Interdisciplinary

Hybrid Immersive Learning Environments for the Diné

Shawn Jordan — Fri, 26 Apr 2024 02:32:40 +0000

Hybrid Immersive Learning Environments for the Diné

Shawn Jordan Thu, 04/25/2024 - 22:32

Hybrid Immersive Learning Environments for the Diné

Pillar 1: Innovative Use of Technologies in Learning and Teaching

The immersive virtual environment will support science investigation in the past and present through situated, place-based investigation, with connections to cultural and historical context, and visualizations not accessible in real world environments. The hands-on engineering design activity will involve culturally sustaining Diné engineering design activities to engage students in designing solutions in the present and for the future of energy and water on the Navajo Nation.

Pillar 2: Partnerships for Career and Workforce Preparation.

This study will directly impact 1800+ middle school students and 60+ teachers across 15+ schools across all 5 agencies of the Navajo Nation by providing opportunities to learn about the history and contemporary issues surrounding energy and water conservation affecting the future of their communities. A train-the-trainer (TTT) model for PD will be used to promote tribal sovereignty by building internal capacity to scale and sustain implementation of the curricula.

Pillar 3: Strategies for Equity in STEM Education

A Community Participatory Design-Based Research (CP-DBR) approach will be used to collaborate with Diné community members (including elders, leaders, teachers, and engineers) to co-design and improve the virtual environment, integrate Diné traditional ecological knowledge (TEK), hands-on engineering design curriculum, and teacher professional development. CP-DBR is a responsible and ethical data-driven process to collaborate with the Diné community on research that benefits both Diné and research communities.

Discipline(s)

Engineering

Environmental sciences

Interdisciplinary

Target Gradespan(s)

Middle school (6-8)

Target Participant(s)

American Indian/Alaska Native participants

Project Setting(s)

Formal Education

Category

Developing and Testing Innovations (DTI)

Research Study

Youth-Based

Smart Motors - a low-cost platform for introducing supervised machine learning to children

Jennifer Cross — Thu, 25 Apr 2024 22:23:38 +0000

Smart Motors - a low-cost platform for introducing supervised machine learning to children

Jennifer Cross Thu, 04/25/2024 - 18:23

Smart Motors - a low-cost platform for introducing supervised machine learning to children

Pillar 1: Innovative Use of Technologies in Learning and Teaching

Innovative Use of Technologies in Learning and Teaching: Our project uses the newly developed Smart Motor hardware to introduce students to supervised machine learning concepts. These tools enhance literacy-integrated engineering design activities, where characters from grade-appropriate books are the clients. Simultaneously, students practice math skills such as collecting data and interpreting graphs.

Pillar 2: Partnerships for Career and Workforce Preparation.

Partnerships for Career and Workforce Preparation: Our pilot program was co-designed with educators from schools and outreach organizations in the North St. Louis community. Simultaneously, our team’s AI experts are identifying skills and knowledge that will be crucial to the future of work in that field.

Pillar 3: Strategies for Equity in STEM Education

Strategies for Equity in STEM Education: Our project is co-designing our program with outreach partners and educators in North St. Louis to develop and pilot activities that are meaningful and engaging to the Black and African American students in those communities.

Discipline(s)

Engineering

Emerging Tech (Artificial Intelligence, Quantum Computing, and Blockchain)

Interdisciplinary

Target Gradespan(s)

Elementary school (K-5)

Target Participant(s)

Youth / students

Black/African American participants

Students eligible for free lunch or reduced-price lunch

Project Setting(s)

Formal Education

Informal Education

Category

Exploratory

Supporting Rightful Presence in Museum Spaces: Youth as Participatory Designers of Indigenous Mixed Reality Science Exhibits

Sarah Olsen — Thu, 25 Apr 2024 20:48:32 +0000

Supporting Rightful Presence in Museum Spaces: Youth as Participatory Designers of Indigenous Mixed Reality Science Exhibits

Sarah Olsen Thu, 04/25/2024 - 16:48

Supporting Rightful Presence in Museum Spaces: Youth as Participatory Designers of Indigenous Mixed Reality Science Exhibits

Pillar 1: Innovative Use of Technologies in Learning and Teaching

The project features mixed reality (MR) technology which combines physical and virtual elements, enabling interaction with real-world and virtual objects. It can reveal hidden histories and alternative narratives, making it a unique platform for sharing cultural heritage, especially Indigenous knowledge. Therefore MR also offers opportunities for Ohlone youth to build STEM knowledge grounded in their cultural identity, supporting their rightful presence.

