Creating 3D Plant Models Using Tinkercad and Fusion 360

Curricular Materials
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Student 3D Model of Milkweed
This 3D modeling project addresses the disconnect between science, design and technology, and how high school students can benefit from innovative learning experiences in plant and agriculture sciences that integrate these disciplines while gaining interest in and skills for future STEAM careers. Students use the software Tinkercad or Fusion 360 to create 3D models of species of research importance at the Danforth Plant Science Center in St. Louis, MO. Students work in collaborative teams made of self-identified scientists, technophiles, and artists. A STEAM approach is applied in which
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Supporting Science Inquiry, Interest, and STEM Thinking for Young Dual Language Learners (SISTEM)

Poster

SISTEM’s overarching goals are to (1) Increase DLL PreK families’ perceptions of themselves as partners in their children’s science learning and their engagement, confidence, and skills in supporting their children’s science inquiry; (2)Increase PreK DLL teachers’ perceptions of themselves as partners in their students’ science learning and their skills and self-efficacy in facilitating science inquiry with DLLs; (3) Increase children’s, families’ and teachers’ knowledge of STEM careers; and (4) Improve PreK DLLs’ science, language and literacy skills and their interest and self-confidence

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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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