ITEST Resources

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

This article proposes a STEM workforce education logic model, tailored to the particular context of the National Science Foundation’s Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program. This model aims to help program designers and researchers address challenges particular to designing, implementing, and studying education innovations in the ITEST program, considering ongoing needs and challenges in STEM workforce education in the USA. It is grounded in conceptual frameworks developed previously by teams of ITEST constituents, for their part intended to frame STEM

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

A new survey of American teenagers from the Amgen Foundation and Change the Equation offers real cause for optimism about the future of high school science and biology education in the United States. Teens generally like science—and biology in particular—and they grasp the importance of the field to people’s lives. They know good biology teaching when they see it, and they would like the opportunity to do more engaging, hands-on science in school.

This report presents important takeaways from a one-day National Science Foundation (NSF)-supported Forum, “ Next Generation STEM Learning for All,” organized by Education Development Center (EDC) and SRI International through the STEM Learning and Research Center (STELAR) at EDC, the Community for Advancing Discovery Research in Education (CADRE) at EDC, and the Center for Innovative Research in Cyberlearning (CIRCL), working in close collaboration with NSF and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. The Forum engaged prominent scientists in STEM learning research and school

Hotel map and list of restaurants for the 2016 STELAR PI Summit

ITEST Data Brief Volume 3, Issue 1, March 2016 This data brief provides information on the composition of ITEST project participants, what activities they engage in, in what settings, and what projects feel contributes to their project's success based on projects submissions to the 2014-2015 ITEST Management Information System (MIS) Annual Survey.

One of today’s equity challenges is the need to increase media literacy among all students, especially traditionally marginalized students. Watkins (2012) challenges educators when he states, “Tools literacy is foundational; design literacy is tranformational” (p. 9). In this chapter, implementation models for seven different types of media projects that have been successfully piloted with 78 secondary students primarily from impoverished backgrounds are provided (Gold et al., 2015; Rooney-Varga et al., 2014). Results from the evaluations show that students’ experiences while participating in

Learning about climate change is tangible when it addresses impacts that can be observed close to home. In this program, 64 diverse middle and high school students produced videos about locally relevant climate change topics. Graduate and undergraduate students provided mentorship. The program engaged students in research and learning about climate change and sparked their interest in science careers. Evaluation results showed that students were highly motivated by the experience, developed a genuine interest in their science topic, learned about the scientific process and developed 21 st