“Monkeying Around: Digital Media and Parent/Child Engagement Resources to Increase Preschool Computational Thinking” is a new project that uses animation, live-action videos, and hands-on activities to support joint engagement of children and caregivers around computational thinking concepts and practices. WGBH, a leading producer of educational STEM media, developed prototypes of videos and hands-on activities around the project’s computational thinking learning goals for young children. Education Development Center (EDC), WGBH’s research partner for the project, conducted a small formative
In March of 2016, the Exploratorium transmitted a live webcast of a total solar eclipse from Woleai, a remote island in the southwestern Pacific. The webcast reached over 1 million viewers. Evaluation reveals effective use of digital media to engage learners in solar science and related STEM content.
Edu, Inc. conducted an external evaluation study that shows clear and consistent evidence of broad distribution of STEM content through multiple online channels, social media, pre-produced videos, and an app for mobile devices. IBM Watson did a deep analysis of tweets on eclipse topics that
This report details the formative evaluation study conducted through collaboration with the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) and the Association of Science-Technology Centers (ASTC) to inform the iterative development and piloting of the Connected Science Learning: Connecting In-School and Out-of-School STEM Learning journal. The journal was the result of an Early Concept Grant for Exploratory Research (EAGER) project funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to develop, disseminate and evaluate a new resource for connecting STEM education practitioners across settings and to
PEEP and the Big Wide World/El Mundo Divertido de PEEP is a bilingual, NSF- funded public media project that uses animation, live-action videos, games, mobile apps, hands-on science activities to motivate preschool-age children to investigate the world around them. Online, PEEP extends children’s science and math learning with a mobile-friendly website that offers games, videos, and hands-on activities, as well as a collection of 15 apps. PEEP is also reaching children in preschool classrooms and family/home childcare settings via the PEEP Science Curriculum, which provides resources for a
InformalScience.org is an online collection of resources designed to serve a broad community of professionals whose work relates to informal education in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). Funded by the National Science Foundation and managed by the Center for Advancement of Informal Science Education (CAISE), InformalScience hosts a variety of usercontributed resources, including a wiki of evidence-based information on the impacts of informal STEM and a database of over 7,000 reports, articles, project descriptions, and other items uploaded by CAISE and website members.
The
This infographic presents a visual summary of a user study of the InformalScience.org website, which was conducted in 2016. The study used online surveys, task-based interviews, and web analytics to explore the following questions: (1) Who are the site's users and what content do they value? (2) Does the site clearly convey its purpose to visitors? and (3) Are users able to navigate the site and use search tools effectively?
Roots of Wisdom (also known as Generations of Knowledge; NSF-DRL #1010559) is a project funded by the National Science Foundation that aims to engage Native and non-Native youth (ages 11-14) and their families in Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) and western science within culturally relevant contexts that present both worldviews as valuable, complementary ways of knowing, understanding, and caring for the natural world. The Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) and its partner organizations, The Indigenous Education Institute (IEI), The National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI
Roots of Wisdom (also known as Generations of Knowledge) is a 5-year project funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF-DRL #1010559) in support of a cross-cultural reciprocal collaboration to develop a traveling exhibit, banner exhibit, and education resources that bring together Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) and western science. The summative evaluation for public audience impacts was conducted by the Lifelong Learning Group (COSI, Columbus, OH), in collaboration with Native Pathways (Laguna, NM).
Throughout the five year SciGirls CONNECT grant the independent evaluation firm Knight Williams assisted Twin Cities PBS (TPT) in a wide range of program evaluation activities. Given the project’s emphasis on a Train-the-Trainer model, the evaluation prioritized two goals: (i) assessing the various levels of CONNECT trainings from different vantage and time points, and (ii) capturing information on the implementation of SciGirls programs led by those who completed a training. This evaluation approach allowed the team to collect ongoing data over the course of the grant and share this