The University of Guam (UOG) NSF INCLUDES Launch Pilot project, GROWING STEM, addresses the grand challenge of increasing Native Pacific Islander representation in the nation's STEM enterprise, particularly in environmental sciences. The project addresses culturally-relevant and place-based research as the framework to attract, engage, and retain Native Pacific Islander students in STEM disciplines. The full science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) pathway will be addressed from K-12 to graduate studies with partnerships that include the Guam Department of Education, Humatak Community Foundation, Pacific Post-Secondary Education Council, the Guam Science and Discovery Society, the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS) and the University of Alaska-Fairbaanks. As the project progresses, the project anticipates further partnerships with the current NSF INCLUDES Launch Pilot project at the University of the Virgin Islands.
Pilot activities include summer internships for high school students, undergraduate and graduate research opportunities through UOG's Plant Nursery and the Humatak Community Foundation Heritage House. STEM professional development activities will be offered through conference participation and student research presentations in venues such as the Guam Science and Discovery Society's Guam Island-wide Science Fair and SACNAS. Faculty will be recruited to develop a mentoring protocol for the project participants. Community outreach and extension services will expand public understanding in environmental sciences from the GROW STEM project. Project metrics will include monitoring the diversity of partners, increases in community engagement, Native Pacific Islander participation in STEM activities, the number of students who desire to attain terminal STEM degrees and the number of community members reached by pilot STEM extension and outreach activities. Dissemination of the GROWING STEM pilot project results will occur through the NSF INCLUDES National Network, partner annual conferences, and local, regional and national STEM conferences.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
John PetersonCheryl SanguezaElse DemeulenaereAustin Shelton
This article discusses the Youth in Science Action Club (SAC), which uses citizen science to investigate nature, document their discoveries, share data with the scientific community, and design strategies to protect the planet. Through collaborations with regional and national partners, SAC expands access to environmental science curriculum and training resources.
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Laura HerszenhornKatie LevedahlSuzi Taylor
resourceresearchMuseum and Science Center Programs
The National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) is one of the world's single largest employers of science communicators, with over 350,000 students and 40,000 staff. Its science communication activities include five museums (Universum, Museo de la Luz, the Geology Museum, Museo de la Medicina Mexicana and Musem of Geophysics), botanical gardens, as well as a wide range of cultural and outreach activities. It has several programmes for training professional science communicators. The science communication staff are spread across the campuses in Mexico City and four other cities, including
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Ana Claudia NepoteElaine Reynoso-Haynes
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 embed public engagement with science (PES) into the cultures and practices of two Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) sites: the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest in New Hampshire and the Harvard Forest in Massachusetts. The goals are 1) to build knowledge about the mutual learning between scientists and adult stakeholders in face-to-face engagement setting and 2) to develop evidence-based practices in the content of place-based ecosystem research. This is a collaborative project of 3 universities (Michigan State University, Harvard, and CUNY) and the two LTERs. Two primary research questions guide this work. First, how willing are participating scientists to take part in PES? What are their attitudes and beliefs about whether engagement can be effective and whether they have the necessary skills? Second, how willing are participating scientists to build relationships with stakeholders using normed tactics? Both qualitative and quantitative methods will be used to collect evidence including semi-structured interviews and surveys. A general set of hypothesis include that there will be positive changes in LTER scientists willingness to participate in PES, attitudes, and efficacy beliefs.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
John BesleySarah GarlickPeter GroffmanPamela TemplerKathleen Lambert
As part of its overall strategy to enhance learning in informal environments, the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program supports new approaches to, and evidence-based understanding of, the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments. This project will meet this goal through rigorous research and the broad implementation of an environmental science literacy professional development and learning program for informal educators and youth engaged in outdoor science programs (OSP). With growing support from the literature and the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), much attention has been placed on creating and leveraging interdisciplinary science learning opportunities beyond science classrooms. As such, an estimated 300 residential OSPs currently exist in the United States. Unfortunately, the informal educators often charged with facilitating these deep and impactful science learning experiences often lack robust formal training in evidenced-based, age-appropriate environmental science content knowledge and pedagogy specific for the youth in their programs. This issue is often more pronounced in under-resourced and under-served programs and communities. This project will directly address these pervasive challenges in the field by not only providing much needed science focused professional development and resources to informal educators but also by specifically targeting and training informal leaders and educators serving youth in predominately rural areas, low-income communities, and underrepresented communities.
