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Interest is a critical motivating factor shaping how children engage with STEM inside and outside of school and across their lives. In this paper, we introduce the concept of interest catalyst that emerged from longitudinal research with preschool-age children and their families as critical to the process through which each family developed unique interest pathways through their experience with a...

In collaboration with Metropolitan Family Service (MFS), we conducted a three-year design-based research study to better understand how the characteristics of hands-on, home-based family engineering activities influence how preschool-age children and their parents engage in the engineering design process. Four themes emerged from the study: (1) Families used their imagination and activity narrative elements to set the design context, (2)...

This poster was presented at the 2021 NSF AISL Awardee Meeting. Programming includes Neighborhood Walks led by teams of scientists/engineers and artists Community Workshops, Local Artist Projects, and Youth Mentorship focused on neighborhood and citywide water issues Intergenerational participation, from seniors and adult learners to young adults, teens, and middle schoolers ...

This poster was presented at the 2021 NSF AISL Awardee Meeting. This poster describes a newly funded collaborative project (9/2021) to engage Planet Word visitors in language science research. Engage visitors in domain of science often overlooked in the public imagination (language arts -> language science enthusiasts!) Diversify participants who contribute data to studies Provide training in research & science communication to a diverse...

This poster was presented at the 2021 NSF AISL Awardee Meeting. Since 2006, the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory (MagLab) through the Center for Integrating Research and Learning (CIRL) has offered a SciGirls Summer Camp to introduce middle school girls to various fields of science. Code: SciGirls was created in 2017 to increase the engagement in computer science studies and career...

This poster was presented at the 2021 NSF AISL Awardee Meeting. The project is building a nationwide online coaching/mentoring program for out of school educators in rural settings. ...

This poster was presented at the 2021 NSF AISL Awardee Meeting. The project scales up an award-winning coaching model: Informal educators come together in small groups to share videos of their own interactions with youth A coach helps them share feedback based on their use of key skills (e.g. how to ask youth purposeful questions). ...

Inverness Research and Oregon State University, with support and input from CAISE, conducted an evaluation of the 2021 NSF AISL Awardee Meeting which was held virtually October 19-21, 2021. The evaluation effort included observing the meeting, participating in debriefing the meeting with CAISE co-PIs, the CAISE equity audit committee, and NSF Program Officers; developing and administering a post-event survey; and...

This report aimed to measure the impact of a unique professional development program entitled Project ASTER III (Active Science Teaching Encourages Reform) on teachers’ self-efficacy and perceptions about inquiry-based science teaching. Project ASTER III enabled teachers to explore inquiry-based science teaching through exhibit-based hands-on/ minds-on investigations at a science museum and to develop a science curriculum aligned with museum exhibits...

In this paper, we report ethnicity trends in student participation and experience in high school science and engineering fair (SEFs). SEF participation showed significant ethnic diversity. For survey students, the approximate distribution was Asian-32%; Black-11%; Hispanic-20%; White-33%; Other-3%. Comparing the SEF level at which students competed from school to district to region to state levels, we observed that black students...

How can we use a telenovela to help Latinx parents see themselves as role models in their young children’s science learning? Using an innovative, culturally relevant, meaningful, and authentic media program – a telenovela – to promote caregivers’ confidence, ability to support their children’s everyday science learning, and awareness of science career paths. Latinx children make 25% of the U.S....

The pilot and feasibility study will develop instructional workshops for an adult population of quilters to introduce them to computational thinking. By leveraging pre-existing social structures, skill sets, and engagement in quilting, the researchers hope to help participants develop computer science and computational thinking knowledge and skills. This poster was presented at the 2021 NSF AISL Awardee Meeting. ...

This poster was presented at the 2021 NSF AISL Awardee Meeting. This project's research questions include: How and to what extent do Brains On!’s coronavirus-based episodes help children and their families understand and talk about science-related pandemic topics? What kind of conversations are sparked by these episodes? What kinds of worries and questions do Brains On! listeners have about coronavirus and related aspects...

This poster was presented at the 2021 NSF AISL Awardee Meeting. What do you think? How do you connect with youth audiences? What assumptions do you have about how identity relates to exhibit engagement? How do factors that shape your identity impact your life? Has this shifted over time? ...

The Developing Guidelines for Designing Challenging and Rewarding Interactive Science Exhibits project is a Research in Service to Practice grant running from 10/1/2016-9/30/2021. We have used a Design-Based Research (DBR) approach to refine a framework about exhibit design practices that support learners through the emotional aspects of “productive struggle” as we built three science museum exhibits. This poster was presented at...

Diversity, Equity, Access and Inclusion (DEAI) work in museums is multifaceted, but typically approached from the perspective of external audiences and outcomes rather than a change in internal organizational culture. This article discusses findings from a research study examining what happened in five US science museums that were making a concerted, officially recognized effort towards internal change, and explores what...

This project's goals are to: Enable participants to contribute to any or all stages of the scientific process and enhance their learning using an online citizen science platform and live bird cams. Generate new scientific knowledge about wildlife. Advance the understanding of effective project design for co-created online citizen-science projects at a national scale. This poster was presented at the 2021 NSF AISL Awardee...

Access & opportunity in STEM remain limited for youth from historically underrepresented backgrounds in the US & UK. We present findings grounded in Participatory Ethnographies into STEM pathways, highlighting how youth participate in ISL across time and settings in equitable and transformative ways, and practices that ISL practitioners engage in towards supporting pathway authoring. We take a pathways lens to...

This 4-year project addresses fundamental equity issues in informal Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) learning. Access to, and opportunities within informal STEM learning (ISL) remain limited for youth from historically underrepresented backgrounds in both the United States and the United Kingdom. However, there is evidence that ISL experiences can expand opportunities for youth learning and development in STEM, for...

In Research + Practice Partnerships with 4 makerspaces in 2 cities, we pursue equity-oriented STEM-rich making with youth from historically underrepresented backgrounds, particularly BIPOC youth and youth in refugee & low-income communities, towards developing: a theory-based and data-driven framework for equitably consequential making a set of individual-level and program-level cases with exemplars of equitably consequential making (and the associated challenges) that can...

As part of its overall strategy to enhance learning in informal environments, the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program funds innovative research, approaches and resources for use in a variety of settings. There are few empirical studies of sustained youth engagement in STEM-oriented making over time, how youth are supported in working towards more robust STEM related projects, on the...

Conversations with parents during engagement in informal learning settings, such as museums, can play a critical role in facilitating young children’s early experiences and interest in STEM (Jant et al., 2014; NRC, 2012). There is an acute need to support early STEM engagement for underrepresented families. Successful community partnerships between informal learning settings and Head Start are one way to...

Research-practice partnerships between filmmakers and social scientists can help: Produce effective and engaging documentaries on complex science + society issues Fill gaps in social science research on the impact of films, and how films can reach traditionally missed audiences This poster was presented at the 2021 NSF AISL Awardee Meeting. ...

The Wayne State University Math Corps is a mathematics enrichment and mentoring program that operates during summers and on Saturdays. The curriculum and the pedagogies in this informal learning program have documented success of supporting youths' mathematics learning as well as raising achievement levels in school. Through rigorous research and evaluation, this project seeked to analyze and understand the nature, extent,...

This poster presented at the 2021 NSF AISL Awardee Meeting describes the goals of a five-year CAREER AISL project that brings together researchers, educators, designers, and facilitators to investigate how families exercise their agency in museum settings, and how science center exhibits can give families greater authority as STEM learners. The project involves 1) research studies exploring how family groups express agency...