The independent evaluation firm, Knight Williams, Inc., developed a two-part post-program survey to gather information about the Year 1 SciGirls CONNECT2 outreach programs conducted by 14 partner organizations. The evaluation aimed for one educator from each organization to complete Part 1 of the survey, which consisted of program reporting questions. In all, one educator from 13 partner organizations completed Part 1, for a response rate of 93%. Part 2 of the survey asked for program reflections, with a focus on perceived program goals, impacts, highlights, and challenges. Given the
The independent evaluation firm Knight Williams, Inc. administered an online survey to educators from 16 SciGirls CONNECT2 partner organizations to gather information about their anticipated use of, reflections on, and recommendations relating to the draft updated SciGirls Strategies. The evaluation aimed for two educators from each partner organization – specifically the program leader and one educator who was familiar with the original SciGirls Seven strategies – to complete the survey about the draft updated strategies after they were shared by TPT in March 2018 via an online webinar and a
The independent evaluation firm, Knight Williams, Inc., administered an online survey and conducted follow-up interviews with educators from 14 SciGirls CONNECT2 partner organizations to gather information about their use of, reflections on, and recommendations relating to the SciGirls Seven strategies. The evaluation aimed for two educators from each partner organization – specifically the program leader and one educator who was familiar with the SciGirls Seven – to share reflections on the strategies after they completed their Year 1 programs. In all, 24 educators from 13 partners completed
Underrepresented minorities (URMs) represent 33% of the US college age population and this will continue to increase (1). In contrast, only 26% of college students are URMs. In the area of Science Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), only 15% of college students completing a STEM major are URMs (2). While there have been gains in the percent of Hispanic and Black/African Americans pursuing college degrees, the number of Native American college students remains alarmingly low. In 2013, Native Americans represented only 1% of entering college students and less than 50% finished their degree. Moreover, 1% of students pursuing advanced degrees in STEM-related fields are Native American/Alaska Native. With regards to high school graduation rates, the percent of Native American/Alaska Native students completing high school has decreased with only 51% of students completing high school in 2010 compared to 62 % and 68% for Black and Latino students respectively. While identifying ways to retain students from all underrepresented groups is important, developing programs targeting Native American students is crucial. In collaboration with the Hopi community, a three-week summer course for Native American high school students at Harvard was initiated in 2001. Within three years, the program expanded to include three additional Native American communities. 225 students participated in the program over a 10-year period; and 98% of those responding to the evaluation completed high school or obtained a GED and 98% entered two or four year colleges including 6 students who entered Harvard. This program was reinitiated in 2015 and we plan to build on the existing structure and content of this successful program. Specifically, in collaboration with two Native American communities, the goal of the program is 1) to increase participants’ knowledge of STEM disciplines and their relevance to issues in participants’ communities via a three week case-based summer course for Native American high school students; 2) to help enhance secondary school STEM education in Native American communities by providing opportunities for curriculum development and classroom enhancement for secondary school teachers in the participating Native American communities; and 3) to familiarize students with the college experience and application process and enhance their readiness for college through workshops, college courses and internships. Through these activities we hope to 1) increase the number of Native American students completing high school; 2) increase the number of Native American students applying and being accepted to college; 3) increase the number of Native American students pursuing STEM degrees and careers; 4) increase the perception among Native American students that attending and Ivy plus institution is attainable; 5) increase the feeling of empowerment that they can help their community by pursuing advanced degrees in STEM.
PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE:
This proposal supports a summer program for high school students and teachers from Native American communities. The program goals are to encourage students to complete high school and prepare them for college and to also consider degrees in science, technology, engineering, and math.
The goals of this proposal are: 1) to provide opportunities for underrepresented students to consider careers in basic or clinical research by exciting them through an educational Citizen Science research project; 2) to provide teachers with professional development in science content and teaching skills using research projects as the infrastructure; and 3) to improve the environments and behaviors in early childcare and education settings related to healthy lifestyles across the state through HSTA students Citizen Science projects. The project will complement or enhance the training of a workforce to meet the nation’s biomedical, behavioral and clinical research needs. It will encourage interactive partnerships between biomedical and clinical researchers,in-service teachers and early childcare and education facilities to prevent obesity.
Specific Aim I is the Biomedical Summer Institute for Teachers led by university faculty. This component is a one week university based component. The focus is to enhance teacher knowledge of biomedical characteristics and problems associated with childhood obesity, simple statistics, ethics and HIPAA compliance, and the principles of Citizen Science using Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR). The teachers, together with the university faculty and staff, will develop the curriculum and activities for Specific Aim II.
Specific Aim II is the Biomedical Summer Institute for Students, led by HSTA teachers guided by university faculty. This experience will expose 11th grade HSTA students to the biomedical characteristics and problems associated with obesity with a focus on early childhood. Students will be trained on Key 2 a Healthy Start, which aims to improve nutrition and physical activity best practices, policies and environments in West Virginia’s early child care and education programs. The students will develop a meaningful project related to childhood obesity and an aspect of its prevention so that the summer institute bridges seamlessly into Specific Aim III.
Specific Aim III is the Community Based After School Club Experiences. The students and teachers from the summer experience will lead additional interested 9th–12th grade students in their clubs to examine their communities and to engage community members in conducting public health intervention research in topics surrounding childhood obesity prevention through Citizen Science. Students and teachers will work collaboratively with the Key 2 a Healthy Start team on community projects that will be focused on providing on-going technical assistance that will ultimately move the early childcare settings towards achieving best practices related to nutrition and physical activity in young children.
