NASA@ My Library is made possible through the support of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Science Mission Directorate as part of its Science Activation program. The project is led by the National Center for Interactive Learning (NCIL) at the Space Science Institute (SSI) in partnership with the American Library Association (ALA) Public Programs Office, Lunar and Planetary Institute (LPI), and Education Development Center (EDC). From 2016-2020, 78 public libraries (75 partner libraries and 3 pilot libraries), 18 State Library Agencies, 6 Portal to the Public Network sites, and 30 NASA-funded scientists participated in the project. More than 225,000 library patrons were reached through their efforts.
In 2021-2022, public libraries, universities, and state library agencies will participate in the project to increase and enhance STEAM learning opportunities in their communities, with an emphasis on reaching audiences underrepresented in STEM education and professions.
The Center for Integrated Quantum Materials pursues research and education in quantum science and technology. With our research and industry partners, the Museum of Science, Boston collaborates to produce public engagement resources, museum programs, special events and media. We also provide professional development in professional science communication for the Center's students, post-docs, and interns; and coaching in public engagement. The Museum also sponsors The Quantum Matters(TM) Science Communication Competition (www.mos.org/quantum-matters-competition) and NanoDays with a Quantum Leap. In association with CIQM and IBM Q, the Museum hosted the first U.S. museum exhibit on quantum computing.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Robert WesterveltCarol Lynn AlpertRay AshooriTina Brower-Thomas
This application requests support to enable a team of experienced science educators and biomedical and behavioral health network scientists to develop and implement the Worlds of Connections curriculum. Most middle school students are familiar with patient care-related health careers (e.g., nurses, dentists, surgeons), but few know about emerging careers in network science that can be leveraged to improve population health. This innovative and research-based science program is strategically designed to increase awareness of, understanding of, and interest in the important role of network science for health. This project will design learning activities that incite interest in network science applications to biomedical and public health research. The long- term goal is to enhance the diversity of the bio-behavioral and biomedical workforce by increasing interest in network science among members of underrepresented minority communities and to promote public understanding of the benefits of NIH-funded research for public health. The goal of this application is to identify and create resources that will overcome barriers to network science uptake among underserved minority middle school youth. The central hypothesis is that the technology-rich field of network science will attract segments of today’s youth who remain uninterested in conventional, bio-centric health fields. Project activities are designed to improve understanding of how informal STEM experiences with network science in health research can increase STEM identities, STEM possible selves, and STEM career aspirations among youth from groups historically underrepresented in STEM disciplines at the center of health science research (Aim 1) and create emerging media resources via augmented reality technologies to stimulate broad interest in and understanding of the role of network science in biomedical and public health research (Aim 2). A team led by University of Nebraska-Lincoln sociologists will partner with the University of Nebraska at Omaha; state museums; centers for math, science, and emerging media arts; NIH-funded network scientists; educators; community learning centers at local public schools; learning researchers; undergraduates; software professionals; artists; augmented reality professionals; storytellers; and evaluation experts to accomplish these goals and ensure out of school learning will reinforce Next Generation Science Standards. The Worlds of Connections project is expected to impact 35,250 youth and 20,570 educators in Lincoln and Omaha, Nebraska by: adding network science modules to ongoing 6th-8th-grade afterschool STEM clubs in community learning centers; adding network science for health resources to a summer graduate course on “activating youth STEM identities” for sixth to twelfth grade STEM teachers; connecting teachers with local network scientists; creating free, downloadable, high-quality emerging media arts-enhanced stories; and publishing peer-reviewed research on the potential of network science to attract youth to health careers. Coupled with the dissemination plan, the project design and activities will be replicable, allowing this project to serve as a model to guide other projects in STEM communication.
PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE:
The lack of public understanding about the role of network science in the basic biological and social health sciences limits career options and support for historically underrepresented groups whose diverse viewpoints and questions will be needed to solve the next generation of health problems. The Worlds of Connections project will combine network science, social science, learning research, biology, computer science, mathematics, emerging media arts, and informal science learning expertise to build a series of monitored and evaluated dissemination experiments for middle school science education in high poverty schools. Broad dissemination of the curriculum and project impacts will employ virtual reality technologies to bring new and younger publics into health-related STEM careers.