Approximately 200 OSP leaders at 100 OSPs around the country will participate in a week-long, intensive training in the professional development model at one of five regional residential leadership institutes. OSP leaders will then redeliver the training to the approximately 1,500 OSP educators/field instructors in their home institutions. The OSP educators/field instructors will then use what they learn through the professional development to facilitate the environmental science learning program (i.e., curriculum, field experiences, resources, pedagogy) to over 1 million youth (grades 3-8) enrolled in their residential outdoor science programs. In addition, a rigorous implementation study, efficacy study and evaluation will be conducted. The implementation study will investigate: (a) Which of the professional learning model practices were implemented and (b) What successes and challenges the programs faced implementing the model. The mixed methods efficacy study will explore: (a) if outdoor science programs contribute to the development of science learning activation and environmental literacy? and (b) what are the features of these experiences that are correlated with increases in science learning activation and environmental literacy. Approximately 25-35 youth will be randomly selected from each of 50 randomly selected sites to participate in the efficacy study. The data and findings from the research and evaluation produced by this project will contribute to a relatively sparse knowledge and research base specific to youth efficacy and implementation processes and practices across nearly 1/3 of the estimated 300 existing residential outdoor science programs in the United States.
Scientific literacy is an important educational and societal goal. Measuring scientific literacy, however, has been problematic because there is no consensus regarding the meaning of scientific literacy. Most definitions focus on the content and processes of major science disciplines, ignoring social factors and citizens’ needs. The authors developed a definition of scientific literacy for the California 4-H Program from the citizen’s perspective, concentrating on real-world science-related situations. The definition includes four anchor points: science content; scientific reasoning skills
This poster was presented at the 2016 Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) PI Meeting held in Bethesda, MD on February 29-March 2. Earth Partnership: Indigenous Arts and Sciences (IAS) refines a model for integrating Indigenous and Western STEM education utilizing a 10-step framework for ecological restoration, project-based learning, and professional development. Through community dialogues and a collaborative design process with Native Nations of Wisconsin, Earth Partnership is developing an Indigenous Arts and Sciences approach that has allowed Native participants to voice their insights
In recent years, there has been much concern over the decline of biologists who actually identify themselves to be naturalists, which negatively impacts the field of conservation and the study of biology as a whole. This could result in a decrease in individuals who participate in naturalist-like activities, such as informal environmental education and environmental volunteerism. The purpose of my study was to determine what discourse identities were held by naturalist development program participants, how these discourse identities related to their volunteer motives in environmental settings
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
OUTSIDE: Over Under and Through: Students Informally Discover the Environment will focus on conducting a pilot study of our informal environmental education nature program designed for underrepresented middle school students in Mississippi. We have partnered with the University of Southern Mississippi's (USM) well-established Biological Sciences Learning Center (BSLC) and newly developed Lake Thoreau Environmental Center (LTEC), the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science and the Hattiesburg Public School District (HPSD). We are focused on reaching two target populations of participants: future naturalists and underrepresented middle school students. During this pilot, we are training volunteer naturalists to lead engaging, inquiry-driven informal environmental education programs designed to immerse middle school students in nature. We have developed a training program for volunteer naturalists and captured patterns in learning and interactions between students and naturalists during OUTSIDE programming.
Earth Partnership: Indigenous Arts and Sciences (EP) will develop and refine a model for integrating Indigenous and informal and formal K-20 educators in ecological restoration, project-based learning and professional development. EP will involve participants in Native habitat restoration on community spaces, school grounds and nearby natural areas as a context for intergenerational STEM learning across age, ecosystem, discipline, learning style, culture and place. EP integrates Native knowledge and core values including relationship, reciprocity, respect and responsibility with Western STEM concepts and processes. The project will integrate the expertise of university social, physical, life and learning scientists and community and tribal practitioners to design, develop and test informal STEM learning incorporating ecological restoration, citizen science and cultural diversity. EP grows out of a teacher professional development model funded by NSF and is a network that now includes participating individuals and organizations from many states. This network will enhance dissemination and provide a foundation for a larger project growing out of the results of this project. EP will build capacity of Native and non-Native informal educators and citizens to work together to generate engagement among young people and adults with ecological STEM learning and stewardship. The approach will integrate culturally authentic resources, inquiry and citizen science process skills (e.g., data collection, analysis, ecological restoration, water stewardship) in multiple learning settings. Stronger multicultural, intergenerational and community partnerships will be supported to restore aquatic and terrestrial habitats through community-based stewardship projects and Service Learning. Through EP, Native youth will be encouraged to explore STEM careers that will meet future workforce needs for managing tribal resources and become knowledgeable citizens able to use critical thinking and analysis of STEM-related issues in their communities. The project will use a developmental evaluation approach to assess project planning processes and outcomes of educational programs.
Nine cultural institutions in one metropolitan community worked together on a study to determine what motivates museumgoers, using John Falk’s visitor-identity model as their theoretical guide and analytical instrument. The results prompted the individual institutions to reflect on their programme development and learning outcomes, their marketing strategies, and their staff professional development.