Pillar 2: Partnerships for Career and Workforce Preparation.

A collaboration between The Lawrence Hall of Science, UC Berkeley’s School of Information, and mak-’amham/Cafe Ohlone, an Ohlone cultural organization, this work is part of a UC Berkeley effort called the 'ottoy initiative, led by Vincent Medina and Louis Trevino, co-founders of mak-'amham/Cafe Ohlone, which aims to foster understanding of and respect for Ohlone people and culture and to repair and improve the university’s relationship with the Ohlone community. The project is driven by the Ohlone community.

Pillar 3: Strategies for Equity in STEM Education

By centering Indigenous perspectives in STEM learning experiences and highlighting connections between Indigenous cultural identities and contemporary STEM career pathways, the project aims to reframe STEM learning to increase Indigenous youth’s rightful presence in STEM learning spaces, with the potential to lead to a more diverse STEM workforce. The program name “tappenekšekma” means both teacher and learner, reflective of youths’ role as designers which positions them as skilled and knowledgeable learners.

Discipline(s)

Interdisciplinary

Target Gradespan(s)

Other

Target Participant(s)

American Indian/Alaska Native participants

Project Setting(s)

Informal Education

Category

Developing and Testing Innovations (DTI)

Learning from the community to understand layers of trauma and apply trauma-informed STEM education as a tool to support processing, recovery, and healing

Tara O'Neill — Thu, 25 Apr 2024 19:35:50 +0000

Learning from the community to understand layers of trauma and apply trauma-informed STEM education as a tool to support processing, recovery, and healing

Tara O'Neill Thu, 04/25/2024 - 15:35

Learning from the community to understand layers of trauma and apply trauma-informed STEM education as a tool to support processing, recovery, and healing

Pillar 1: Innovative Use of Technologies in Learning and Teaching

The innovation in this work is intentionally applying a trauma-informed approach in learning and teaching with technologies such as robots. This approach enhances student safety and well-being. It acknowledges the impact of trauma on learning, fosters a supportive environment, and uses digital tools to create safe, inclusive educational experiences that prevent retraumatization

Pillar 2: Partnerships for Career and Workforce Preparation.

The focus of this work is on learning how to build trauma-informed STEM learning environments. Part of this process has required leading from student wonder rather than centering career and workforce preparation.

Pillar 3: Strategies for Equity in STEM Education

Creating safe and supportive learning environments is key - helping educators recognize and respond to the impact of trauma on students, fostering a sense of safety and belonging in STEM learning. Addressing barriers to STEM access is also crucial, as understanding the effects of trauma allows educators to provide accommodations and targeted support to help students overcome obstacles and participate. Diversifying STEM role models is important too, such as highlighting diversity by having youth work collaboratively with

Discipline(s)

Interdisciplinary

Target Gradespan(s)

Elementary school (K-5)

Middle school (6-8)

High school (9-12)

Target Participant(s)

Youth / students

Educators

Parents / caregivers / families

Project Setting(s)

Informal Education

Category

Exploratory

Informing the Future with Reflections on Prior ITEST-like Experiences by Current STEM Professionals

Eric Hamilton — Thu, 25 Apr 2024 18:11:48 +0000

Informing the Future with Reflections on Prior ITEST-like Experiences by Current STEM Professionals

Eric Hamilton Thu, 04/25/2024 - 14:11

Informing the Future with Reflections on Prior ITEST-like Experiences by Current STEM Professionals

Pillar 1: Innovative Use of Technologies in Learning and Teaching

As a retrospective effort, this project employs a recently emerging tool called epistemic network analysis (ENA) to help build richer understandings of the reflections that YSP alums shared. This is an advanced methodological tool that current ITEST projects are encouraged to explore. Experiences of the alums heavily involved innovative technologies of the 1990s!

