Learning to See, Seeing to Learn is a National Science Foundation-funded project to develop www.macroinvertebrates.org, a digital observation tool and set of informational resources that can supplement volunteer biomonitoring trainings and improve aquatic macroinvertebrates identification. Project researchers are interested in how trainers and volunteers use the tool, as well as how training that incorporates the tool impacts volunteers’ confidence in and accuracy around aquatic macroinvertebrates identification. In November 2018, project partner, Stroud Water Research Center, conducted a
Digital Observation Technology Skills (DOTS) is a framework for integrating modern, mobile technology into outdoor, experiential science education. DOTS addresses longstanding tensions between modern technology and classical outdoor education by carefully selecting appropriate digital technology for educational purposes and by situating these tools in classical experiential pedagogy.
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R. Justin HoughamMarc NutterCaitlin Graham
This NSF INCLUDES Design and Development Launch Pilot, "Expanding Diversity in Energy and Environmental Sustainability (EDEES)", will develop a network of institutions in the United States mid-Atlantic region to recruit, train, and prepare a significant number of underrepresented, underserved, and underprivileged members of the American society in the areas of alternative energy generation and environmental sustainability. Researchers from Delaware State University (DSU) will lead the effort in collaboration with scientists and educators from the University of Delaware, Delaware Technical Community College, University of Maryland, and Stony Brook University. The program comprises a strong educational component in different aspects of green energy generation and environmental sciences including the development of a baccalaureate degree in Green Energy Engineering and the further growth of the recently established Renewable Energy Education Center at our University. The program comprises an active involvement of students from local K-12 institutions, including Delaware State University Early College High School. The character of the University as a Historically Black College (HBCU) and the relatively high minority population of the region will facilitate the completion of the goal to serve minority students. The program will also involve the local community and the private sector by promoting the idea of a green City of Dover, Delaware, in the years to come.
The goal of EDEES-INCLUDES pilot comprises the enrollment of at least twenty underrepresented minority students in majors related to green energy and environmental sustainability. It also entails the establishment of a baccalaureate degree in Green Energy Engineering at DSU. The program is expected to strengthen the pathway from two-year energy-related associate degree programs to four-year degrees by ensuring at least five students/year transfer to DSU in energy-related programs. The pilot is also expected to increase the number of high school graduates from underrepresented groups who choose to attend college in STEM majors. Based on previous experience and existing collaborations, the partner institutions expect to grow as an integrated research-educational network where students will be able to obtain expertise in the competitive field of green energy. The pilot program comprises a deep integration of education and research currently undergoing in the involved institutions. In collaboration with its partner institutions, DSU plans to consistently and systematically involve students from the K-12 system to nurture the future recruitment efforts of the network. A career in Green Energy Engineering is using and expanding up existing infrastructure and collaborations. The program will involve the local community through events, workshops and open discussions on energy related fields using social networks and other internet technology in order to promote energy literacy.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Aristides MarcanoMohammed KhanGulnihal OzbayGabriel Gwanmesia
The Sustainability Teams Empower and Amplify Membership in STEM (S-TEAMS), an NSF INCLUDES Design and Development Launch Pilot project, will tackle the problem of persistent underrepresentation by low-income, minority, and women students in STEM disciplines and careers through transdisciplinary teamwork. As science is increasingly done in teams, collaborations bring diversity to research. Diverse interactions can support critical thinking, problem-solving, and is a priority among STEM disciplines. By exploring a set of individual contributors that can be effect change through collective impact, this project will explore alternative approaches to broadly enhance diversity in STEM, such as sense of community and perceived program benefit. The S-TEAMS project relies on the use of sustainability as the organizing frame for the deployment of learning communities (teams) that engage deeply with active learning. Studies on the issue of underrepresentation often cite a feeling of isolation and lack of academically supportive networks with other students like themselves as major reasons for a disinclination to pursue education and careers in STEM, even as the numbers of underrepresented groups are increasing in colleges and universities across the country. The growth of sustainability science provides an excellent opportunity to include students from underrepresented groups in supportive teams working together on problems that require expertise in multiple disciplines. Participating students will develop professional skills and strengthen STEM- and sustainability-specific skills through real-world experience in problem solving and team science. Ultimately this project is expected to help increase the number of qualified professionals in the field of sustainability and the number of minorities in the STEM professions.
While there is certainly a clear need to improve engagement and retention of underrepresented groups across the entire spectrum of STEM education - from K-12 through graduate education, and on through career choices - the explicit focus here is on the undergraduate piece of this critical issue. This approach to teamwork makes STEM socialization integral to the active learning process. Five-member transdisciplinary teams, from disciplines such as biology, chemistry, computer and information sciences, geography, geology, mathematics, physics, and sustainability science, will work together for ten weeks in summer 2018 on real-world projects with corporations, government organizations, and nongovernment organizations. Sustainability teams with low participation by underrepresented groups will be compared to those with high representation to gather insights regarding individual and collective engagement, productivity, and ongoing interest in STEM. Such insights will be used to scale up the effort through partnership with New Jersey Higher Education Partnership for Sustainability (NJHEPS).
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Amy TuiningaAshwani VasishthPankaj Lai
Glaciers around the world are undergoing dramatic changes. Many people, however, have a limited understanding of the scope of these changes because they are geographically distant and difficult to visualize. Although both digital learning tools and online scientific data repositories have greatly expanded over the last decade, there is currently no interface that brings the two together in a way that allows the public to explore these rapidly changing glacial environments. Therefore, to both improve public understanding and provide greater access to already existing resources, the project team will develop the Virtual Ice Explorer to encourage informal learning about glacial environments. This web application will feature an immersive virtual environment and display a suite of environmental data for an array of Earth's glacial systems. An interactive globe will allow users to select from a collection of sites ranging from polar regions to tropical latitudes. Each featured site will offer users an opportunity to interact with (1) a 3D rendering of the landscape; (2) a local map of the site; (3) historical and contemporary photographs of the site; (4) background information text describing the location, past research, and climate impacts; and (5) available environmental data. One of the most original features of the application will be its realistic, immersive 3D rendering of glacial landscapes by combining very high-resolution digital elevation models and satellite imagery with the application's built-in capabilities for immersive virtual environments. Although immersive environments often require expensive equipment, we are maximizing accessibility by developing the Virtual Ice Explorer to run in a web browser and function across various devices. Thus, the application will be available to anyone with internet access, and they can explore at their own pace.
As part of the successful development of Virtual Ice Explorer, the project team will create a platform for digital elevation models to be visualized and explored in 3D by users within the web application; curate digital elevation models, maps, images, text, and environmental data for inclusion in the web application for up to 11 geographically diverse glaciers/glacial landscapes; iteratively user-test the web application with project partners; and design the architecture of the system to readily scale to a larger collection of glaciers/glacial landscapes. To extend dissemination of the final products, the team has partnered with the U.S. Geologic Survey to showcase four benchmark glaciers in their long-term Glaciers and Climate project. In addition to improving understanding of glacier systems in informal learning environments, the project team will explore applications for spatial learning, employment of 3D environments for educational interventions, and use of Virtual Ice Explorer in formal learning environments. This project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) 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. The project also has support from the Office of Polar Programs.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Jason CervenecJesse FoxJulien Nicolas