This Conference Paper was presented at the International Soceity for the Learning Sciences Confernece in June 2018. We summarize interviews with youth ages 9-15 about their failure mindsets, and if those midsets cross boundaries between learning environments.
Previous research on youth’s perceptions and reactions to failure established a view of failure as a negative, debilitating experience for youth, yet STEM and in particular making programs increasingly promote a pedagogy of failures as productive learning experiences. Looking to unpack perceptions of failure across contexts and
The STEM Interest and Engagement (STEM IE) Study was a four-year project funded by the National Science Foundation under the auspices of its Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program that was designed to better understand what types of practices, supports, and opportunities afforded to early adolescent youth: (1) Are especially effective in helping youth experience in-the-moment engagement while participating in ISL activities, and (2) Serve to support growth in STEM interest and aspirations. The study was conducted in a total of nine, STEM-oriented, summer learning programs serving
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Neil NaftzgerJennifer SchmidtLee ShumowPatrick BeymerJoshua Rosenberg
STEM out-of-school time (OST) programs play an important role in helping youth develop the 21st century skills they need to prepare them for the workforce, particularly the teamwork skills necessary for the growing collaborative nature of work in STEM (National Research Council, 2015). However, there is a lack of appropriate tools to evaluate this key programmatic outcome in STEM OST settings. Through funding from the National Science Foundation, we carried out the Collaboration in the 21st Century (C2C) project to help address this need by developing and validating a survey, the Youth
This article discusses how camp professionals are taking a greater interest in the concept of allyship, a process of unlearning and re-evaluating whereby those in positions of privilege attempt to adopt a stance of solidarity with marginalized groups of people. It includes an annotated list of Indigenous Instructional Programming, which aims to build awareness of programs that can aid camp professionals seeking to build intercultural competency among staff groups and, by extension, work toward a larger goal of determining whether or not indigenous traditions still merit a place at camp.
This position paper, co-authored Center for Childhood Creativity's Director Elizabeth Rood and Director of Research Helen Hadani, details the importance of exposing children ages 0-8 to science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) experiences. The review of more than 150 empirical studies led Rood and Hadani to conclude that, despite what has been previously thought, modern research supports the understanding that children are capable of abstract thinking and STEM-learning from infancy, beginning before their first birthday.
The Roots of STEM Success, authored in support of classroom
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Helen Shwe HadaniElizabeth RoodAmy EisenmannRuthe FousheeGarrett JaegerGina JaegerJoanna KauffmannKatie KennedyLisa Regalla
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The ACCEYSS (Association of Collaborative Communities Equipping Youth for STEM Success) Network and Model project, an NSF INCLUDES Design and Development Launch Pilot, at Texas State University is forming a university-community partnership between interdisciplinary researchers (ACCEYSS research team), faith leaders and other community partners to implement an innovative model that prepares underrepresented and underserved youth to pursue undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) degrees. The inaugural ACCEYSS network will include Texas State University, San Marcos Consolidated Independent School District, San Marcos Youth Service Bureau, City of San Marcos-Office of the City Manager, Hays County Youth Initiative, the Calaboose African American History Museum, and several local faith-based organizations. Many historic advancements have been made through the efforts and activities of faith and community leaders uniquely poised to motivate and galvanize community-based action. A collaboration among these academic institutions, social/cultural organizations, and faith partners to work with the families and youth of underrepresented/underserved populations will be an essential asset for generating new perspectives and ideas for improving STEM academic and career outcomes related to broadening participation in the scientific enterprise.
During this launch pilot, the ACCEYSS research team and network will collaborate to design and develop the ACCEYSS model as a culturally-relevant, blended-learning strategy that integrates online and in-person STEM enrichment activities (e.g., summer institute, afterschool clubs) that are aligned with the Science and Engineering Practices and Disciplinary Core Ideas Dimensions of the K-12 Next Generation Science Education Standards. The collective impact framework will be used to build diverse capacity, leverage asset-based community development, and sustain mutually reinforcing non-exclusive policies and practices for STEM diversity and inclusion. Additionally, in this launch pilot, a multifaceted design-based research approach will be utilized to support middle and high school students' interest in and pursuit of STEM studies.
The University of Texas at Austin's Texas Advanced Computing Center, Chaminade University of Honolulu (CUH), and the Georgia Institute of Technology will lead this NSF INCLUDES Design and Development Launch Pilot (DDLP) to establish a model for data science preparation of Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHPI) students at the high school and undergraduate levels. The project is premised on the promise of NHPI communities gaining access to, and the ability to work with, large data sets to tackle emerging problems in the Pacific. Such agency over "big data" sets that are relevant to Pacific issues, and contemporary skills in data science, analytics and visualization have the potential to be transformative for community improvement efforts. The effort has the potential to advance knowledge, instructional pedagogy and practices to improve NHPI high school and undergraduate students performance in and attraction to STEM education and careers.
The project team will work to: 1) Increase interest and proficiency in data science and visualization among NHPI high school and undergraduate students through a summer immersion experience that bridges computation and culture; 2) Build data science capacity at an NHPI serving undergraduate institution (CUH) through creation of a certificate program; and 3) Develop and expand partnerships with other organizations with related goals working with NHPI populations. The month-long summer training for 20 NHPI college students, and five NHPI high school students, takes place at CUH and focuses on data science, visualization, and virtual reality, including working on problem sets that require data science approaches and incorporate geographically, socially- and culturally-relevant research themes.