Pillar 2: Partnerships for Career and Workforce Preparation.

As a retrospective effort, this project explores how the many partnerships at the time – and there were many across major technology firms, scientific laboratories, and universities – helped shape an awareness by participants of opportunities for STEM career pathways. At the time, field trips proved the most common form of partnership. They were eye-opening and contributed to the holistic approach of the program nationally.

Pillar 3: Strategies for Equity in STEM Education

One aspect of this retrospective study involves documenting the many ways that faculty nationwide sought to insure and build equity. One principal strategy involved careful attention in recruiting in ways that actively sought to broaden participation in coming alongside STEM professionals, and actively promoted building a more inclusive STEM workforce. And, the holistic and asset-based approach of YSP PIs treated STEM fields as natural and accessible to middle and secondary students.

Discipline(s)

Computer and informational technology science

Engineering

Interdisciplinary

Life sciences

Mathematical sciences

Physics and astronomy

Target Gradespan(s)

Middle school (6-8)

High school (9-12)

Target Participant(s)

Youth / students

Educators

American Indian/Alaska Native participants

Black/African American participants

Hispanic/Latino participants

Project Setting(s)

Informal Education

Category

Exploring Theory and Design Principles (ETD)

Scaling, Expanding, and Iterating Innovations (SEI)

Synthesis

EAGER

Research Study

Enabling Mathematics Teachers Research to Expand Latinx Learners Authentic Experiences in Computer Programming (ESTRELLA)

Sylvia Celedon-Pattichis — Thu, 25 Apr 2024 12:37:54 +0000

Enabling Mathematics Teachers Research to Expand Latinx Learners Authentic Experiences in Computer Programming (ESTRELLA)

Sylvia Celedon… Thu, 04/25/2024 - 08:37

Enabling Mathematics Teachers Research to Expand Latinx Learners Authentic Experiences in Computer Programming (ESTRELLA)

Pillar 1: Innovative Use of Technologies in Learning and Teaching

To broaden the participation of Latinx students in STEM, we use Google Colab notebooks openly available at https://github.com/pattichis to support teachers in co-designing mathematics lessons. These lessons include fractions; distance, rate, and time; geometric transformations; and exponential growth and decay. Students use image and video representations to understand mathematics and programming concepts in their final projects. Through action research projects, teachers reflect on how to improve mathematics lessons.

Pillar 2: Partnerships for Career and Workforce Preparation.

All students participating in ESTRELLA are exposed to computer programming in their mathematics classrooms. The charter schools that we partner with have access to the local university and include coursework that prepares students for careers in STEM. Other schools that have expressed interest in participating in our project in the future also have industry partners involved in recruiting students for internships and work with students to support ongoing projects.

Pillar 3: Strategies for Equity in STEM Education

ESTRELLA’s central goal is to broaden the participation of Latinx students in STEM fields. These students are in secondary mathematics classrooms in rural and urban school contexts. The co-designed lessons that integrate mathematics and computer programming are taught in small groups using students’ language preference of Spanish or English. Furthermore, the professional development sessions prepare facilitators to center students’ home language and interests as resources to draw from while teaching and learning.

