Informal STEM Research Articles

Unknown Territory: K-12 STEM Summer Exploration through Zoom

In response to COVID-19, the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory (MagLab) had to cancel all in-person summer camps, that typically reach and expand the STEM identity of 150 middle school age youth (Roberts & Hughes, 2019). As we planned for informal STEM education programming during a pandemic, we decided to transition to a 10-week online Summer Exploration Series (SES) with the goal of increasing youth’s interest in STEM and knowledge of STEM careers relevant to materials science. The SES program engaged 184 youth of all ages in the interdisciplinary science and engineering research at the MagLab. Each week included live components (e.g., introduction to weekly concept and Ask Me Anything with a MagLab scientist/engineer) and asynchronous components (e.g., links to relevant content on the MagLab website and a video-recorded Career Interview). Participants could pick and choose which daily activities/weeks they wanted to participate in. All live components were recorded and available online along with the asynchronous materials. To keep an interactive hands-on aspect to the program, our MagLab educator engaged the youth in a weekly challenge that was introduced on Monday. Participating youth could submit evidence that they completed the challenge through written, photographic or video submissions. Between 13 to 20 youth submitted their challenge results each week. In terms of demographics, we were particularly proud of the reach of the SES program. The majority of the students were middle school age (65%) but we had a range of 1st graders (1) to 12th graders (1). In terms of race, 31.3% of our participants were members of underrepresented groups in STEM (American Indian, African American/Black, Hispanic/Latinx, and Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander). A common goal for MagLab ISE programs is to have at least 50% of our participants come from Title I schools. Despite the transition to online programming, we were still able to reach 96 (55%) Title I students through our marketing. A quarter of our participants came from outside of our local Tallahassee area, which would not have been possible with an in-person program. We saw a decline in our gender representation with only 39% of the participants identifying as female. 100% of the participants rated the program as above average or outstanding, crediting the program with teaching them about new STEM careers/topics and increasing their interest in STEM. Our evaluation indicated that the weekly topics had similar engagement levels, with some offering more opportunities for students to learn something new about the topic (E.g, during the life science week only 70% of participants claimed to have learned something more about the topic compared to 100% during the Magnet focused weeks). The live sessions, particularly those that offered more opportunities for interaction, were rated higher than the asynchronous sessions, providing evidence to the benefits of live - even if online – sessions on increasing interest in STEM. Should we run the program again, we will work on our marketing to girls and broaden our national footprint. In the full article we will present a more detailed description of the program and evaluation results.

A Peek into the US Informal STEM Landscape through Theconnectory.org

AbstractIt's well‐known that informal STEM learning is a critical component of STEM education. However, there is not a comprehensive directory, at the state or national level, listing informal STEM programs offered in the US. This makes it difficult to assess the national landscape of informal STEM programs. Theconnectory.org is by far the most comprehensive listing that aims to connect learners and volunteers to informal STEM learning opportunities. In this poster, we present the results from a data analytics project using the informal STEM program information collected through theconnectory.org API to sketch a preliminary picture of what kind of programs are offered and what audiences are targeted. Theconnectory.org has the potential to become a primary resource for STEM learners, educators, and policymakers. There are ways the ASIST community (faculty and students) can help enrich this resource.

Advancing Informal STEM Learning (NSF)

Women in Higher EducationVolume 30, Issue 9 p. 3-3 Grants Advancing Informal STEM Learning (NSF) First published: 26 August 2021 https://doi.org/10.1002/whe.21032Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article. Volume30, Issue9September 2021Pages 3-3 RelatedInformation

Determinants of Black families’ access to a community‐based STEM program: A latent class analysis

AbstractThe purpose of this study was to uncover determinants of Black families’ access to STEM enrichment, specifically focusing on I AM STEM—a community‐based program. Our research examined the association between class membership and how families learned about I AM STEM, to provide a more nuanced understanding about how family dynamics influence Black parents’ access to educational enrichment programs for their children. This study draws from Bronfenbrenner's (1979) ecological systems theory (EST) and Coleman's (1988) definition of social capital to explore the ways in which Black families across socioeconomic backgrounds access and use the community‐based STEM program. A latent class analysis was employed to identify determinants based on specific predictors (e.g., parents’ highest level of education, free/reduced lunch status, and grade level of registered children). The latent class model extracted three distinct classes. Our findings revealed that all parents were likely to enroll their elementary‐aged children, but the likelihood of enrolling middle or high school children increased with parents who were college educated. This study also uncovered that regardless of income or neighborhood lines, Black parents of all social classes, and family dynamics learned about the program through information sharing. Furthermore, the program's location increased access to informal STEM learning opportunities for parents who experienced poverty, while the program's curriculum attracted middle‐class Black families who were not residents of that particular community. Collectively, I AM STEM promoted educational and economic inclusion, which broadened participation in STEM programming.

