Informal STEM learning experiences (ISLEs), such as participating in science, computing, and engineering clubs and camps, have been associated with the development of youth’s science, technology, engineering, and mathematics interests and career aspirations. However, research on ISLEs predominantly focuses on institutional settings such as museums and science centers, which are often discursively inaccessible to youth who identify with minoritized demographic groups. Using latent class analysis, we identify five general profiles (i.e., classes) of childhood participation in ISLEs from data
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Remy DouHeidi CianZahra HazariPhilip SadlerGerhard Sonnert
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
In this article, science center and museum professionals from around the world share ways that they are engaging visitors in hands-on innovation. Work from the following organizations are discussed: Exploratorium, Discovery Center of Idaho, Lawrence Hall of Science, Iridescent, Conner Prairie Interactive History Park, Ideum, Discovery Place, Ontario Science Centre, Bootheel Youth Museum, Science Centre Singapore, Children's Museum of Phoenix, Discovery Museums (Acton, MA), Discovery Center of Springfield, Missouri, Museum of Science, Boston, Questacon--The National Science and Technology
Expanding on the encouraging outcomes of an NSF-funded conference, this three-year project led by the National Center for Science and Civic Engagement at Harrisburg University of Science and Technology, in collaboration with the Koshland Science Museum of the National Academy of Sciences, will explore and evaluate ways to support new collaborations between professionals in institutions of higher education and informal STEM education around areas of common interest. The primary goal is to develop the educational infrastructure to grow and efficiently sustain multiple cross-organizational partnership activities at the intersection of learning about science, society and civic engagement around such possible topics as energy, environment, genetics, earth resources, computers and ethics, nanotechnology, etc. The initiative is: 1) creating a joint organizing "secretariat" to provide communications and support through low-cost shared services for at least six partnerships around the country; 2) providing partnership support and technical assistance to seed the six national partnerships, and 3) sharing evaluation and analysis services across all the partnerships. The outcomes of the work pertain to improvements in professional knowledge and practice in higher education and informal science education, as well as the improvement of learning by undergraduates and by the general public.
Research in experimental and developmental psychology, cognitive science, and neuroscience, suggests that tool fluency depends on the merging of perceptual and motor aspects of its use, an achievement we call perceptuomotor integration. We investigate the development of perceptuomotor integration and its role in mathematical thinking and learning. Just as expertise in playing a piano relies on the interanimation of finger movements and perceived sounds, we argue that mathematical expertise involves the systematic interpenetration of perceptual and motor aspects of playing mathematical
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Ricardo NemirovskyMolly KeltonBohdan Rhodehamel
In this article, I review recent findings in cognitive neuroscience in learning, particularly in the learning of mathematics and of reading. I argue that while cognitive neuroscience is in its infancy as a field, theories of learning will need to incorporate and account for this growing body of empirical data.
A midpoint progress poster on the Sparks of Discovery Project which connects UW-Madison NSF researchers to produce interdisciplinary science investigations that will be/have been implemented in a number of settings, including participants from underrepresented groups in science. Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) along with the Morgridge Institute for Research staff support the project and implement the education programs at the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery. This poster was presented at the 2014 AISL PI Meeting in Washington, DC.
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University of Wisconsin, MadisonTravis Tangen
This CRPA award addresses the issue of multidisciplinary science and the public's awareness of the ideas. The PIs believe that the prevalence of multidisciplinary science is high and growing fast. Thus, the public and particularly the younger generations need to understand these concepts and to begin thinking in those terms. Thus, they will derive hands-on modules for three age groups that are age appropriate. The project team includes 7 NSF funded researchers who do multidiscipline-based research in biology, mathematics and engineering. These modules will be tested at the Boy and Girls Club of Dane County prior to being exhibited at the Madison Children's Museum and the Aldo Leopold Nature Center. Further, the local PBS TV station (WPT) will air some of the demonstrations giving the project more visibility and impact. Each set of modules designed for the three age groups shall be evaluated separately using age specific goals and objectives. The project is a collaboration between 7 scientists and engineers, the Boys and Girls Club of Dane County, the Aldo Leopold Nature Center, the Madison Children's Museum, and the Wisconsin Institutes of Discovery of the University of Wisconsin.
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.
The impact of two science enrichment programs on the science attitudes of 330 gifted high school students was evaluated using a multimethod, multiperspective approach that provided a more comprehensive evaluation of program impact on science attitudes than did previous assessments of science programs. Although pre-post comparisons did not indicate positive impact on science attitudes, other measures provided strong evidence of program effectiveness. Program benefits were greater among girls, those who had more supportive families and teachers, and those who entered the programs with greater
The NASA Science Research Mentoring Program (NASA SRMP) is an established mentoring program that presents the wonders of space exploration and planetary sciences to underserved high school students from New York City through cutting-edge, research-based courses and authentic research opportunities, using the rich resources of the American Museum of Natural History. NASA SRMP consists of a year of Earth and Planetary Science (EPS) and Astrophysics electives offered through the Museum’s After School Program, year-long mentorship placements with Museum research scientists, and summer programming through our education partners at City College of New York and the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies. The primary goals of the project are: 1) to motivate and prepare high school students, especially those underrepresented in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields, to pursue STEM careers related to EPS and astrophysics; 2) to develop a model and strategies that can enrich the informal education field; and 3) to engage research scientists in education and outreach programs. The program features five in-depth elective courses, offered twice per year (for a total of 250 student slots per year). Students pursue these preparatory courses during the 10th or 11th grade, and a select number of those who successfully complete three of the courses are chosen the next year to conduct research with a Museum scientist. In addition to providing courses and mentoring placements, the program has produced curricula for the elective courses, an interactive student and instructor website for each course, and teacher and mentor training outlines.