ITEST Resources

The primary purpose of this study was to examine the ways in which a 12-week afterschool science and engineering program affected middle school students' motivation to engage in science and engineering activities. We used current motivation research and theory as a conceptual framework to assess 14 students' motivation through questionnaires, structured interviews, and observations. Students reported that during the activities they perceived that they were empowered to make choices in how to complete things, the activities were useful to them, they could succeed in the activities, they enjoyed

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Curriculum and instructional strategies that are personally meaningful are key to engaging students from diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds.A “one size fits all” approach to curriculum development does not always translate to accessible education for many students, particularly in science,technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. Meaningful and relevant activities that demonstrate a direct application of STEM to the lives of students or their communities can increase engagement in STEM. Specifically, students are more likely to relate to instructional activitiesthat draw

STEM disposition surveys were completed by 364 11th and 12th grade students attending a two-year university-based residential science and mathematics academy during fall 2012. Surveys were completed by the same classes as a post test administration during spring 2013. Major findings were that first year students tended to show a decline in their dispositions pre to post while second year students showed an increase in their STEM dispositions pre to post. First year students exhibited gender differences in STEM dispositions that were typical of published male preferences, in that males had more

Data reflecting Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) dispositions and reported reasons for interest in STEM were gathered in April 2013 from 342 high school students participating in a residential mathematics and science academy on a university campus. Student participants were enrolled in a program where finish their last two years of high school in conjunction with their first two years in college. Analysis of these data indicated that factors influencing student interest in STEM and STEM careers include the student’s own self-motivation, support from a parent or family

This study examines positive dispositions reported by middle school and high school students participating in programs that feature STEM-related activities. Middle school students participating in school-to-home hands-on energy monitoring activities are compared to middle school and high school students in a different project taking part in activities such as an after-school robotics program. Both groups are compared and contrasted with a third group of high school students admitted at the eleventh grade to an academy of mathematics and science. All students were assessed using the same

This qualitative study examines the transition of eight elementary preservice teachers into student teaching after participating in a science methods course that included a significant amount of teaching after-school science to elementary grade students. These eight participants had a chance to practice teaching inquiry-based science and to reform their own perceptions of science teaching and learning through an eight-week after-school science program situated within their elementary science methods course. Data were collected through observations, reflections, and participant interviews over

This paper describes the journey of d.Loft STEM Learning, a project of The National Science Foundation ITEST program, which supports building knowledge about approaches, models, and interventions involving K-12 education to increase the nation’s capacity and innovation in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields. d.Loft STEM Learning used design thinking as an underlying theoretical and pedagogical approach to enhance STEM learning. Design thinking is a human-centered, prototype-driven innovation process and a series of mindsets that provides a robust scaffold for

Access to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields serves as a key entry point to economic mobility and civic enfranchisement. Such access must take seriously the intellectual power of the knowledge and practices of non-dominant youth. In our case, this has meant to shift epistemic authority in mathematics from academic institutions to young people themselves. This article is about why high school-aged students, from underrepresented groups, choose to participate in an out-of-school time program in which they teach younger children in the domains of mathematics and computer

Underrepresented populations such as women, African-Americans, and Latinos/as often come to STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) careers by less traditional paths than White and Asian males. To better understand how and why women might shift toward STEM, particularly computer science, careers, we investigated the education and career direction of afterschool facilitators, primarily women of color in their twenties and thirties, who taught Build IT, an afterschool computer science curriculum for middle school girls. Many of these women indicated that implementing Build IT