Rural implementation of Girls' Programming Network (GPN)

A small-scale pilot study was conducted in north-west Tasmania to investigate adolescent girls’ willingness to participate in informal STEM education, through exploring their perceptions and experiences of computer science (CS), and their future aspirations. This pilot study was funded by an Inspiring Australia Public Science Event Grant, enabling the delivery of two local Girls’ Programming Network (GPN) workshops by the two Sydney-based GPN co-founders. The aim of this case study was to determine the viability of establishing an ongoing and sustainable northwest Tasmanian GPN, which would provide rural adolescent girls with opportunities to explore programming, connect them with mentors and role models, and show them what potential career opportunities exist beyond family and local contexts. Qualitative methods of data collection comprised focus group interviews and artefact elicitation with the participants, and individual interviews with the program co-founders. The results indicate that single-sex informal CS education opportunities are valued by adolescent girls, and that typical gender stereotypes can be changed due to the experience of engaging in them. The success of the pilot study indicates that establishing the GPN in a rural area to provide adolescent girls with free and fun CS experiences is worthwhile and viable.

Addressing the Ceiling Effect when Assessing STEM Out-Of-School Time Experiences

The aim of this paper is to describe an analytical approach for addressing the ceiling effect, a measurement limitation that affects research and evaluation efforts in informal STEM learning projects. The ceiling effect occurs when a large proportion of subjects begin a study with very high scores on the measured variable(s), such that participation in an educational experience cannot yield significant gains among these learners. This effect is widespread in informal science learning due to the self-selective nature of participation in these experiences, such that participants are already interested in and knowledgeable about the content area. When the ceiling effect is present, no conclusions can be drawn regarding the influence of an intervention on participants’ learning outcomes which could lead evaluators and funders to underestimate the positive effects of STEM programs. We discuss how the use of person-centered analytic approaches that segment samples in theory driven ways could help address the ceiling effect and provide an illustrative example using data from a recent evaluation of a STEM afterschool program.

Enhancing Informal Stem Learning Through Family Engagement in Cooking

Informal learning has the potential to play an important role in helping children develop a life-long interest in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics). The goal of this review is to synthesize the evidence regarding the features of effective informal learning, provide effective ways to support learning within these contexts, and illustrate that cooking is an optimal opportunity for informal STEM learning. We review evidence demonstrating that the most effective informal learning activities are authentic, social and collaborative experiences that tap into culturally-relevant practices and knowledge, although there are limitations to each. We propose that cooking provides a context for authentic, culturally-relevant learning opportunities and includes natural supports for learning and engagement. Specifically, cooking provides many opportunities to apply STEM content (e.g., measuring and chemical reactions) to an existing foundation of knowledge about food. Cooking is also a family-based learning opportunity that exists across cultures, allows for in-home mentoring, and requires no specialized materials (beyond those available in most homes). It may help overcome some limitations in informal STEM learning, namely scalability. Finally, cooking provides immediate, tangible (and edible) results, promoting interest and supporting long-term engagement.

Expectancy-value theory & preschool parental involvement in informal STEM learning

Using expectancy-value theory, we explored whether parents' perceived expectancies, value, and costs relate to parent involvement in science and math activities. We also explored whether informal learning varied based on child gender and parent's report of having a science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM)-related career. Specifically, we examined the mediating role of parents' STEM expectancies, value, and cost as well as whether parents held a STEM-related career on the outcome of parental involvement. Our sample consists of 208 parents of 3- to 5-year-olds from mostly middle class families of diverse races/ethnicities. Descriptively, 56% of these parents reported reading everyday with their child, but just 35% reported any daily STEM activities. Controlling for sociodemographic factors, results revealed that only a parent's rating of STEM value, not expectancies or cost, was directly related to parental involvement in science and math. But maternal report of a STEM-related career was indirectly related to parental involvement in STEM through parents' higher self-efficacy for facilitating informal STEM learning. No significant relations were found for child gender. We discuss implications for supporting parents' involvement in early STEM given these findings that parents who feel empowered to do science and math engage their preschooler in informal STEM learning more often.

Expanding the Boundaries of Informal Education Programs: An Investigation of the Role of Pre and Post-education Program Experiences and Dispositions on Youth STEM Learning

For generations educators have been supporting children and youth’s science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) learning through informal education programming. Such programming includes a wide variety of outdoor education programs, camp programs, and increasingly targeted STEM programs run afterschool, on weekends, and over the summer months. However, despite the positive impacts these programs have, few would argue that these programs could not be improved or be designed to better meet the needs of a broader and more diverse population of learners. Arguably, one major flaw in how most educators have approached the design and improvement of these programs—a flaw that permeates almost all informal STEM education efforts–is that either explicitly or implicitly, the focus of educators has been exclusively on what happens during the program itself. Superficially this seems reasonable. After all, the time children/youth are within the temporal and physical boundaries of the program, class, or museum is the time when educators have maximal control over events. However, given what is known about how people learn (National Academies of Sciences, 2018), we argue that this long-standing approach needs to be reconsidered.