Cities are facing new demands as their urban populations rapidly grow. Smart City initiatives are being developed to address issues of mobility, infrastructure, security, and safety, while enhancing the quality of life of citizens. One-size-fits-all solutions are not viable. Instead, the diversity of a city's residents, including life experiences, cultural backgrounds, needs, and behaviors, must be taken into account to achieve transformative, citizen-centered solutions. Engineers, scientists, policy makers, entrepreneurs, and thought leaders must be prepared to tackle future Smart City challenges, and address knowledge barriers in understanding the needs of citizens across age, occupation, financial standing, disability, and technology savviness. This National Science Foundation Research Traineeship (NRT) award to the Arizona State University addresses this need by training the next generation of MS and PhD students for careers in Smart Cities-related fields. The project anticipates training thirty-eight (38) MS and PhD students, including twenty-four (24) funded trainees, from the following degree programs: Human and Social Dimensions of Science and Technology; Public Affairs; Computer Science; Civil, Environmental, and Sustainable Engineering; Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering; and Applied Engineering Programs. In addition to trainees, it is envisioned that over 300 other MS and PhD students in STEM disciplines will participate in opportunities made available through this traineeship. The knowledge and technologies developed from this project will contribute toward improving the quality of life for all of society through interdisciplinary, citizen-centered Smart City solutions.
An integrated education-research-practice model focused on the technological, societal, and environmental research aspects of citizen-centered solutions for Smart Cities will be employed to instill trainees with transdisciplinary skills and knowledge through cross-disciplinary courses; experience with leading collaborative, use-inspired research projects; applied learning through internships with partners and teaching opportunities; research experiences through service learning and leadership; and entrepreneurial education. Trainees will pursue research thrusts in Citizen-Centered Design; Smart City Infrastructure and Dynamics; and Socio-Environmental Practices and Policies. These thrusts are embedded in integrative priority application areas of Transportation and Accessibility; Safety, Security, and Risk Reduction; and Engagement and Education. Research efforts will significantly advance data-enabled citizen engagement; urban informatics; Internet-of-Things technologies; inclusion and accessibility; urban infrastructure; transportation systems; cybersecurity; swarm robotics; urban sustainability; quality of life and equity for citizens; hazards management and risk reduction; and societal concerns and ethics of emerging Smart City technologies. Focused efforts will be made to recruit underrepresented minorities, women, and individuals with disabilities, in order to tap underutilized talent, equip them to address the needs of their communities, and increase involvement of these groups in Smart Cities-related fields.
The NSF Research Traineeship (NRT) Program is designed to encourage the development and implementation of bold, new potentially transformative models for STEM graduate education training. The program is dedicated to effective training of STEM graduate students in high priority interdisciplinary research areas through comprehensive traineeship models that are innovative, evidence-based, and aligned with changing workforce and research needs.
This project is funded by the National Science Foundation's (NSF's) Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which supports innovative research, approaches, and resources for use in a variety of learning settings.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Michael KennedyRam PendyalaCynthia SelinAnn McKennaTroy McDanielGail-Joon AhnSethuraman Panchanathan
resourceprojectProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
The Center for Advancing the Societal Impacts of Research (CASIR) will advance the rigor, relevance, and practice of broader impacts (BI) by (a) cultivating and strengthening the existent and emerging BI expert community; (b) building capacity of researchers and educators to enhance and articulate the broader impacts of their work; and (c) creating socio-technical infrastructure able to adapt to stakeholder needs as BI continues to grow and evolve. CASIR builds on the foundational work of the National Alliance for Broader Impacts and will advance the practice of translating scientific research for public understanding and meet the growing demand for innovative BI training and resources.
The Center will develop resources and provide professional development to diverse audiences across multiple institution types and settings, including research-intensive universities, minority-serving institutions, technical and community colleges, and primarily undergraduate institutions in the jurisdictions of the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research. CASIR will directly enhance BI capacity at the individual, departmental, institutional, and national levels. Particular focus will be given to individual researchers and institutions representing and serving traditionally under-served populations. In addition, CASIR will facilitate dialogue and collaboration around evidence-based approaches to enhancing, evaluating, and documenting research impacts. Overall, the work will be valuable to the community of researchers driving discovery, the community of professionals who provide BI support and collaboration with researchers, and the public which stands to benefit from research and education projects that are well-designed and executed in a way that enhances their broader impacts.
