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This is a compilation of front-end, formative, and a partial summative evaluations, and an exploratory study using the xMacroscope, a data visualization technology developed for generating data from an exhibit using data captured from visitor actions. The studies were interrupted by the pandemic, and the summative study was unable to be completed. The project was an Innovations in Development AISL...

Project website for the Future Worlds game-based learning environment for environmental sustainability education in science museums and classrooms.  ...

Recent years have seen growing interest in modeling visitor engagement in museums with multimodal learning analytics. In parallel, there has also been growing concern about issues of fairness and encoded bias in machine learning models. In this paper, we investigate bias detection and mitigation techniques to address issues of algorithmic fairness in multimodal models of museum visitor visual attention. We...

Modeling visitor engagement is a key challenge in informal learning environments, such as museums and science centers. Devising predictive models of visitor engagement that accurately forecast salient features of visitor behavior, such as dwell time, holds significant potential for enabling adaptive learning environments and visitor analytics for museums and science centers. In this paper, we introduce a multimodal early prediction...

The executive summary of the Formative Research Report for the project: Fostering Joint Parent/Child Engagement in Preschool Computational Thinking by Leveraging Digital Media, Mobile Technology, and Library Settings in Rural Communities. This project will teach foundational computational thinking (CT) concepts to preschoolers by creating a mobile app to guide families through sequenced sets of videos and hands-on activities, building on the...

This is the formative research report for the project: Fostering Joint Parent/Child Engagement in Preschool Computational Thinking by Leveraging Digital Media, Mobile Technology, and Library Settings in Rural Communities This project will teach foundational computational thinking (CT) concepts to preschoolers by creating a mobile app to guide families through sequenced sets of videos and hands-on activities, building on the popular PBS...

This project will teach foundational computational thinking (CT) concepts to preschoolers by creating a mobile app to guide families through sequenced sets of videos and hands-on activities, building on the popular PBS KIDS series Work It Out Wombats!  To support families at home it will also develop a new library engagement model to build librarians' computational thinking content knowledge and self-efficacy...

This is an overview of research to measure STEM Engagement and Advocacy of Older Adults (50+).  This work explored findings from Design Challenges hosted for older adult learners and also resulted in survey instruments to be used for this population. It also outlines constructs that were developed to inform the research.  ...

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...

National Federation of the Blind (NFB) Engineering Quotient (EQ) for Teachers is a free, online curriculum and collection of resources for educators who want to teach NFB EQ, the National Federation of the Blind’s week-long engineering program designed for blind and low-vision youth. The curriculum consists of full lesson plans, files for the production of tactile graphics, Braille-ready files, and other...

The Kaulele Kapa Exhibit was created to explore the effectiveness of a Hawaiian culture-based framework and approach in increasing learner engagement and depth of knowledge in STEM among Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander (NHPI) learners. The exhibit utilized hands-on and interactive activities, coupled with scientific and cultural information, to create relevant learning experiences for these communities.  To determine the effectiveness, exhibit attendees...

There is growing interest in stories as potentially powerful tools for science learning. In this mini-review article, we discuss theory and evidence indicating that, especially for young children, listening to and sharing stories with adult caregivers at home can make scientific ideas and inquiry practices meaningful and accessible. We review recent research offering evidence that stories presented in books can...

The STEM Excellence and Leadership project (Assouline et al., 2017) was funded by the National Science Foundation from 2017 to 2023 (Award #1713123). The project was organized around a research-practice partnership (RPP) between The University of Iowa College of Education Belin-Blank Center for Gifted Education and Talent Development (B-BC) and 11 original partner districts.  This report provides an overview of...

The STEM Excellence and Leadership project is an NSF-funded Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) Research in Service to Practice project of the University of Iowa’s Belin-Blank International Center for Gifted Education and Talent Development (B-BC). This project addressed the need to provide economically-disadvantaged rural-students with informal STEM learning opportunities that place high-potential students on path for developing STEM expertise and...

The Citizen Science, Civics, and Resilient Communities (CSCRC) project was a three-year project funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Environmental Literacy Program (NA18SEC0080008) and by the Museum of Science, Boston (MOS), in collaboration with Arizona State University, SciStarter, Northeastern University, and the National Informal STEM Education Network. The goal of the Environmental Literacy Program is to support...

The project team published a research synopsis article with Futurum Science Careers in Feb 2023 called “How Can Place Attachment Improve Scientific Literacy?” The target audience for the article is K-12 educators in the US and UK. ...

Research on citizen science programmes has highlighted that they can foster science content and knowledge gain, enhance pro-environmental behaviour and cultivate civic action among participants. Especially in the case of place-based citizen science, which requires hands-on repeated activity in an out-of-door setting through a scientific lens, evidence suggests that some of these outcomes may be linked to the unique people–place...

A key broadening participation challenge for science communication is to reach non-traditional audiences beyond those already interested in science. In this study we test a “Guerilla Science” approach that blends elements of access, by removing barriers to participation, with those of inclusion, by designing participant-centered activities, for reaching an art-interested adult audience at the FIGMENT art festival in New York City. Our...

In Spring 2022, Monterey Bay Aquarium opened its new exhibition, Into the Deep (En lo Profundo). The 7,000+ square-foot exhibition showcases characteristics of the deep sea and the animals that live there. The exhibition also highlights the deep-sea research being carried out by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI), as well as the effect of plastics on deep-sea life....

Dedicated science learning spaces primarily attract audiences who seek out science learning experiences. This self-selection represents a major challenge for broadening participation. We examined an approach to reaching audiences who may not ordinarily engage with science. Termed Guerilla Science, this approach blends elements of access, by removing barriers to participation by embedding science into unexpected places, with those of inclusion,...

The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) will continue its collaboration in providing scientists and engineers experiential professional development and public service fellowships via the AAAS Science and Technology Fellowship (STPF) Program. The STPF program objectives are to: educate scientists and engineers on the intricacies of federal policy making; provide information and...

The polar regions inspire wonder, awe, and fascination. But they are also icons of fragility that have provided global audiences with unforgettable images of glacial melt, shrinking permafrost, and the resiliency of Indigenous communities in the face of changing Arctic climates. Scientific activity at the poles addresses these urgent global challenges, explores the mysteries of our earth's history, our solar...

Improving diversity in STEM fields is key to addressing the critical and complex issues faced by society in the 21st century. Research shows that only 17% of American Indian/Alaska Native (AIAN) students continue their education after high school versus 60% of the U.S. population. AIAN communities experience some of the greatest educational disparities of any racial/ethnic group in STEM subjects...

This REU Site award to TERC, located in Cambridge, MA, will support the training of eight students for ten weeks during the summers of 2023-2025. Students will perform research in the field of informal STEM education. Their projects will have a theme of advancing social justice and equity. The social justice theme aims to attract students to STEM education research,...

The exponential increase in extreme events over the last decade compels new methods of managing risk in communities exposed to recurring natural hazards. This project advances the National Science Foundation's goal Growing Convergence Research to enable smart and connected communities by initiating and expanding collective learning capacity through integrating digital twin technologies and social games. This project proposes to engage...