Geosciences | STELAR - STEM Learning and Research Center

Data Jam

Curricular Materials

Engaging students with local ecological data in Puerto Rico Data Jam is an initiative of the Luquillo Long -Term Ecological Research (LTER) program. The University of Puerto Rico's Luquillo LTER has compiled decades of data on the El Yunque rainforest ecosystem and made it publicly available. The Data Jam program engages middle and high school students in the process of formulating their own questions about environmental phenomena in El Yunque and then exploring, analyzing, and summarizing long-term data as evidence to support their scientific research questions. Successful Data Jam projects

Luquillo Data Jam: A Powerful Model for Broadening Participation in Science

Publications

The Luquillo Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) program in Puerto Rico has implemented a Data Jam initiative that fosters student engagement in ecological data science. In December 2023, over 175 middle and high school students presented 51 data-driven projects at a symposium in El Yunque National Rainforest. The initiative, rooted in the LTER’s extensive datasets, allows students to develop research questions, analyze data using the CODAP tool, and present findings. The program includes professional development for teachers, with workshops and Virtual Lab Meetings that equip them to guide

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

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.

Connecting Students with Autism to Geographic Information Science & Technology Careers

Poster

The goal of this project is to develop an innovative, research-based workforce development model for students with Autism Spectrum Disorder that (1) increases student self-regulation, interest, and motivation in Geographic Information Science & Technology (GIST), (2) expands students’ understanding of GIST/STEM concepts and skill sets, and (3) certifies students as FAA Drone Pilots (FAA Part 107).

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.

Collaborative Research: STEM Career Connections

Poster

The goal for the STEM Career Connections project is to develop an innovative career readiness model for both in and out of school settings that will profoundly increase the knowledge of, and interest in, STEM and computing careers for middle school youth in a rural mountain community who are often underserved in STEM fields.

Synthesis: Impact of integrating innovative technologies in STEM classrooms on K-12 students' STEM career outcomes

Poster

This Synthesis project uses meta-analysis and qualitative synthesis to examine the effects of integrating innovative technologies into K-12 STEM education on students’ STEM career-related outcomes, and if and in what ways intervention characteristics and educational settings moderate these effects.

Integrating AI Machine Learning into the Teaching of Paleontology Using Fossil Shark Teeth in Middle Schools

Poster

We will collaborate with 3 annual teacher cohorts (80 teachers total) from Florida Title I middle schools to develop innovative STEM curriculum. This will be done via week-long summer PDs, scientist-teacher partnerships, periodic virtual sharing and planning meetings, and standards-based curricular instruction during the school year. Our project activities integrating fossil sharks and AI will reach at least ~2K to 4K students each year.

Employing Peer Mentoring to Empower Youth to Become 21st Century Energy Leaders

Poster

This poster describes a project to foster energy/climate-related STEM career knowledge and interest in diverse high school students in Minnesota through an engaging year-long experiential learning project that tests the effectiveness of near-peer mentors as STEM/energy education and career role models that enhance the STEM-relevant cognitive and social-emotional impacts of simulation- and project-based learning.

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