Resources

Many citizen science (CS) programs aim to grow and sustain a pool of enthusiastic participants who consistently contribute their efforts to a specific scientific endeavor. Consequently, much research has explored CS participants’ motivations and their relationship to participant recruitment and retention. However, much of this research has focused on actively participating citizen scientists. If researchers want to elucidate the relationship between participant factors (such as demographics and motivations) and participant retention, it is necessary to develop a more comprehensive picture of

Educators have a critical stake in supporting the development of interest—as the presence of interest benefits sustained engagement and learning. Neuroscientific research has shown that interest is distinct from, but overlapping with, self-related information processing, the personally relevant connections that a learner makes to content (e.g., mathematics). We propose that consideration of self-related information processing is critical for encouraging interest development in at least two ways. First, support for learners to make self-related connections to content may provide a basis for the

As a result of the frustration with the dominant “What Works” paradigm of large-scale research-based improvement, practitioners, researchers, foundations, and policymakers are increasingly embracing a set of ideas and practices that can be collectively labeled continuous improvement (CI) methods. This chapter provides a comparative review of these methods, paying particular attention to CI methods’ intellectual influences, theories of action, and affordances and challenges in practice. We first map out and explore the shared intellectual forebears that CI methods draw on. We then discuss three

The U.S. Energy and Employment Report (USEER) is a comprehensive summary of national and state-level employment, workforce, industry, occupation, unionization, demographic, and hiring information by energy technology groups. The USEER began in 2016 at the recommendation of the first Department of Energy Quadrennial Energy Review to better track and understand employment within key energy sectors that have been difficult to impossible to follow using other publicly available data sources. The study combines surveys of businesses with public labor data to produce estimates of employment and

STEM Rising is your go-to resource for all-things-STEM at the U.S. Department of Energy. Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, commonly known as STEM, are the essential building blocks to accomplishing the U.S. Department of Energy's mission from coast to coast. Kindergarten - High School K-12 resources compiled by STEM Rising, all-things-STEM at the U.S. Department of Energy. College & Continued Learning View our STEM internships, fellowships, research opportunities, workshops, events, contests, digital learning, and more on this page. Learn more Teachers for all ages - are you

The Better Buildings Workforce Accelerator (BBWA) is a DOE initiative seeking to raise the level of building science and energy efficiency knowledge in the nation’s building-related workforce. Through BBWA, DOE engages industry partners in activities that build interest and awareness, streamline pathways, and improve skills for green building careers. A key factor in building interest and awareness is reaching and engaging with students early on, from kindergarten through high school (K-12). To discuss this topic, BBWA hosted a Peer Exchange event to share resources, foster understanding, and

As a result of the frustration with the dominant “What Works” paradigm of large-scale research-based improvement, practitioners, researchers, foundations, and policymakers are increasingly embracing a set of ideas and practices that can be collectively labeled continuous improvement (CI) methods. This chapter provides a comparative review of these methods, paying particular attention to CI methods’ intellectual influences, theories of action, and affordances and challenges in practice. We first map out and explore the shared intellectual forebears that CI methods draw on. We then discuss three

While research-practice partnerships have emerged as a promising means of creating and applying relevant research evidence in settings where young people grow and learn, we’ve lacked definition in terms of what constitutes an effective partnership and how RPPs, funders, and other stakeholders might gauge and demonstrate such effectiveness. Offering a clear picture of the common goals that cut across diverse types of partnerships, Assessing Research-Practice Partnerships: Five Dimensions of Effectiveness outlines the elements that members of existing RPPs have reported are essential to their

Block-based programming (BBP) environments have become increasingly commonplace computer science education. Despite a rapidly expanding ecosystem of BBP environments, text-based languages remain the dominant programming paradigm, motivating the transition from BBP to text-based programming (TBP). Support students in transitioning from BBP to TBP is an important and open design question. This work identifies 101 unique BBP environments, analyzes the 46 of them and identifies different design approaches used to support the transition to TBP. The contribution of this work is to provide a snapshot

Blocks-based programming tools are becoming increasingly common in high-school introductory computer science classes. Such contexts are quite different than the younger audience and informal settings where these tools are more often used. This paper reports findings from a study looking at how high school students view blocks-based programming tools, what they identify as contributing to the perceived ease-of-use of such tools, and what they see as the most salient differences between blocks-based and text-based programming. Students report that numerous factors contribute to making blocks