Discipline(s)

Interdisciplinary

Target Gradespan(s)

Middle school (6-8)

Target Participant(s)

Hispanic/Latino participants

Project Setting(s)

Formal Education

Category

Developing and Testing Innovations (DTI)

NeuroVivid: A BCI Experience for Neurodivergent Youth

Ibrahim Dahlstrom-Hakki — Thu, 25 Apr 2024 03:12:20 +0000

NeuroVivid: A BCI Experience for Neurodivergent Youth

Ibrahim Dahlst… Wed, 04/24/2024 - 23:12

NeuroVivid: A BCI Experience for Neurodivergent Youth

Pillar 1: Innovative Use of Technologies in Learning and Teaching

NeuroVivid uses simple BCI headsets, Arduinos, and block coding to help neurodivergent youth develop interest in BCI. Participants develop a range of relevant tech skills including coding and circuit building. In addition, participants learn the basic of neuroscience and develop a burgeoning understanding of the brain.

Pillar 2: Partnerships for Career and Workforce Preparation.

NeuroVivid is partnering with the New York Hall of Science and EDC to run a NeuroVivid camp for neurodivergent youth. The camp aims to introduce middle school aged youth to the basic skills and topics necessary to consider a future career in BCI. NeuroVivid also highlights diverse BCI professionals and provides training opportunities for neurodivergent co-designers.

Pillar 3: Strategies for Equity in STEM Education

NeuroVivid promotes equity by specifically developing and targeting its workshop at neurodivergent youth with particular attention to the intersectionality of participant identities. Work is supported by co-designing with neurodivergent youth from diverse backgrounds to ensure that all project activities are guided by stakeholders.

Discipline(s)

Interdisciplinary

Target Gradespan(s)

Middle school (6-8)

Target Participant(s)

Youth / students

Participants with disabilities

Project Setting(s)

Informal Education

Category

Developing and Testing Innovations (DTI)

Youth-Based

Coastal TRACERS: Tech-infused Research and Community-based Experiences for middle and high school students

Marina Van der Eb — Thu, 25 Apr 2024 00:24:12 +0000

Coastal TRACERS: Tech-infused Research and Community-based Experiences for middle and high school students

Marina Van der Eb Wed, 04/24/2024 - 20:24

Coastal TRACERS: Tech-infused Research and Community-based Experiences for middle and high school students

Pillar 1: Innovative Use of Technologies in Learning and Teaching

Technology use is primarily focused on data collection and analysis methods to support student data literacy skills. Current examples include having students designing and deploying various sensors to collect data characterizing the local bay. This has included designing boats, buoys, and ROVs to support deployment of the sensors. Future technology use will be informed by learning experiences developed by a second cohort of teachers who will be joining the project this summer.

Pillar 2: Partnerships for Career and Workforce Preparation.

We are building a team of career and community partners in the marine industry to inform and establish mentorships, job shadowing, and other interactions with professionals for students, enhancing career readiness and community ties. This team also informs and supports development of learning experiences that reflect industry needs, equipping students with essential skills for these careers. We will pilot different options next academic year to evaluate characteristics of impactful experiences in coastal communities.

Pillar 3: Strategies for Equity in STEM Education

Partner schools are primarily in small, rural, low-income communities, some of which have significant migrant populations. A goal is to enable to teachers to provide locally-relevant learning opportunities connected to community needs in order to engage students. We focus on integration across disciplines and modifications to core courses enabling all students varied entry points to engage in interest-driven research. Effort is also being made to build a diverse career partnership team to serve as role-models.

Discipline(s)

Interdisciplinary

Target Gradespan(s)

Middle school (6-8)

High school (9-12)

Target Participant(s)

Educators

Project Setting(s)

Formal Education

Category

Developing and Testing Innovations (DTI)

Supporting African American Young Women in Creating Signature Making Artifacts

Ken Rafanan — Wed, 24 Apr 2024 22:38:06 +0000

Supporting African American Young Women in Creating Signature Making Artifacts

Ken Rafanan Wed, 04/24/2024 - 18:38

Supporting African American Young Women in Creating Signature Making Artifacts

Pillar 1: Innovative Use of Technologies in Learning and Teaching

The AAMASE program brings African-American young women into a community makerspace to explore multiple making disciplines, including metalworking, woodworking, textiles, resin, 3D printing and ceramics. The project aims to work with the participants to develop making and entrepreneurship activities that appeal to them.

