The Lineage project was a collaboration between Twin Cities Public Television and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. The project included creation of a feature-length video program, a Virtual Reality game, and a set of hands-on activities designed for use by multigenerational audiences—all of which were incorporated as part of a series of seven Fossil Festival events at museums and other sites around the United States. This report presents findings from a set of external evaluation studies that examined impacts on families who participated in Fossil Festival events as well
New York City is a leader in Open Data initiatives, and has a large and diverse population. This project studies informal data science learning at workshops and trainings associated with NYC’s open data ecosystem.
This poster was presented at the 2021 NSF AISL Awardee Meeting.
Nothing generates excitement like sound! From the iconic guitar riffs in Led Zeppelin’s famous song “Stairway to Heaven” to birds energetically singing (way too early in the morning) outside my bedroom window, nonscientists can relate to acoustics. Many of us entered the field because we love music, a passion evident at the jam sessions that accompany many meetings of the Acoustical Society of America (ASA). Science communication enables us to share that enthusiasm with nontechnical audiences.
The goal of this article is to introduce fundamental ideas in science communication and resources
This poster was presented at the 2021 NSF AISL Awardee Meeting.
The Rural Activation and Innovation Network (RAIN) project aims to engage, support and better understand rural communities in:
Changing perceptions of the importance of STEM Learning
Leveraging of local STEM resources and expertise with Rural Innovation Councils (RICs)
Strategic Planning embedding asset maps, gap analysis, budget, media, and communication.
This poster was presented at the 2021 NSF AISL Awardee Meeting. The Guerilla Science project conducted two studies: one at the Oregon Eclipse Festival, a large multi-day residential music and arts festival, and one during the Figment festival, a cultural and family-oriented free festival on Governor’sIsland (NewYorkCity). We used a multi-method research design: trained data collectors conducted intercept interviews of various length; short written feedback forms were made available post events; and we conducted structured observations of events.We compared Guerilla Science audiences with
Live science events engage publics with science in a social context. This article articulates the aims and ethos of this growing sector within a research context. Semi-structured interviews (N=13) and focus groups (N=77) were conducted with event practitioners (both professional and volunteers) in the U.S.A. and U.K.. Inductive thematic analysis indicated that event producers aim to raise awareness of and professionalism in the sector. In particular, they seek to develop research into long-term impacts of events for both audiences and practitioners.
Most adults in the U.S. and worldwide claim a religious affiliation. As an element of identity and worldview, faith informs many individuals' views of science, technology, and society at large. Engagement with faith communities and religious leaders about science can improve public perceptions and trust of scientists, advance evidence-based policy, and improve diversity, equity and inclusion in science fields. This commentary outlines examples and suggests guiding principles for science engagement with faith communities.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Robert O'MalleyJohn SlatteryCurtis BaxterKaty Hinman
Many people are under-served by existing informal science learning (ISL) provisions and under-represented in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics/Medicine) study choices and careers. This paper reflects upon SMASHfestUK which was established, as both a STEAM festival and research platform, to explore methods and approaches for lowering the barriers to engagement with ISL in marginalised communities. To do this SMASHfestUK located its events in the heart of communities and worked with these communities to create those events. This paper tells their story through the voices
This AISL Pilots and Feasibility project will study the data science learning that takes place as members of the public explore and analyze open civic data related to their everyday lives. Government services, such as education, transportation, and non-emergency municipal requests, are becoming increasingly digital. Generally, program workshops and events may be able to support participants in using such data to answer their own questions, such as: "How do City agencies respond to noise in my neighborhood?" and "How do waste and recycling services in my neighborhood compare with others?" This project seeks to understanding how such programs are designed and facilitated to support diverse communities in accessing and meaningfully analyzing data will promote innovation and knowledge building in informal data science education. The team will begin by summarizing best practices in data science education from a variety of fields. Next they will explore the design and impacts of two programs in New York City, a leader in publicly available Open Data initiatives. This phase will explore activities and facilitation approaches, participants' objectives and data literacy skills practice, and begin to identify potential barriers to entry and levels of participation. Finally, the team will build capacity for other similar organizations to explore and understand their impacts on community members' engagement with civic data. This pilot study will establish preliminary evidence of the effectiveness of these programs, and in turn, inform future research into the identifying and amplifying best practices to support public engagement with data.
This research team will begin by synthesizing data science learning best practices based on varied literatures and surveys with academic and practitioner experts.
Synthesis results will be applied as a lens to gather preliminary evidence regarding the impacts of two programs on participants' data science practices and understanding of the nature of data in the context of civics. The programs include one offered by the Mayor's Office of Data Analytics (MODA), which is the NYC agency with overall responsibility for the City's Open Data programs, and BetaNYC, a leading nonprofit organization working to improve lives through civic design, technology, and engagement with government open data. The research design triangulates ethnographic observations and artifacts, pre and post adapted surveys, and interviews with participants and facilitators. Researchers will identify programmatic metrics and adapts existing measures to assess various outcomes related to public engagement with data, including: question formulation, data set selection and manipulation, the use of data to make inferences, and understanding variability, sampling and context. These metrics will be shared through an initial assessment framework for data science learning in the context of community engagement with civic open data. Researchers will also begin to identify barriers to broader participation through literature synthesis, interviews with participants and facilitators, and conversations with other organizations in our networks, such as NYC Community Boards. Findings will determine the suitability of the programs under study and inform future research to identify and amplify best practices in supporting public engagement with data.
This project 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.
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 Innovations in Development project will develop a collaborative program to connect and prepare researchers from divergent disciplines to communicate science to publics of all ages in three distinct informal environments: pop-ups at community events, experiential learning with problem solving events for youth, and presentations at a science museum. It will study the effects of this program on the identity and motivations of STEM researchers and evaluate the short and medium-term outcomes for public audiences. Project partners include, The STEAM Factory, OHI/O Informal Learning in Tech Program, and the Center of Science and Industry (COSI) all located in Columbus, Ohio.
The primary goals of this project are as follows. 1) Develop a collaborative program that connects and prepares researchers from divergent disciplines to creatively and effectively communicate science to people of all ages. 2) Evaluate the short and medium-term learning outcomes across different informal learning settings. 3) Study the effect of this collaborative program on the motivations and identify of the researchers. The specific research question is: In what ways do researchers motivations and identities further develop because of these collaborative experiences with divergent perspectives? A mixed method approach will be used. Data will be collected and analyzed from 3 cohorts of researchers who implement programs in different informal learning settings. A series of pre- and post interviews with scientists will be designed to answer the research question above. Interviews will be grounded in self-determination theory. Later reflective surveys will serve as triangulation for the data.
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.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Sathya GopalakrishnanJustin MeyerRachel KajfezArnab Nandi