Resources included in these libraries were submitted by ITEST projects or STELAR and are relevant to the work of the NSF ITEST Program. PDFs and/or URLs to the original resource are included in the resource description whenever possible. In some cases, full text publications are located behind publishers’ paywalls and a fee or membership to the third party site may be required for access. Permission for use must be requested through the publisher or author listed in each entry.
An Educational Framework for Digital Manufacturing in Schools
PublicationThe Laboratory School for Advanced Manufacturing (Lab School) was established to identify and develop effective educational practices for advanced manufacturing technologies in schools. The Lab School is grounded in the premise that students can learn through the design and fabrication process. Students of all ability levels from a diverse population participate in the program with the goal of increased diversity in the STEM pipeline. The advent of digital fabrication technologies such as desktop 3D printers now offers students an opportunity to see their ideas and concepts realized in
Utilizing Wearable Technologies as a Pathway to STEM
PublicationThe purpose of this paper is to report the findings of a pilot study that utilized a wearable technologies intervention as a way to increase attitudes towards science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) content areas for students in grades 4 to 6. The study utilized a previously developed attitudinal instrument that examined eight constructs around motivation, self-efficacy and learning strategies. The findings indicate that wearable technologies may indeed increase STEM attitudes and could particularly be a viable way to increase participation in STEM for females.
Common Instrument Suite - Student
InstrumentsThe Common Instrument is a survey for youth 10 years or older that includes 10 self-report items to assess child and adolescent interest and engagement in science. The Common Instrument is simple and quick to administer, easy to receive feedback on, and useable for pre-post analysis.
Dimensions of Success observation tool (DoS)
InstrumentsThe Dimensions of Success observation tool, or DoS, defines twelve indicators of STEM program quality in out-of-school time (e.g., afterschool, summer camps, etc.). It was developed and studied with funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF) by the Program in Education, Afterschool and Resiliency (PEAR), along with partners at Educational Testing Services (ETS) and Project Liftoff. The DoS tool allows researchers, practitioners, funders, and other stakeholders to track the quality of STEM learning opportunities and to pinpoint strengths and weaknesses.
An Empirical Comparison of Multiple Imputation Approaches for Treating Missing Data in Observational Studies
PublicationMissing data are a common and significant problem that researchers and data analysts encounter in applied research. Because most statistical procedures require complete data, missing data can substantially affect the analysis and the interpretation of results if left untreated. Methods to treat missing data have been developed so that missing values are imputed and analyses can be conducted using standard statistical procedures. Among these missing data methods, Multiple Imputation has received considerable attention and its effectiveness has been explored, for example, in the context of
Computing Attitudes Survey (CAS)
InstrumentsThe Computing Attitudes Survey (CAS) is an extension of the Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey and measures novice-to-expert attitude shifts about the nature of knowledge and problem solving in computer science. It has five subscales related to different facets of attitudes measured on the survey (transfer, personal interest, problem solving strategies, real world connections, and fixed mindset). Validity and reliability of the CAS has been evaluated with first-year undergraduate students in a variety of classes for both majors and non-majors in computing fields at multiple institutions.
The Computer Attitude Questionnaire (CAQ)
InstrumentsComputer Attitude Questionnaire (CAQ) is a 65-item Likert instrument for measuring middle school students' attitudes on all Young Children's Computer Inventory subscales plus computer anxiety. The paired-comparisons portion of the Young Children's Computer Inventory is also included on the instrument. CAQ v5.14 4-point scale is recommended for grades 4-8.CAQ v5.22 5-point version is available for high school use; includes all other areas on the CAQ plus a classroom E-mail subscale.Authors provide reliability information.
Climate Change Attitude Survey (CCAS)
InstrumentsThe Climate Change Attitude Survey is composed of 15 Likert-type attitudinal items selected to measure students’ beliefs and intentions toward the environment with a focus on climate change.
The Impact of Career Academies on STEM Coursetaking: Moving to the Next Level
PublicationPropensity score (PS) methods provide viable strategies for reducing selection bias in non-experimental (observational) studies. An NSF funded project previously used propensity score analysis to examine the impact of special educational programs on advanced mathematics course enrollment (Rodriguez de Gil, et al., 2012). Results indicated that students who enrolled in career academies were almost twice as likely to enroll in a Calculus course. Encouraged by the findings from the previous study, we are currently using PS and discrete-time survival analyses to investigate rigorous high school
A Model of Factors Contributing to STEM Learning and Career Orientation
PublicationThe purpose of this research was to develop and test a model of factors contributing to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) learning and career orientation, examining the complex paths and relationships among social, motivational, and instructional factors underlying these outcomes for middle school youth. Social cognitive career theory provided the foundation for the research because of its emphasis on explaining mechanisms which influence both career orientations and academic performance. Key constructs investigated were youth STEM interest, self-efficacy, and career