Journal of STEM outreach最新文献

Access to professional development opportunities promotes equity for both teachers and students. We identified time, distance, and childcare needs as limiting factors for teachers seeking to attend our conference workshops and in-person professional development opportunities. Therefore, just months before the COVID-19 pandemic and the rapid shift to online learning, the Genome Sciences Education Outreach (GSEO) program transitioned to online professional development for the NIGMS sponsored SEPA grant Genes Environment and Me Network (GEMNet) program. Our program was well positioned to support teachers in our network by providing online PD that included technology support and rapid access to our online curriculum for use for distance learning. Here we share the process of creating online PD as well as converting our materials to the digital environment. Additionally, we provide survey data and lessons learned from eight online PD trainings from January 2020 to January 2021 for both Health/Family and Consumer Science Teachers (n=20) and Biology Teachers (n=23). Notably, Teachers provided feedback affirming our initial reasons for providing online PD, and appreciated being supported at an overwhelmingly difficult time to be an educator. Our findings support the need for both online and in-person professional development opportunities for future programs.

In spring 2020 our team received funding from the Rapid Response Research program of the National Science Foundation to develop comics that would help youth understand the COVID-19 pandemic. Our project built on a decade of expertise creating comics about the biology of viruses. In collaboration with virologists and artists, we developed three comic stories about COVID-19 during the pandemic and posted them on-line during the last half of 2020. The fictional narratives address fundamental issues in biology, virology, and network science, in order to help readers understand the complexities of living through a viral pandemic. The stories focus on three themes: the biology and social context of the COVID-19 virus; the relationship of wild animals, particularly bats, to the pandemic; and the impact of the pandemic on Tribal communities. We describe the challenges of comic development during the pandemic and the feedback from youth on whether the comics were appealing, interesting, and understandable. The stories were posted on worldofviruses.unl.edu and are published by the University of Nebraska Press as the book, C'RONA Pandemic Comics, with essays for youth about the virus and the pandemic.

The move to virtual schooling and other measures to reduce the spread of SARS-CoV-2 infection dramatically changed the educational experience for grades K-12 populations during the years 2020 and 2021. STEM teaching and learning, and community partnerships focused on STEM education, were not exempt from the changes. Universities and other community partners had to adapt their STEM partnership programming to address new needs and assist students, teachers, families, and schools throughout periods of at-home learning and the re-reintroduction of in-person classes. Some of the changes included developing new programs, providing health-related guidance to school leaders, and converting student-focused programs to virtual formats. Through these experiences, new approaches emerged and lessons were learned that can be applied to partnership activities during normal times. These lessons included recognizing the importance of addressing inequities in students' access to technology; development of strategies to redesign enrichment programs and classroom instruction for effective online delivery; and identifying and adapting to the range of technologies available to support virtual teaching in differing schools. The increased familiarity by all partners with virtual formats has opened the door to greater participation by students in STEM enrichment programs, online partnerships with STEM professionals and mentoring opportunities.

The Maryland Action for Drug Discovery and Pharmaceutical Research (MADDPR) Program provides hands-on lab experience and mentoring to underserved minority high school students. With the inability to conduct an in-person STEM summer camp, the program transitioned to a virtual format in 2020. Thirty-three students and their PLTW teacher participated in live sessions using Blackboard Collaborate Ultra®. One highlight of the sessions was program faculty's use of interactive simulation software such as science labs (Labster®), animal behavior (Sniffy the Virtual Rat®), and aseptic compounding (Virtual Interactive Clean Room®). Graduate student mentors worked with students in small virtual breakout sessions. Post-session survey data show that the majority of students felt comfortable participating in the simulation sessions. Students' responses indicated that they enjoyed the virtual labs and appreciated the effort to implement the game-like lab simulation exercises. Remarkably, student ratings of the virtual sessions compared favorably and, in some cases, exceeded those from the same sessions conducted in-person in 2019. In post-camp surveys, 96% of the participants indicated an interest in pursuing careers in pharmacy/other health professions. Student and teacher comments also indicated that the virtual experience of the camp prepared both students and their teacher for the coming fall semester at school.

