Educating children and young people (CYP) from marginalized communities about environmen- tal crises poses a unique dilemma as educators strive to prepare them to deal with the climate crisis without compounding the stressors and fear of an unlivable future many already face. We explored how place-based civic science (PBCS) can provide opportunities to engage youth in environmental understanding and action through teamwork in which youth feel that they belong to a group larger than themselves and gain a sense of hope from working with others toward shared goals. We argue that combining PCBS

With the increased growth of career opportunities in STEM fields, educators and policymakers have sought to better understand the nature and development of students’ motivation to pursue science academic and career pathways successfully. However, our understanding of motivational constructs such as self-efficacy has mostly been based on studies of predominantly White samples, neglecting the perspectives and experiences of students from historically marginalized groups underrepresented in STEM academic and career pathways. In the present study, we examined science motivation in six high school

Access to enriching science programs is not equitable, with students from affluent districts having more opportunities to develop their science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) skills than students from underserved districts. The Building Unique Inventions to Launch Discovery, Engagement, and Reasoning in STEM (BUILDERS) program was started in 2017 with support from the National Science Foundation’s ITEST program to provide students from the Alabama Black Belt with STEM opportunities to which they would otherwise have no access.This project-based learning (PBL) program uses the

The use of 3D printing in science, technology, en- gineering and mathematics (STEM) learning is a promising way for integrated STEM education. This study examined the influence of 3D printing infused STEM integration on students' interest in STEM ca- reers, which is essential for students to participate in STEM disciplines and future STEM careers. The participants included 26 teachers across six states in the United States and their 1455 students in primary and secondary classrooms. Teachers' lesson plans were analysed to examine the level of 3D printing and STEM integration. Students'

Three 9-year-old girls are huddled around a Caesar wheel, an ancient tool for sharing secret messages. Cracking a code is one of many challenges the girls complete to help characters in CryptoComics escape a mysterious cyberworld into which they’ve been drawn. CryptoComics is a curriculum designed to teach elementary school children – particularly girls of color – about cybersecurity – the practice of keeping digital information safe – and related careers. It also teaches about cryptology – the science of making and breaking codes. The girls partake in this program as part of their after

In response to the need to broaden participation in computer science, we designed a summer camp to teach middle-school-aged youth to code apps with MIT App Inventor. For the past four summers, we have observed significant gains in youth’s interest and self-efficacy in computer science, after attending our camps. The ma- jority of these youth, however, were youth from our local community. To provide equal access across the state and secure more diversity, we were interested in examining the effect of the camp on a broader population of youth. Thus, we partnered with an outreach program to reach

Modeling is key to how scientists help explain complex phenomena—from the coronavirus pandemic to climate change—and explore scientific and engineering problems. The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) recognize the importance of Systems and Systems Models as one of the crosscutting concepts, and Developing and Using Models and Using Computational Thinking as two of the science and engineering practices. These capabilities are important in order to understand responses to the pandemic and to solve other pressing problems like water pollution and freshwater scarcity.

The survey results indicate that program participation improves students’ attitudes toward science in several ways. Students indicated that they were considerably more engaged in the science of sound activities than in a generic science activity (question A) or in their typical science classes (question E). Significantly, they were much more likely to agree or strongly agree that while the science of sound was taking place (E-post), science was one of their favorite subjects (71%), their preference for science at other times (E-pre) was much lower (42%). It is remarkable that for so many

In this policy brief, Walkington and Bernacki discuss personalized learning (PL) and argue that if schools are to achieve the impact on learning outcomes they envision, they can draw upon what is known about students’ interests, values, self-regulation, and mastery, and how to leverage them for learning. The theory of change at the center of a PL design should answer: “What learning outcome do I intend to affect? What learning activities address this aim? What would I need to know about the learner to adapt the activity?” The authors provide advice to those who wish to fund, adopt, design, and

Societal stereotypes depict girls as less interested than boys in computer science and engineering. We demonstrate the existence of these stereotypes among children and adolescents from first to 12th grade and their potential negative consequences for girls’ sub- sequent participation in these fields. Studies 1 and 2 (n = 2,277; one preregistered) reveal that children as young as age six (first grade) and adolescents across multiple racial/ethnic and gender intersec- tions (Black, Latinx, Asian, and White girls and boys) endorse ster- eotypes that girls are less interested than boys in