NSF-wide support for this Center augments the Foundation's current efforts to educate research communities about the importance of the broader impacts criterion in the review process and to communicate the societal benefits of fundamental science and engineering research. CASIR's emphasis on documentation, evidence, and best practices will support an evidence-building approach to investing in discovery and innovation.
This award is co-funded by the Office of Integrative Activities (OIA) and the following Directorates: Biological Sciences (BIO), Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE), Education and Human Resources (EHR), Engineering (ENG), Geosciences (GEO), Mathematical and Physical Sciences (MPS), and Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences (SBE).
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.
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 and test a model for audience assessment that STEM professionals can use during their public engagement efforts. These on-the-spot assessments will allow scientists to monitor audience understanding and use this to make immediate improvements to their activity. This project fills a critical gap in the field of public science communication as expressed by outreach scientists and by the professional and academic organizations that train them. Project partners include The Astronomical Society of the Pacific, Oregon State University, Pacific Science Center, and the National Radio Astronomy Observatory. Research questions include: (1) How and under what conditions can scientists, regardless of discipline, learn to build assessment into outreach activities? (2) To what degree are scientists willing and able to change their outreach activities to include assessment to ascertain audience attentiveness or understanding? (3) To what degree will scientists be able to adjust their outreach and engagement efforts based on audience feedback, and what support do they need to do so? (4) With constraints on their time and resources, how can the model help scientists conduct audience assessment on their own? (5) Are audience members finding events more enjoyable and fruitful that use assessment techniques? Several iterative rounds of R&D will be used in the spiral design-based approach. A group of Design Testers will start each of the iterative cycles for the initial development and testing techniques, associated training, and support. Later phases will use Field Testers using a rubric for usability, validity, and reliability of various strategies. The summative evaluation of the project will begin early and add data over the life of the project. A mixed methods approach will be used including surveys of scientists once each year after they have participated in the Prototype training. Descriptive and inferential statistics will be used to document the extent to which the project has achieved its intended outcomes. 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.
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 Research in Service to Practice project examines how informal place-based collaborative learning can support local communities' planning processes related to current environmental changes. As a part of this study workshops will be conducted in 8 communities that have a range of planning mandates based on recent extreme environmental changes such as drought/wildfires, flooding, invasive species, or loss of native wildlife. Place-based adaptation workshops will be designed to be locally relevant and empower people to learn and act on their newly acquired understandings. Local community collective actions may include a range of decisions (e.g., infrastructure changes such as building defenses against sea level rise in coastal communities or improving the quality of roads to withstand higher temperatures.) Collective action may also lead to community wide behavioral changes such as individuals using less water or farmers planting different crops. The study will focus on the efficacy of the methods used in 8 workshops in communities throughout the country. Research objectives include: 1) identifying experts' belief about the most critical components of successful workshops; 2) Understanding of prior workshop outcomes and 3) test hypothesized effective practices and understand how learning takes place and collective action does or does not take place. The project addresses key AISL solicitation priorities including strategic impact on the field of informal STEM learning, advancing collaboration, and building professional capacity. It engages both public and professional audiences as described in the solicitation. Public audiences include stakeholders in each of the 8 communities such as community environmental groups, NGOs, businesses, landowners, and local government planners. Professional audiences include the workshop scientists and facilitators who will be trained in the experimental workshop approach. The project builds upon and expands the existing AISL portfolio of science communication projects such as science cafes, science festivals, science media, and library based projects. This is a collaborative project of EcoAdapt and Virginia Tech with participants from the National Parks Conservation Association, the Desert Research Institute, and the Wildlife Conservation Society and others. The research will progress through two phases. Phase 1 is designed to identify consensus-based effective practices for promoting learning and action in adaptation workshops. It includes a Delphi study to synthesize beliefs about effective practices held by experienced workshop facilitators across the United States. Phase 2 includes iterative design and research of eight adaptation workshops in various communities with a range of planning mandates and recent extreme weather experience. By iteratively revising the workshop design, the study will elucidate how different workshop components influence participant learning, individual behavioral intentions, and subsequent efforts toward collective action. The overall research design will examine the relationships of pedagogical and collaborative techniques to learner outcomes and collective action. Many of these lessons are likely relevant to other collaborative informal science learning contexts. 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.