Forests After Florence: an informal community-engaged STEM research project promotes STEM identity in disaster-impacted students

ABSTRACT Background Natural disasters, such as hurricanes, can have lasting impacts on a community Purpose This research evaluated how participation in an STEM education intervention after an ecological disaster affected students’ persistence, resilience, and STEM identity Sample Hurricane Florence impacted college students (N = 50) were recruited Design and Methods Participants completed pre-test, post-test and daily diary measures before, during and after they completed an intervention where they collected forestry data in their home hurricane-impacted communities Results Participants reported higher STEM identity following the intervention learning experience. Daily interest and enjoyment in science was higher on days when they reported more positive experiences. For resilience, for male students, but not female students, the learning opportunity fostered resilience. Male students reported higher STEM identity on days when they reported more positive learning experiences Conclusion These findings highlight the benefit of STEM education learning opportunities, particular for disaster-impacted students.

Creating cultural refugia to transform the boundaries of science.

This paper is a reflection on Bobby Habig, Preeti Gupta, and Jennifer Adams’ article Disrupting deficit narratives in informal science education: Amplifying community cultural wealth theory to youth learning and engagement. The article examines the significance of community cultural capital and the need for informal STEM institutions to engage more deliberately with the knowledge and lived experiences that youth bring to programs they participate in. In my response, I question whether the informal science institution of study had changed in response to these young people. As a ‘science insider,’ I explore how research experiences in informal science education institutions such as museums are tightly bounded by and connected with ancient European scientific practices that limit a deep embrace of community cultural wealth. If the aim is for youth to develop their science identities, then these informal science education institutions need to question what kind of science people they are asking youth to become. I consider how informal science education institutions might remake themselves as cultural refugia, where interrogation of the dominant Eurocentric norms of what science is can be challenged and transformed.

Examining STEM Teaching at the Intersection of Informal and Formal Spaces: Exploring Science Pre-service Elementary Teacher Preparation

ABSTRACT There is a growing emphasis on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education focused learning spaces vis-à-vis science education in the US public schools. These STEM learning spaces mostly take place in informal learning spaces such as STEM makerspace, coding academies, and STEM camps. With this emphasis, teachers teaching science in elementary grades may find themselves being asked to teach in STEM focused learning spaces that lay outside of their areas of expertise in science teaching to teach STEM concepts and skills (e.g., computational thinking, 3-D Modeling, TinkerCAD). This problem is further compounded by the fact that many informal spaces (e.g., STEM makerspaces) are now being integrated into formal school structures and schedules. This paper shares findings by examining the preparation of elementary pre-service teachers for teaching in one informal space—a STEM makerspace. We used an exploratory qualitative design method and share results that indicate including preparation in informal STEM teaching may be beneficial in one elementary teacher preparation program.

“It’s not a deaf thing, it’s not a black thing; it’s a deaf black thing”: a study of the intersection of adolescents’ deaf, race, and STEM identities

Deaf students are under-enrolled in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) majors, making it important to explore how and why deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) students connect (or fail to connect) with STEM. Engaging students in informal STEM with attention to how such experiences interact with their identities has the potential for broad impact on supporting DHH adolescents’ entry into STEM areas of postsecondary study and later into STEM careers. We explored the intersectionality of DHH minority racial/ethnic high school students’ identities and how it relates to their connection to STEM during a summer program and throughout the following school year. We report on three case studies, followed by a cross-case analysis. Participants were DHH high school students from underrepresented minority racial/ethnic groups. Our case studies were of one female and two male students. Data sources included a battery of surveys assessing scientific sensemaking, affinity toward STEM, and reading ability, as well as a focus group during summer STEM camp, individual interviews the following school year, and observations of photographs taken during camp by volunteers working at the camp. We pinpoint instances of connection to and disconnection from STEM in our three cases. Cross-case analysis implicates a need for applied learning opportunities that overcome language-related barriers for American Sign Language (ASL) users. They also suggest a role for STEM-relevant mentorship that is sensitive to adolescents’ intersectional identities, particularly employing adult mentors with whom adolescents can identify. Finally, findings suggest that adolescents are attempting to connect STEM with their everyday lives, particularly their career aspirations. Importantly, our three cases were better able to apply STEM to the real world and career goals in an informal summer STEM camp than in their formal science, math, and engineering classrooms. We discuss implications for curriculum, instruction, and teacher preparation.

