training programs. This Innovations in Development project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which seeks to (a) advance new approaches to and evidence-based understanding of the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments; (b) provide multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM learning experiences; (c) advance innovative research on and assessment of STEM learning in informal environments; and (d) engage the public of all ages in learning STEM in informal environments.
The project will address two significant gaps in science communication and intercultural communication research. First, despite the recognition that more research about race and ethnicity is needed in science communication, few studies have been conducted. Second, while findings on intercultural communication research are consistent across fields, such as health communication and business communication, the research has yet to examine how well-established theories in this area of study apply to the unique norms and processes of science. Investigators will test a novel theoretical framework grounded in two intercultural communication theories: identity negotiation theory and communication accommodation theory. The project will test the extent to which the professional norms and processes of STEM and academia relate to cultural norms and communication styles of underrepresented racial and ethnic minority scientists, and how these factors influence their science communication efforts. The project will use a mixed methods approach including in-depth interviews and surveys. The results of the study will be used to develop and adapt culturally tailored science communication training for 60 pre-tenure environmental science faculty from underrepresented groups. The results of the project will provide evidence to make science communication training and practice more inclusive and effective. The collaboration with the national SciComm Trainers Network will ensure broad dissemination and professional application of project findings. The project will increase representation of racial and ethnic minority scientists as science communicators, including in environmental news coverage; provide a new peer-reviewed podcast series for public audiences that will introduce listeners to environmental research through a culturally responsive lens; provide tested methods for designing inclusive and effective science communication training curricula; and will inform faculty efforts to incorporate science communication activities as part of career advancement.