Environmental sciences | STELAR - STEM Learning and Research Center

A Youth-Led Citizen Science Network for Community Environmental Assessment

Curricular Materials

This curriculum was developed in an informal STEM context through after-school programs, however this versatile content can be implemented in a variety of formal and informal settings, including classroom use at the high school level. In this curriculum, students design, carry out, and communicate findings from technology-rich community-focused environmental citizen science projects. Students learn about various types of pollution, environmental health, and human impacts on the environment, as well as develop research and science communication skills and utilize various technologies and

Drones in Alaska Elementary Curriculum

Curricular Materials

This collection of three teacher's manuals, five videos, and one career exploration guide were created with and for Alaska Native communities as part of the Drone Research and Opportunities for Native Elementary Students project, funded by NSF I-TEST Grant Nos. 1850561 (Univ. of Alaska Fairbanks) and 1850556 (Univ. of Alaska Anchorage). The Drones in Alaska base curriculum has three versions, one with lexicon in Sugs'tun, one with lexicon in Lower Tanana Athabascan, and one with lexicon in Lower Koyukon Athabascan. The Teacher's manual for the Drones in Alaska base curriculum is applicable to

A Lesson in Geospatial Inquiry

Publications

Geospatial Inquiry is an educational framework that offers students an opportunity to engage with, and become curious about, geospatial data for a defined purpose. The authors define Geospatial Inquiry as: "Asking and answering a question through the analysis and communication of data that is linked to a geographic location on, above, or near Earth." (Rubino-Hare et al. 2017). Since Geospatial Inquiry is designed to evoke curiosity and engagement, students have multiple opportunities to seek information and explore ideas on how they see the world they live in. Geospatial Inquiry uses

Puffins: Exploring how narrative, data science, and artificial intelligence enhance the study of ecology in middle school

2023 - 2025

The study of puffins can provide a fascinating subject area for the integrated learning of data and ecosystems. Once hunted to local extinction, puffins have made a dramatic yet fragile comeback and been re-established to historic nesting islands in mid-coast Maine. This project combines a

Collaborative Research: Expanding Socio-Environmental Science Investigations with Geospatial Technologies in High Schools

Poster

This project expands from a single site into a multi-university, multi-school teacher professional development and curriculum development initiative for geospatial integration into science, social studies, and STEM courses. Student outcomes addressed include spatial thinking and reasoning and STEM college and career interests.

Investigating environmental identity development among children in rural Alaska Native communities through intergenerational, culturally responsive community science programming

Poster

Project Overview: This two-year research-design project, undertaken in collaboration with GBH and Molly of Denali is: (1) building new knowledge about the ways in which children from rural Alaska Native communities, ages 6- 8, develop “environmental identity” (defined as the empathy, knowledge, and skills that children need to act responsibly for the environment) and (2) investigating how environmental identity can be nurtured via an intergenerational, community-based environmental science program that is supported by appropriate technologies and

Investigating environmental identity development among children in rural Alaska Native communities through intergenerational, culturally responsive community science programming

Poster

Media producers from GBH and researchers from South Dakota State University and the University of Alaska Southeast have recently launched a new research and development project that is designed to: (1) build new knowledge about the ways in which children from rural Alaska Native communities, ages 6-8, develop “environmental identity”—the empathy, knowledge, and skills that children need to act responsibly for the environment (Green, Kalvaitis, & Worster, 2016)—and (2) investigate how environmental identity can be nurtured via a

My STEM Story: Scaling STEM Motivation Through Digital Storytelling and Near Peer Relationships

Poster

The My STEM Story project aims to enhance the identity-based motivation of diverse high school students through their engagement with and reflection on the authentic digital stories of diverse near-peer mentors paving their way in a post-secondary STEM pathway.

Engaging Young Black and Latino Students in Data Science Through Water Security

Poster

Communities of color across the nation face increasing challenges with affordable access to safe drinking water. Using data science to explore why, where and how this is happening, and what is being done about it, provides a powerful vehicle for the engagement of students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), and to help develop a digital work force with appropriate representation from the affected communities.

Peering a Generation into the Future: NSF's Young Scholars Program (YSP) and the nation’s STEM workforce

Poster

This project is a multiyear study of the impact of an enrichment program that the US National Science Foundation (NSF) managed in the 1990s. The Young Scholars Program (YSP) involved around 18,000 7th–12th grade students and 600 separate grants between 1989 and 1996. The purpose of YSP was to introduce high-achieving middle and secondary school students to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields to encourage their entry into those fields and thus increase the size and quality of the nation’s STEM workforce.

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