The Covid-19 pandemic has created significant challenges for informal health science education, which traditionally involves face-to-face programming. We describe the adaptation of hands-on environmental health science kits for online and socially distanced informal education with diverse audiences. These hands-on science kits were traditionally used for in-person, whole group instruction. Because the kits include all the materials needed to complete the activities, they provide hands-on science experiences without the need for a science lab facility. We developed a logistics plan for online use of the kits, taking into account the use of technology, kit distribution, virtual instruction, and audience engagement. We also developed Covid-safe practices for in-person instruction that supported social distancing while engaging learners in hands-on science. The strategic adaptation and creative implementation of these kits allowed us to engage our community's youth in environmental health learning during the isolated and uncertain times of the pandemic. Lessons learned from this experience may inform future efforts to provide remote, interactive informal science education to respond to diverse learners' needs.

Secondary schools in Maine and New Hampshire have been involved in a citizen science program called "All About Arsenic" aimed at addressing arsenic contamination of well water, one of the most pressing public health issues in both states. Nearly half of the population of Maine and New Hampshire derive their drinking water from private wells which often have arsenic levels above the EPA limit of 10 ppb. Arsenic exposure can cause cancer, adverse cardiovascular effects, and other health problems. Addressing this issue in schools provides context and motivation for students to engage in scientific inquiry and acquire data literacy skills. This project involves students collecting well water samples for arsenic analysis, entering their data into an online citizen science data portal, Anecdata, and using Tuva online software tools to visualize and interpret their data. Students present their data at public meetings to inform community members of their findings with the goal of moving "data to action". The COVID-19 pandemic presented multiple challenges for teachers engaging their students in this citizen science project. We adapted our program and implemented a series of interventions aimed at supporting teachers in their continued efforts to engage their students the "All About Arsenic" project.

The STEM Through Authentic Research and Training (START) Program is a new program integrating academic, social, and professional experiences, in the theme of exomedicine, to build a pipeline into college for first generation and traditionally underrepresented students by providing year-round authentic opportunities and professional development for high school students and teachers. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the START Program has worked with the local Fayette County public school and community partners to provide content to over 300 students through: virtual laboratory tours with community partner Space Tango, "meet a scientist" discussions, and online near-peer student demonstrations aimed at making the practice of STEM disciplines approachable. Furthermore, the START Program has partnered with Higher Orbits to provide at-home, space-themed learning kits for students to develop teamwork, communication, and STEM principles while engaging in online content with teachers, professionals, and astronauts. Finally, the START Program has moved its training platforms online, including receiving College Reading and Learning Association (CRLA) Peer Educator accreditation for our near-peer mentoring and coaching training. As a result, the START Program is better positioned to address this critical need in STEM education, while reaching more students in the community than possible with face-to-face interactions alone.

STEM training of college-bound and college students has reliably employed hands-on experiential learning by placing students in on-campus research settings. Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center's Young Empowered Scientists for ContinUed Research Engagement (DF/HCC's YES for CURE) program introduces Massachusetts high school and college students from underrepresented populations to cancer research by immersing them in scientific and nursing research environments. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 summer program was re-designed and delivered virtually for 45 students. Because the program spans three years, we could evaluate the experiences of 18 students (cohort 2) who completed the 2019 (pre-pandemic) and 2020 (pandemic) summer programs. Analysis of cohort 2 data revealed three areas where students felt their competence improved with virtual programming (i.e., effective communication of ideas, access to high caliber speakers, engagement with program leaders) and two areas where it declined significantly (i.e., engaging other students, learning lab material). Additionally, student-reported competence to perform 21 scientific research and seven critical thinking processes were not negatively impacted by the virtual transition. Herein, we describe the adaptation of DF/HCC's YES for CURE program to a virtual format and the impact on students as a resource for institutions interested in enhancing their STEM training programs with virtual programming.