This is the poster for the 2022 NSF ITEST Project Directors Meeting for Digital technology integration and engineering contexts to support elementary students' systems thinking

We are developing an innovative suite of mobile-ready learning resources for informal educators to support youth and the public’s understanding of wifi and radio frequency communications from digital apps to a craft kits, summer radio camps, videos and activity guides in English and Spanish. These learning and teaching resources were informed by user evaluations, co-design and values mapping towards inclusive design.

The STEM Career Exploration Lab (CEL) program is conducting across the United States a series of summer camps for high school students with Blindness / Visual Impairment (B/VI) to stimulate their interest in STEM fields and STEM careers. We use astronomy and assistive technologies, including 3D printing and 3D printed tactile models, to bolster students' STEM skills.

An overview of our project in which we are working with with leaders of local communities comprised largely of former refugees to promote STEM aspirations among youth, grades 7-12. 

This project uses a new model to promote the development of positive attitudes toward STEM and to increase interest in STEM careers. Science capital and family habitus were documented, and the data were used to develop a model program where youth and their families see science and engineering as something they do for fun, where they feel supported and valued, while promoting STEM career awareness, science identity, and an interest in exploring science and engineering beyond the life of the project.

This poster describes a project to foster energy/climate-related STEM career knowledge and interest in diverse high school students in Minnesota through an engaging year-long experiential learning project that tests the effectiveness of near-peer mentors as STEM/energy education and career role models that enhance the STEM-relevant cognitive and social-emotional impacts of simulation- and project-based learning.

WeatherX has provided data-rich science learning experiences for 12 teachers and over 470 middle school students in low-income rural districts in northern New Hampshire and Maine. In collaboration with students and teachers, we are learning how to make data science promote students’ understanding of and interests in important data practices.  This project is built on a strong foundation of partnerships including EDC, Mount Washington Observatory, Concord Consortium, University of Maine, and University of Washington.