This study explored the effect of depth of learning (as measured in hours) on creativity, curiosity, persistence and self-efficacy. We engaged ~900 parents and 900 students across 21 sites in Washington, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Alabama, Virginia and the United Arab Emirates, in 5-week (10-hr) Curiosity Machine programs. Iridescent trained partners to implement the programs. Thus, this analysis was also trying to establish a baseline to measure any loss in impact from scaling our programs and moving to a “train-the-trainer” model. We analyzed 769 surveys out of which 126 were paired. On
How do afterschool programs view their local public libraries? Are they working with them, and in what ways? These are the questions that the Afterschool Alliance, along with its partners at the Space Science Institute’s National Center for Interactive Learning (NCIL) and the American Library Association, wanted to answer. Overall, our goal is to build bridges between the afterschool and library fields, so that both can share knowledge and resources to better serve our youth. While our work together has primarily focused on science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education through
This report introduces a framework to support learning in library and museum makerspaces. The framework demonstrates how we can create the conditions for ambitious learning experiences to unfold within the making experience.
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Children's Museum of PittsburghInstitute of Museum and Library ServicesPeter Wardrip
Maker Corps is a program delivered by the Maker Education Initiative (Maker Ed) to increase organizational capacity to develop and deliver maker programing. Since its inception in 2013, the program has grown to support over 100 organizations by providing professional development, connections to a community of other maker educators and individualized support. Over time the program elements have changed in response to feedback from participants, collaboration with evaluators and shifts in focus for Maker Ed’s goals. In the spirit of maker education – tinkering, observing, responding, iterating –
The University of Oklahoma will increase knowledge about how youths create information and how information professionals can help them become successful information creators by promoting their information and digital literacies and other 21st century skills. This Early Career research project builds on existing research and results of previously funded IMLS Learning Labs by investigating how twenty-four middle school students engaged in project-based, guided-inquiry STEM learning to create information in a school library Learning Lab/Makerspace. The project will result in a model of information-creating behavior that can help develop a groundbreaking approach to information literacy instructions and creative programs.
The number of Latinos and Native Americans represented in library and information science professions is extremely low. The University of Arizona School of Information Resources and Library Science will address this inequity in its Connected Learning in Digital Heritage Curation project, which focuses on archives and special collections, medical librarianship, and public librarianship. The project will educate 24 culturally competent master’s degree students to serve Latino and Native American communities in the digital world. Students will gain hands-on experience working as graduate assistants with project partners: the University of Arizona Libraries, Center for Creative Photography, Arizona Health Sciences Library, Pima County Public Library, Arizona Historical Society, Arizona State Museum, Labriola National American Indian Data Center, American Indian Film Gallery, Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research and the Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records.
The Free Library of Philadelphia Foundation will create on-the-floor makerspaces in libraries in underserved neighborhoods in North Philadelphia. These spaces will help local residents of all ages to gain access to technology and participatory education, and encourage creative applications and collaborative projects. Mentors will guide multigenerational community members as they create cross-disciplinary, interest-driven electronic art projects; build interest and knowledge in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics), and use tools and skills to create and share artifacts that reflect their identities and communities. Through the act of making, participants of all ages will have the opportunity to design meaningful digital and physical objects that capture the richness and diversity of their neighborhoods. These place-based, interest-driven, and mentor-guided makerspaces will provide a replicable, scalable model for libraries and museums nationally.
The Expanding Children’s Interest through Experiential Learning (EXCITE) Project will target K-8th students in expanded learning programs to increase ongoing NASA STEM informal education opportunities for organizations that serve primarily underrepresented and underserved student populations. The AERO Institute will leverage existing collaborations to build capacity of participating organizations in NASA inspired STEM activities. Major partners include Navajo Nation in Arizona, the Beyond the Bell branch of the Los Angeles Unified School District, and the Region 8 of the California After School Program housed in the Ventura County of Education. In addition, the EXCITE Learning Project plans to work with libraries to broaden the scope and impact of NASA’s Education materials and opportunities within underrepresented and underserved local communities. AERO Education specialists will train educators and librarians using the Train-the-Trainer approach. The training sessions will be filmed and made available online via the AERO website and its network on YouTube so that educators and librarians can refresh their understanding as needed.
The range of contemporary "emerging" technologies with far-reaching implications for society (economic, social, ethical, etc.) is vast, encompassing such areas as bioengineering, robotics and artificial intelligence, genetics, neuro and cognitive sciences, and synthetic biology. The pace of development of these technologies is in full gear, where the need for public understanding, engagement and active participation in decision-making is great. The primary goal of this four-year project is to create, distribute and study a set of three integrated activities that involve current and enduring science-in-society themes, building on these themes as first presented in Mary Shelley's novel, Frankenstein, which will be celebrating in 2018 the 200th anniversary of its publication in 1818. The three public deliverables are: 1) an online digital museum with active co-creation and curation of its content by the public; 2) activities kits for table-top programming; and 3) a set of Making activities. The project will also produce professional development deliverables: workshops and associated materials to increase practitioners' capacity to engage multiple and diverse publics in science-in-society issues. The initiative 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. This project by Arizona State University and their museum and library collaborators around the country will examine the hypothesis that exposing publics to opportunities for interactive, creative, and extensive engagement within an integrated transmedia environment will foster their interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), develop their 21st century skills with digital tools, and increase their understanding, ability, and feelings of efficacy around issues in science-in-society. These three distinct yet interlocking modes of interaction provide opportunities for qualitative and quantitative, mixed-methods research on the potential of transmedia environments to increase the ability of publics to work individually and collectively to become interested in and involved with science-in-society issues.