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 project will build and test a new model for co-created public engagement with science activities in partnership with civic, community, and scientist partners. The innovation to be tested is deliberative dialogues in science museums that help reduce the polarization about socio-scientific issues, giving people a greater voice in science, and addressing barriers that disconnect scientists from the public. The project will engage four target audiences (informal science education/ISE professionals, civic, community and scientist partners). Science museum partners include Museum of Science (MOS) Boston, Oregon Museum of Science, the Michigan Science Center, and the North Carolina Museum of Life and Science. The project is designed to have a strategic impact on how ISE institutions choose topics of STEM engagement and build public Forum programs.
There will be two evaluation teams for the project. MOS Research and Evaluation will act as formative evaluation mentors for the four partner sites as they co-create their forums. They will provide evaluation capacity building for the sites using team-based inquiry as they create and understand the potential impacts and outcomes of the model. Data collection will include panel surveys and focus groups. The evaluation will explore how the forums can decrease 1) public polarization around STEM topics and (2) the disconnect between scientists, civic organization, and the public. The external summative evaluation will be conducted by Rockman et al (REA). They will conduct a study of the project's process to help the team identify challenges and strategies for overcoming them as they work through the phases of public engagement. The summative study will focus on the project goals taking a qualitative approach. Early interviews with partner participants will explore their strengths and weaknesses in taking on this type of public engagement model including the extent of their previous work with civic partners. Later interviews will investigate what factors have enabled or hindered this project. Summative evaluation questions will also address changes in attitudes toward public engagement with science. REA will collect feedback from summit attendees through intercept interviews and post-surveys administered within a week at the event's conclusion to explore the any changes in knowledge or confidence in undertaking this type of model. REA will present findings from the external evaluation during the annual meeting of the Association of Science-Technology Centers and publish reports to Informalscience.org. Once the model has been developed and tested it will be disseminated to an initial group of 25-30 science museums and eventually to the entire ISE museum field.
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.
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. The team of Associated Universities Inc. (AUI), Michigan State University (MSU), California Academy of Science (the Academy), Astronomical Society of the Pacific (ASP), and Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA), will bring together experts in astronomy, STEM education, and planetarium show production. This work will tell the story of the people and places that make "big astronomy" possible, particularly the search for exoplanets and understanding of how planets form. The show and related materials will be presented in dozens of venues around the USA and internationally. Through a planetarium show and learning experiences that extend beyond the theater, the team will take visitors to extreme sites of the NSF ground-based observatories on the mountains of Chile and meet the diverse people who enable amazing discoveries in astronomy. In addition, the project develops the Dome+ model, which ensures engagement does not end with the planetarium. Dome+ will include additional content, weekly virtual sessions with STEM professionals, and a suite of closely linked outreach activities. Dome+ will serve as a model to extend engagement and increase the impact of future planetarium shows. Project goals include 1) increasing awareness of the research in astronomy being made at the NSF-funded observatories in Chile, 2) increasing awareness and interest in diverse STEM career opportunities at large observatories and related institutions in the USA, 3) increasing knowledge of science enabled by big observatories, 4) increasing Latinx perceptions as someone who can have a career at a major observatory, and 5) developing the Dome+ model and identify best practices for implementation. Iterative and summative evaluation of the project by collaborators at MSU will address four main questions: How does the Dome+ model affect visitors' perceptions of diversity of careers in STEM? How does the Dome+ model affect visitors' interest and understanding of Chile as an ideal observing location for astronomy? How does the Dome+ model support visitors' interest and understanding of the science of exoplanets? How do planetariums implement Dome+, and how does implementation affect the outcomes for visitors? The impact assessment component of this project takes places in four phases. The goals of the first phase are to leverage the expertise of the research team to inform the creation of the planetarium show and to set up a robust research agenda to be achieved in Years 2-4 of the project. The goals of the second phase are to collect preliminary data from visitors on their responses to planetarium show content and to use this information to advise on edits to the show and to develop the content and format of the web-portal and educational materials. The goal of the third phase is to then collect data on how effectively the technology-rich environments of the three components of the Dome+ model (planetarium show, web-portal, educational materials) work in concert to reach the intended goals of changing visitors' perceptions of diversity in STEM, engaging visitors with astronomy content on exoplanets, and exposing visitors to the wonders of astronomy research in Chile. The goal of the fourth phase is to perform data analysis, synthesize findings and make recommendations for future implementations of the Dome+ model for practitioners. 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.
