The Exhibit Designs for Girls’ Engagement (EDGE) project is a three-year Exploratorium-run, NSF-funded, research study aiming to identify the most important design attributes for engaging girls at STEM exhibits. We identified nearly 100 exhibit design attributes that had the potential for better engaging girls. To test those 100 attributes and their relationship to girls’ engagement, we studied more than 300 physics, engineering, math, and perception exhibits at the Exploratorium, the Science Museum of Minnesota, and the Arizona Science Center. The purpose of the EDGE research was to winnow
In the Communities of Learning for Urban Environments and Science (CLUES) project, the four museums of the Philadelphia-Camden Informal Science Education Collaborative worked to build informal science education (ISE) capacity in historically underserved communities. The program offered comprehensive professional development (PD) to Apprentices from 8-10 community-based organizations (CBO), enabling them to develop and deliver hands-on family science workshops. Apprentices, in turn, trained Presenters from the CBOs to assist in delivering the workshops. Families attended CLUES events both at
This paper was presented at the 122nd ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition in June 2015, by the Boeing Company, the University of Washington, College of Education LIFE Center, and the City University of Seattle. Abstract Skills-based volunteerism programs can provide technical employees effective and meaningful opportunities to utilize, develop, and transfer their skills while contributing to their companies’ community engagement objectives in K-12 education. While many companies encourage their employees to engage in education-related volunteerism, these efforts are often one-off events
This poster was presented at the NSF AISL PI meeting in Washington D.C. in 2014. The poster describes the impact of Be A Scientist and explores Iridescent's strategic vision.
This evaluation reports on the Mission: Solar System project, a 2-year project funded by NASA. The goal of the Mission: Solar System was to create a collection of resources that integrates digital media with hands-on science and engineering activities to support kids’ exploration in formal and informal education settings. Our goal in creating the resources were: For youth: (1) Provide opportunities to use science, technology, engineering, and math to solve challenges related to exploring our solar system, (2) Build and hone critical thinking, problem-solving, and design process skills, (3)
This poster was presented at the 2014 AISL PI Meeting in Washington DC. It describes the CLUES project that provides STEM education opportunities to families.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
New Jersey Academy for Aquatic SciencesBarbara Kelly
This poster was presented at the 2014 AISL PI Meeting. The Prairie Science project is about facilitating learning STEM concepts by integrating a historical perspective (Conner Prairie Museum) and a science center-based perspective (Science Museum of Minnesota).
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Cathy Ferree
resourceresearchMuseum and Science Center Programs
Front-line educators are arguably critical to the visitor experience at museums and science centers across the country. However, little research exists to inform staff facilitation strategies or professional development efforts. In this article, we describe the results of a qualitative study of 63 staff family interactions in a science center, focusing particularly on the role of adult family members. We observed three distinct phases of interaction, during which adult family members acted as gatekeepers to deeper staff engagement. The results suggest that in order to successfully facilitate
This poster was presented at the 2014 AISL PI Meeting in Washington, DC. It discusses a project that connects rural, underserved youth and families in Eastern Washington and Northern Idaho to STEM concepts important in sustainable building design.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Palouse Discovery Science CenterKathleen RyanChristine BervanKathy DawesPatty McNamara
This poster shows the development of the project Scientists for Tomorrow during the three years of its implementation: two first years under the full funding of the NSF and the third year as a no-cost extension. Also the poster describes how the project was incorporating more community centers and with it more participants through the development of the "self-sustained" mode of implementation. The poster introduces also the next step of the project - the Scientists for Tomorrow - National Alliance.