In April and May of 2020, STELAR hosted National Science Foundation Program Officers for a series of informative webinars on the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) Program’s Solicitation (NSF 19-583). View the presentation, slides, and additional resources provided during these events.
In the fall of 2018 STELAR staff held a series of ‘virtual meetups’ with ITEST Community of Practice members to learn more about the work that projects have been engaged in and to uncover the challenges that projects have faced. The STELAR team reviewed the discussions for common themes, and identified three topic areas where examples of best-practices would benefit the community. These topics are:
Preparing Responsive Educators using Place-based Authentic Research in Earth Systems (PREPARES) seeks to expand, implement, and conduct research on a framework for providing indigenous students with the skills and knowledge needed for science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) careers. PREPARES includes culturally-relevant climate science instruction for Yup’ik and Native Hawaiian middle-school students and teachers. Students analyze and share climate data unique to their locations, model baseline climate scenarios, and develop management plans for adapting to forecasted impacts.
The Philly Scientists project is dedicated to developing innovative science curriculum for in-school and out-of-school programs for middle school students in the West Philadelphia Promise Zone. The website contains insight on curriculum development and an example lesson. The Philly Scientists mobile app was modified from a safari animal tracking tool and walks students through identifying and cataloging neighborhood plants and animals. Local scientists visit the school sites to engage students in discussions about how scientists make good observations and aid in data collection of neighborhood
Educating students about invasive species can serve the dual purpose of meeting science content and science and engineering practices requirements for Michigan Science Standards and protecting the Great Lakes from new invasive species. A new state-wide project co-led by Wayne State University, Michigan Technological University, and the Belle Isle Conservancy will provide workshops for educators (http://sun.science.wayne.edu/~jram
Research suggests that an ecologically informed sense of place, including strong place attachment and ecological place meaning, contributes to pro-environmental behaviors. Yet it is unclear whether an intervention such as environmental education can intentionally influence sense of place, especially in cities. To investigate the impact of urban environmental education programs on sense of place, we used pre/post surveys of youth in 5-week environmental and non-environmental summer youth programs in the Bronx, New York City, in 2010. Results show that urban environmental education programs
Disconnection from the natural world may be contributing to our planet's destruction. The authors propose a new construct, Nature Relatedness (NR), and a scale that assesses the affective, cognitive, and experiential aspects of individuals' connection to nature. In Study 1, the authors explored the internal structure of the NR item responses in a sample of 831 participants using factor analysis. They tested the construct validity of NR with respect to an assortment of environmental and personality measures. In Study 2, they employed experience sampling methodology examining if NR people spend
This video presentation uses Conceptual Metaphor theory with the aim to increase the flow within the STEM pipeline
Billion Oyster Project (BOP) is an effort to restore a sustainable oyster population and to foster awareness, affinity, and understanding of the Harbor by engaging New Yorkers directly in the work of restoring one billion oysters. The hands-on science of reef construction and monitoring is executed through in-school restoration based STEM learning opportunities, community science and research, restaurant shell collection and volunteer programs.
The Digital Harbor Foundation, recent recipient of ITEST funding, was featured last month in Politico Magazine's "What Works" series. Digital Harbor, a non-profit maker-space laboratory located in Baltimore, is teaching area youth to learn STEM by doing, and having fun: Researchers who’ve studied Digital Harbor kids recently found that teens who’ve gone through its introductory course show a 10-percent increase in “divergent thinking” – a measure