Pillar 2: Partnerships for Career and Workforce Preparation.

New pathways to STEM careers open for these young women as they work with making discipline experts to connect their interests to projects that they design, prototype, and build.

Pillar 3: Strategies for Equity in STEM Education

The AAMASE project aims to center the experience of young African-American women as developing makers. An iterative, participatory design research framework brings participants together with makerspace experts, facilitators and researchers to co-create processes and making activities that reflect the young women’s strengths and interests. The project aims to explore strategies for making makerspaces (and associated STEM-related activities) more welcoming to populations that better reflect their local communities.

Discipline(s)

Interdisciplinary

Target Gradespan(s)

Middle school (6-8)

High school (9-12)

Target Participant(s)

Youth / students

Category

Developing and Testing Innovations (DTI)

Youth-Based

You: Quantified

Suzanne Dikker — Wed, 24 Apr 2024 22:25:21 +0000

You: Quantified

Suzanne Dikker Wed, 04/24/2024 - 18:25

You: Quantified

Pillar 1: Innovative Use of Technologies in Learning and Teaching

We will combine wearable biosensing devices, an online NGSS-aligned curriculum platform, and professional development materials to support students in exploring and representing data from their brains, bodies, and behavior. Using graphing and Brain/Body Computer Interface (BCI) technologies, students will develop creative multimodal representations to support interpretations of their data.

Pillar 2: Partnerships for Career and Workforce Preparation.

We will work with leading industry partners in mobile biosensing technology; with neuroscience student organizations who will support students’ career and workforce preparation; and with digital arts organizations. Our tools will help students connect to these and other industry partners and to career and college readiness resources.

Pillar 3: Strategies for Equity in STEM Education

By offering a variety of data engagement avenues (data streaming from wearables, creative representation, remixing code, analysis, and graphs) and a guided inquiry approach, we will build on a range of students’ STEM and non-STEM interests. We will further use a participatory design approach to develop learning materials and tools in a culturally responsive way; and we will work closely with students and educators associated with the Imagine NYC Schools initiative, which is dedicated to (re)imagining public schools in N

Discipline(s)

Interdisciplinary

Target Gradespan(s)

High school (9-12)

Target Participant(s)

Youth / students

Project Setting(s)

Formal Education

Category

Developing and Testing Innovations (DTI)

Interdisciplinary

Hybrid Immersive Learning Environments for the Diné

Hybrid Immersive Learning Environments for the Diné

Hybrid Immersive Learning Environments for the Diné

Pillar 1: Innovative Use of Technologies in Learning and Teaching

Pillar 2: Partnerships for Career and Workforce Preparation.

Pillar 3: Strategies for Equity in STEM Education

Culturally situated immersive virtual learning and engineering design to build STEM capacity in Dine communities

Smart Motors - a low-cost platform for introducing supervised machine learning to children

Smart Motors - a low-cost platform for introducing supervised machine learning to children

Smart Motors - a low-cost platform for introducing supervised machine learning to children

Pillar 1: Innovative Use of Technologies in Learning and Teaching

Pillar 2: Partnerships for Career and Workforce Preparation.

Pillar 3: Strategies for Equity in STEM Education

Integrating Artificial Intelligence with Smart Engineering and English Language Arts in Upper Elementary Education

Supporting Rightful Presence in Museum Spaces: Youth as Participatory Designers of Indigenous Mixed Reality Science Exhibits

Supporting Rightful Presence in Museum Spaces: Youth as Participatory Designers of Indigenous Mixed Reality Science Exhibits

Supporting Rightful Presence in Museum Spaces: Youth as Participatory Designers of Indigenous Mixed Reality Science Exhibits

Pillar 1: Innovative Use of Technologies in Learning and Teaching

Pillar 2: Partnerships for Career and Workforce Preparation.

