Many Black youth in both urban and rural areas lack engaging opportunities to learn mathematics in a manner that leads to full participation in STEM. The Young People’s Project (YPP), the Baltimore Algebra Project (BAP), and the Education for Liberation Network (EdLib) each have over two decades of experience working on this issue. In the city of Baltimore, where 90% of youth in poverty are Black, and only 5% of these students meet or exceed expectations in math, BAP, a youth led organization, develops and employs high school and college age youth to provide after-school tutoring in Algebra 1, and to advocate for a more just education for themselves and their peers. YPP works in urban or rural low income communities that span the country developing Math Literacy Worker programs that employ young people ages 14-22 to create spaces to help their younger peers learn math. Building on these deep and rich experiences, this Innovations in Development project studies how Black students see themselves as mathematicians in the context of paid peer-to-peer math teaching--a combined social, pedagogical, and economic strategy. Focusing primarily in Baltimore, the project studies how young people grow into new self-definitions through their work in informal, student-determined math learning spaces, structured collaboratively with adults who are experts in both mathematics and youth development. The project seeks to demonstrate the benefits of investing in young people as learners, teachers, and educational collaborators as part of a core strategy to improve math learning outcomes for all students.
The project uses a mixed methods approach to describe how mathematical identity develops over time in young people employed in a Youth-Directed Mathematics Collaboratory. 60 high school aged students with varying mathematical backgrounds (first in Baltimore and later in Boston) will learn how to develop peer- and near-peer led math activities with local young people in informal settings, after-school programs, camps, and community centers, reaching approximately 600 youth/children. The high school aged youth employed in this project will develop their own math skills and their own pedagogical skills through the already existing YPP and BAP structures, made up largely of peers and near-peers just like themselves. They will also participate in on-going conversations within the Collaboratory and with the community about the cultural significance of doing mathematics, which for YPP and BAP is a part of the ongoing Civil Rights/Human Rights movement. Mathematical identity will be studied along four dimensions: (a) students’ sequencing and interpretation of past mathematical experiences (autobiographical identity); (b) other people’s talk to them and their talk about themselves as learners, doers, and teachers of mathematics (discoursal identity); (c) the development of their own voices in descriptions and uses of mathematical knowledge and ideas (authorial identity); and (d) their acceptance or rejection of available selfhoods (socio-culturally available identity). Intended outcomes from the project include a clear description of how mathematical identity develops in paid peer-teaching contexts, and growing recognition from both local communities and policy-makers that young people have a key role to play, not only as learners, but also as teachers and as co-researchers of mathematics education.
This Innovations in Development project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program.
DATE:
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Jay GillenMaisha MosesThomas NikundiweNaama LewisAlice Cook
Urban environments are remarkable natural laboratories to study ecology and speciation. These learning ecosystems are ecologically diverse and potentially more accessible for urban youth and their families. Unfortunately, disparities in STEM access continue to persist. Transportation, social and financial barriers, and a lack of awareness of STEM opportunities are a few of the inequities that significantly limit participation in STEM programs among urban youth, especially from underrepresented groups. Perceptions of who can meaningfully engage in scientific research remain demographically skewed to affluent, aged, and non-minoritized individuals. In an effort to address these challenges, this pilot study will investigate the feasibility of using remote cameras to survey local, urban wildlife to promote inclusive practices and youth engagement in STEM. A co-created curriculum will be employed, bringing urban ecologists and Detroit youth (6th-8th grade) together to participate in wildlife field experiences to garner and analyze data collected from cameras deployed through the city. It is the unique coupling of the camera surveys with authentic place-based, culturally relevant ecological research that will facilitate the innovative, experiential learning experiences. This pilot study will advance the understanding of the extent to which various facilitation methods and participation in out-of-school time programs like the Wildlife Neighbors program impact youth. From a broader impacts perspective, this work may yield positive environmental literacy outcomes and prove applicable for other urban youth in the country. The research findings would lay the foundation for future research and add novel approaches to the NSF portfolio on urban, out-of-school time environmental education programs for middle school youth using camera surveys to promote inclusivity, engagement in scientific field research, and increase youths' interest in STEM.
Through a strategic partnership between the Applied Wildlife Ecology Lab at the University of Michigan and the Detroit Zoological Society, this pilot will examine the effects of experiential learning through wildlife monitoring in twenty-four Detroit parks on strengthening four aspects of youth's environmental literacy: knowledge of ecology, competencies as researchers, empathy for wildlife, and sense of place. Youth will self-select into one of four facilitation models, each varying in intensity (summer experience, afterschool club) and mode (in-person, remote). Using camera surveys deployed in Detroit parks, youth will be immersed in ecological research, engaging them in the entire scientific process: observation, inquiry, data collection, fieldwork, data analysis and storytelling. Youth pre- and post-surveys, daily reflections on program activities, and parent/guardian questionnaires will assess impacts and experiences of the Wildlife Neighbors facilitation models and program more broadly. The research questions will explore the extent to which participation in Wildlife Neighbors: (a) differs across facilitation intensity and mode, and (b) strengthens environmental literacy among middle school urban youth when engaged in a co-created out-of-school time experiential program using remote cameras to survey local wildlife. Over the two-year pilot duration, approximately 100 youth and their families will participate in the program.
This pilot study is funded by the NSF Advancing 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. 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 Pilots and Feasibility Studies 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.