Often called "self-plagiarism," text recycling occurs frequently in scientific writing. Over the past decade, increasing numbers of scientific journals have begun using plagiarism detection software to screen submitted manuscripts. As a result, large numbers of cases of text recycling are being identified, yet there is no consensus on what constitutes ethically acceptable practice. Text recycling is thus an increasingly important and controversial ethical issue in scientific communication. However, little actual research has been conducted on text recycling and it is rarely addressed in the ethical training of researchers or in scientific writing textbooks or websites. To promote the ethical and appropriate use of text recycling, this project will be conducted in two phases: In Phase 1, the researchers will investigate the ethical, practical, and legal aspects of text recycling as relevant for professional researchers, students, and publishers. In Phase 2, the investigators will produce educational materials and develop model language for text recycling guidelines and author-publisher contracts that can be adapted by educational institutions, research organizations, and publishers.
This project is a multi-institutional, multidisciplinary investigation of text recycling, the reuse of material from one?s previous work in a new manuscript. In Phase 1, the researchers will investigate questions such as these: What do expert researchers, students, and others involved in scientific communication believe to be appropriate practice, and why? Where is there a clear consensus among experts and where is there substantive disagreement? How often do professional scientists actually recycle material, and in what ways? Under what circumstances does text recycling violate publisher contracts or copyright laws? One facet of this research will involve interviewing and surveying experienced STEM faculty, students, journal editors, and others regarding the ethics of text recycling. A second facet will analyze a corpus of published scientific papers to investigate how researchers recycle text in practice and how this has changed over time. The third facet involves analyzing publisher contracts to better understand the rights of publishers and authors regarding text recycling and to assess their legal validity. In Phase 2, the investigators will use findings from Phase 1 to develop, test, and disseminate two kinds of materials: The first are web and print based instructional materials for STEM students (and others new to STEM research) explaining the ethical, legal, and practical issues involved with text recycling, as well as accompanying documents for faculty, administrators, and librarians. The second are model policies and guidelines for text recycling that address appropriate practice in both academic and professional settings. The investigators will obtain feedback on drafts of these materials from potential users and revise them accordingly, after which they will be disseminated.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Cary Moskovitz
resourceprojectProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
The Center for Advancement of Informal Science Education (CAISE) is a National Science Foundation (NSF) funded resource center, working in cooperation with the NSF Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program to build and advance the informal STEM education field. CAISE continues the work it began in 2007--serving professional audiences in informal STEM learning, which includes those working in science centers and museums, zoos and aquariums, parks, botanical gardens and nature centers, events and festivals, libraries, making and tinkering spaces, media (TV, radio, film, social), cyberlearning and gaming, and youth, community, and out-of-school time programs.
What We Do:
CAISE seeks to characterize, highlight, and connect quality, evidence-based informal STEM learning work supported by a diversity of federal, local, and private funders by providing access to over 8,000 (and growing) resources that include project descriptions, research literature, evaluation reports and other documentation on the InformalScience.org website. In addition, CAISE convenes inquiry groups, workshops and principal investigator meetings designed to facilitate discussion and identify the needs and opportunities for informal STEM learning.
In this award, CAISE is also tasked with advancing and better integrating the professional fields of informal STEM learning and science communication by (1) broadening participation in these fields, (2) deepening links between research and practice, and (3) building capacity in evaluation and measurement. These activities are being undertaken by cross-sector task forces of established and emerging who will be responsible for conducting field-level analyses, engaging stakeholders, and creating roadmaps for future efforts. CAISE is also building on existing communication channels for dissemination to the larger field, and through the InformalScience.org website. An External Review Board and Inverness Research are providing oversight of CAISE's program activities and evaluation of the center.
Who We Are:
CAISE operates as a network of core staff housed at the Association of Science-Technology Centers (ASTC) in Washington, D.C. and co-principal investigators and other collaborators at academic institutions and informal STEM education (ISE) organizations across the U.S. Other key collaborators are the American Association for the Advancement of Science's Center for Public Engagement with Science, the National Informal STEM Education Network, and Arizona State University.