Pillar 3: Strategies for Equity in STEM Education

Supporting Rightful Presence in Museum Spaces: Youth as Participatory Designers of Indigenous Mixed Reality Science Exhibits

Learning from the community to understand layers of trauma and apply trauma-informed STEM education as a tool to support processing, recovery, and healing

Learning from the community to understand layers of trauma and apply trauma-informed STEM education as a tool to support processing, recovery, and healing

Learning from the community to understand layers of trauma and apply trauma-informed STEM education as a tool to support processing, recovery, and healing

Pillar 1: Innovative Use of Technologies in Learning and Teaching

Pillar 2: Partnerships for Career and Workforce Preparation.

Pillar 3: Strategies for Equity in STEM Education

Learning from the Maui community to understand layers of trauma and trauma-informed STEM education as a tool to support processing, recovery, and healing

Informing the Future with Reflections on Prior ITEST-like Experiences by Current STEM Professionals

Informing the Future with Reflections on Prior ITEST-like Experiences by Current STEM Professionals

Informing the Future with Reflections on Prior ITEST-like Experiences by Current STEM Professionals

Pillar 1: Innovative Use of Technologies in Learning and Teaching

Pillar 2: Partnerships for Career and Workforce Preparation.

Pillar 3: Strategies for Equity in STEM Education

Peering a generation into the future: NSF's Young Scholars Program and the nation’s STEM workforce

Enabling Mathematics Teachers Research to Expand Latinx Learners Authentic Experiences in Computer Programming (ESTRELLA)

Enabling Mathematics Teachers Research to Expand Latinx Learners Authentic Experiences in Computer Programming (ESTRELLA)

Enabling Mathematics Teachers Research to Expand Latinx Learners Authentic Experiences in Computer Programming (ESTRELLA)

Pillar 1: Innovative Use of Technologies in Learning and Teaching

Pillar 2: Partnerships for Career and Workforce Preparation.

Pillar 3: Strategies for Equity in STEM Education

Developing and Testing Bilingual Curricula that Infuse Authentic Computer Programming Experiences into Middle School Mathematics for Latinx Youth

NeuroVivid: A BCI Experience for Neurodivergent Youth

NeuroVivid: A BCI Experience for Neurodivergent Youth

NeuroVivid: A BCI Experience for Neurodivergent Youth

Pillar 1: Innovative Use of Technologies in Learning and Teaching

Pillar 2: Partnerships for Career and Workforce Preparation.

Pillar 3: Strategies for Equity in STEM Education

NeuroVivid: Developing and Testing a Maker Experience to Build Interest in Careers in Brain-Computer Interfaces Among Neurodivergent Youth

Coastal TRACERS: Tech-infused Research and Community-based Experiences for middle and high school students

Coastal TRACERS: Tech-infused Research and Community-based Experiences for middle and high school students

Coastal TRACERS: Tech-infused Research and Community-based Experiences for middle and high school students

Pillar 1: Innovative Use of Technologies in Learning and Teaching

Pillar 2: Partnerships for Career and Workforce Preparation.

Pillar 3: Strategies for Equity in STEM Education

A Model Program to Engage Students in Authentic, Technology-Infused Coastal Research and Monitoring: Building Student Data Literacy and Career Competency through Partnership

Supporting African American Young Women in Creating Signature Making Artifacts

Supporting African American Young Women in Creating Signature Making Artifacts

Supporting African American Young Women in Creating Signature Making Artifacts

Pillar 1: Innovative Use of Technologies in Learning and Teaching

Pillar 2: Partnerships for Career and Workforce Preparation.

Pillar 3: Strategies for Equity in STEM Education

Engaging African American Young Women in STEM and Entrepreneurship Through Community-Centered Making

You: Quantified

You: Quantified

You: Quantified

Pillar 1: Innovative Use of Technologies in Learning and Teaching

Pillar 2: Partnerships for Career and Workforce Preparation.

Pillar 3: Strategies for Equity in STEM Education

Promoting Students' Data Literacy through the Creation of Interactive Multimodal Representations of Biometric Data