Intergenerational community conservation projects, STEM identity authoring, and positioning: the cases of two intergenerational teams

ABSTRACT This research aimed to better understand the interaction between positioning and STEM identity authoring as intergenerational teams collaborated to complete community conservation projects, following a two-day conservation and geospatial technology workshop. Scientists and science educators supported these learners as they developed the focus, resources, timeline, and methods used to accomplish their negotiated pursuits at the two-day workshop and throughout their subsequent community project as a form of public engagement. To better understand the ways in which intergenerational teams located or positioned themselves and their partners, the ways in which teens and adults engaged in STEM identity authoring, and the interplay between positioning and STEM identity authoring a two-case study was completed. In this, field observations, interviews, and project artifacts were collected as the primary data sources. Findings emerging from the qualitative analysis of the data collected revealed how positioning and STEM identity authoring were found to be entangled and concurrently reinforcing even at the outset of the intergenerational teams’ work. Additionally, positioning and STEM identity authoring in intergenerational teams were influenced by societal and cultural norms. These findings as well as recommendations emerging from the findings are further elaborated with the aim of supporting future intergenerational work of teens and adults in informal STEM learning contexts.

A Shift in Authority: Applying Transformational and Distributed Leadership Models to Create Inclusive Informal STEM Learning Environments

AbstractResearch across fields has converged on the importance of grounding STEM learning in learners’ personal, social, and cultural experiences. This article describes how distributed and transformational leadership models in science centers can enable a paradigm shift away from unidirectional communication of scientific information from institution to visitor, and toward practices that prioritize the diversity of visitors’ own experiences and their agency as learners and thinkers. Three case studies (on exhibit design, facilitation, and activity development) illustrate how adopting elements of distributed and transformational leadership models allowed project teams at the New York Hall of Science to operationalize the theoretical foundations of our museum’s educational philosophy across multiple areas of the organization. Across the three projects, supporting visitors’ agency and centering their diverse perspectives and prior knowledge required a parallel shift toward increased collaboration and agency among staff with diverse roles and areas of expertise.

Interested but not being served: mapping young people’s participation in informal STEM education through an equity lens

ABSTRACT It is commonly assumed that the reason many young people do not participate in informal STEM education (ISE) is because they lack interest in STEM. This paper draws on survey (n = 1,624) and qualitative data (n = 36) with young people aged 11–14 to examine the ways in which science dispositions, demographic characteristics, ‘consumption’ of cultural practices and exclusion interact to produce unequal forms of STEM participation. Latent class analysis generated six groups within our quantitative dataset: three groups who infrequently participated in designed and community ISE practices (Underserved Tech Enthusiasts, Underserved Creatives and Underserved Scientists), one group who only participated in specific forms of ISE practices (Partly Served Generalists) and two groups who frequently participated across a broad range of ISE practices (Served Cultural Omnivores and Served STEMnivores). Participation in ISE did not necessarily reflect young people’s STEM interests; many minoritised young people reported being interested in STEM, yet rarely took part in designed and community ISE, while others from more socially advantaged backgrounds regularly participated regardless of their STEM interest. We conclude that ISE settings are excluding and failing to serve young people from minoritised backgrounds and there is a need to support these young people better.

Balancing Individual and Collective Agency in Informal STEM Learning Experiences

Balancing Individual and Collective Agency in Informal STEM Learning Experiences

Culturally Responsive and Sustaining STEM Curriculum as a Problem-Based Science Approach to Supporting Student Achievement for Black and Latinx Students

This article explores the tenets of culturally responsive STEM curriculum, providing an innovative look into STEM teaching and learning, which illuminates student agency, prior knowledge, and positive connections with their teachers. It seeks to answer the question, what happens when students experience informal STEM learning spaces as positive ones that enable them to develop a sense of agency, voice, and academic achievement.

Building an Informal STEM Learning Professional Competency Framework

Building an Informal STEM Learning Professional Competency Framework

A Summary of Effective Gender Equitable Teaching Practices in Informal STEM Education Spaces

Women and girls, particularly women and girls of color, remain underrepresented in STEM disciplines. This underrepresentation begins as early as late elementary school age. Educators, particularly those in informal STEM education, can help address gender inequity in STEM by understanding how research can be translated into actionable strategies. This article summarizes research on gender equitable practices for middle school girls in the last decade and addresses the disconnect between research and practice by presenting the findings in a way that educators can immediately act on. The research falls into six strategies that have demonstrated positive influences on gender inequity in STEM education: (1) connecting STEM experiences to girls’ lives; (2) supporting girls as they investigate questions and solve problems using STEM practices; (3) empowering girls to embrace struggle, overcome challenges, and increase self-confidence in STEM; (4) encouraging girls to identify and challenge STEM stereotypes; (5) emphasizing that STEM is collaborative, social, and community-oriented; (6) providing opportunities for girls to interact with and learn from diverse STEM role models. Our review highlights that each of these strategies are important to developing positive STEM identities in girls, particularly girls of color, which can help them to bridge the STEM gender and racial gap.