Integrating Science Into Afterschool: A Three-Dimensional Approach To Engaging Underserved Populations In Science - Final Report

Publications

The initiative called Integrating Science Into Afterschool: A Three-Dimensional Approach to Engaging Underserved Populations in Science set out to promote science learning in three out-ofschool settings (afterschool programs, home, and community), to promote rich and varied science experiences to underserved Philadelphia communities, and to assess the value of this model for the broader field of out-of-school time and informal learning in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). The project was funded through the National Science Foundation’s Innovative Technology Experiences

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Integrating STEM Into Afterschool: Lessons Learned for Educators In and Out of School

Publications

In 2013 The Franklin Institute, a leading science museum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, received a grant from the National Science Foundation (#1138911) to reach under-resourced urban communities by strengthening the capacity of afterschool centers to offer STEM programming. Integrating Science Into Afterschool: A Three-Dimensional Approach to Engaging Underserved Populations In Science, or “STEM 3D,” was a five-year project that aspired to integrate STEM learning across afterschool, home, and community as a strategy for building positive science identities and creating viable STEM pathways

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2019 STEM for All Video Showcase: Innovations in STEM Education

Event

STELAR invites you to take part in a free, interactive, week-long video showcase event that will feature over 200 federally funded projects, including 24 from ITEST projects! Support your colleagues and learn about similar projects at work to support innovative STEM educational programming! 

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Using Robotics and Game Design to Promote Pathways to STEM

Publications

This research report presents the results of a STEM summer program on robotics and game design. The program was part of a three-year study funded by the National Science Foundation. Children in grades four through six participated in a two-week summer camp in 2015 to learn STEM by engaging in LEGO® EV3 robotics and computer-based games using Scalable Game Design. Twenty-eight students participated in the study that took place in a small urban community in the Rocky Mountain West. This paper reports on the results of this part of the study, specifically, how children’s computational thinking

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Youth’s Engagement as Scientists and Engineers in an Afterschool Making and Tinkering Program

Publications

Making and tinkering is currently gaining traction as an interdisciplinary approach to education. However, little is known about how these activities and explorations in formal and informal learning spaces address the content and skills common to professionals across science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. As such, the purpose of this qualitative study was to examine how youth were engaged in the eight science and engineering practice outlined within the US Next Generation Science Standards within an informal learnin environment utilizing principles of tinkering within the daily

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Mathematics in Informal Learning Environments: A Summary of the Literature

Publications

Research on mathematical reasoning and learning has long been a central part of the classroom and formal education literature (e.g., National Research Council, 2001, 2005). However, much less attention has been paid to how children and adults engage with and learn about math outside of school, including everyday settings and designed informal learning environments, such as interactive math exhibits in science centers. With the growing recognition of the importance of informal STEM education (National Research Council, 2009, 2015), researchers, educators, and policymakers are paying more

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OERL ITEST Instrument

Instruments

This instrument collects data about the attitudes of students toward science, mathematics and technology, in particular robotics. It can be administered to youth aged 12-15 who participated in a 4-H project (informal learning environment) focused on robotics, GPS/GIS, and natural resource/precision agriculture concepts.

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Teaching for Robust Understanding (TRU)

Instruments

Part of the Math Assessment Project has involved research into how the materials are used in classrooms, their effect on teaching practices, and how Professional Development can be used to support the goals of the Mathematics Assessment Project materials. A major strand of this has been a joint effort with the Algebra Teaching Study at UC Berkeley and Michigan State to develop the Teaching for Robust Understanding of Mathematics (TRU Math) suite of tools for Professional Development and research. During development of TRU Math, it became clear that the concepts could be generalized into a

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