ITEST SNAPSHOT 2017: An Overview of NSF's ITEST Program

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ITEST SNAPSHOT 2017

The attached document provides an overview of the National Science Foundation's ITEST Program. The data for this report was derived from Management Information System (MIS) survey data from 2003-2016, a survey of newly-awarded projects in 2016, and from the NSF report of all ITEST project awards.

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Teaching Strategies that Promote Science Career Awareness

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This monograph shares results of our inquiry into pedagogical strategies that infuse career awareness into science lessons. We first identify four cognitive building blocks of career development and four promising approaches for raising awareness of science careers. We then provide a typology of ten replicable teacher practice strategies, with accompanying examples of each. These findings are part of a larger exploration into the potential for secondary science teachers to increase student awareness of, and interest in, science careers, and are intended to contribute to field-building efforts

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STEM Media That Matters: Summative Evaluation of Youth Radio’s Innovation Lab

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To explore the role and impact of Youth Radio’s NEXT: The Innovation Lab, Rockman et al, an independent research and evaluation organization, conducted an external evaluation of the project. With funding from the National Science Foundation’s Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, the Innovation Lab sought to develop and research a scalable, evidence-informed theory of action to engage underrepresented youth in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) learning through the collaborative creation and dissemination of original journalistic media, technology, and

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ITEST Data Brief: Research Methods in ITEST

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Image of ITEST Data Brief: Research Methods in ITEST

ITEST Data Brief Volume 3, Issue 3, September 2016 The ITEST program requires that all proposals include a research component. This data brief examines the 63 projects that described their research between September 1, 2014 and August 31, 2015 as reported in the 2015 Management Information System (MIS) survey. Questions addressed include: - What kinds of study designs do projects use? - Which tools do projects use to measure outcomes? - What kinds of instruments do projects use to measure outcomes? - What data do projects intend to collect from participants after funding is over? - How do

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Promising Approaches to Broadening Youth Participation in STEM

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This paper, based on a review of over 200 publications related to approximately 110 ITEST projects, seeks to respond to the broadening participation question in the ITEST solicitation. While all ITEST projects include “broadening participation” as a central goal, we found that publications relating to 43 projects contained specific information on broadening participation. Of those, publications relating to 25 projects had “broadening participation” as the primary focus. Here, we present the range of strategies that project teams employed by highlighting some of those 25 projects.

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Engaging Teachers in Supporting Next Generation STEM Learning

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This synthesis paper highlights projects funded by the National Science Foundation’s Innovating Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) grant program that are either primarily designed to support teacher learning or that incorporate teacher learning in a significant way.

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Principal Investigator’s Guide: Managing Evaluation in Informal STEM Education Projects

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An initiative of the Visitor Studies Association, produced in partnership with the Center for Advancement of Informal Science Education (CAISE). This Guide is designed to help principal investigators and other leaders of informal STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) education projects integrate evaluation into all phases of project design, development, and implementation. Such projects include exhibits, media projects, websites, community science projects, afterschool programs, festivals, family activities, online games, citizen science projects, and other efforts to help people

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ITEST Data Brief: ITEST Projects Funded in 2015

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Image of Data Brief

ITEST Data Brief Volume 3, Issue 2, July 2016 In 2015, 30 ITEST projects were awarded funding. STELAR surveyed these projects as part of the the Fall 2015 Management Information System (MIS) Survey and received a 97% completion rate. This data brief presents information from the 29 responding projects around the following questions: Which of the 7 ITEST Guiding Questions do projects choose to address? In what settings projects plan to conduct their work? What grade levels do projects serve? Who are included as project participants? In what locales do projects coduct their work? In what states

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