Journal of STEM outreach最新文献

Since 1998, educators at Wheeling Jesuit University's Challenger Learning Center and Center for Educational Technologies have created realistic live simulations of science and medical emergencies in which students act as astronauts, scientists or doctors to solve STEM problems such as diagnosing diseases, stopping epidemics, picking a safe spacecraft landing spot, and rescuing stranded astronauts. These 90 to 120-minute simulations, e-Missions, are video-conferenced into classrooms, with companion websites providing pre-mission preparation, supplemental resources and teacher tutorials. e-Missions have been used more than 11,000 times at schools in 50 states and 22 nations. More than 310,000 elementary, middle and high school students have role-played STEM experts, and 10,000 teachers were trained to use technology and problem-based learning. Shorter live missions, e-Labs, were created to demonstrate science topics in 3-9 grade classrooms, and e-Labs Jr do the same for K-3. The simulations and e-Labs are developed with funding from agencies, foundations and corporations, and are maintained through payments by schools of $400 to $550 for each e-Mission, and $200 for e-Labs, often year after year as culminating events for relevant curricula. More than $5 million dollars have been earned over the last 20 years, supporting the sustained delivery of these innovative STEM experiences, and software and hardware updates. Evaluations have identified positive changes in e-Mission student attitudes and perceptions toward science and science careers.

Science and mathematics literacy are fundamental to the basic understanding of food and health and/or the pursuit of science-based careers. In 1999, the FoodMASTER Initiative (FMI) was created to provide an opportunity for youth to experience authentic, real-world health science activities in K-12 learning environments. FMI administrative locations have included Ohio University 1999-2005, East Carolina University 2006-2018 and Northern Illinois University 2018-current. The key programmatic elements for the FMI include: 1) curricular hands-on activities developed with teacher input, 2) free online access, 3) rigorous evaluation of program materials, and 4) robust partnerships with organizations that promote mathematics and science education. The purpose of this manuscript will be to 1) provide a rationale for the FMI programming, 2) share the curriculum and the process for developing curriculum and summarize the quantitative and qualitative findings of the 19 peer-reviewed articles, 3) discuss funding that was secured, 4) discuss strategies that lead to program sustainability, 5) discuss the mission and vision, and 6) summarize programmatic component sustainability.

Boston University's (BU) CityLab program was created in 1991 as a partnership between faculty members of BU's School of Medicine and School of Education in response to the first call for proposals under the Science Education Partnership Awards initiative of the National Institutes of Health. CityLab's founders recognized the need for CityLab, a centrally-located facility for pre-college teachers and students to explore the burgeoning world of biotechnology. The mission has always been to share the excitement of science with students and teachers by engaging them in hands-on laboratory experiences, thereby fostering the development of a robust pool of scientists and physicians and a scientifically-literate populace. In order to reach more schools, particularly those that could not come to CityLab's facility in Boston, the CityLab team pioneered the mobile science laboratory concept with the launch of its MobileLab in 1998. Both CityLab and MobileLab have been replicated in the U.S. and abroad. CityLab has sustained itself because it has benefited from stable leadership, built and disseminated models for hands-on STEM education, embraced innovation by creating new programs to serve additional populations, and developed diverse funding streams. The CityLab program has been remarkable in its outreach, success, and longevity.

Teachers are charged with connecting classroom science to real-world applications; however, opportunities for teachers to experience real-world applications in the life and biosciences are limited. When provided the opportunity to engage in hands-on learning experiences, teachers' capacity to connect classroom activities to real-world applications increases. Through partnerships within the local STEM Ecosystem, the Teacher Enrichment Initiatives (TEI) provides teachers with experiences that enable them to strengthen the connections between classroom science and careers. Over the course of TEI's 25+ years, these collaborations between our teachers and partners have resulted in the production of over 350 individual hands-on, inquiry-based curriculum activities. In addition, the TEI has played a pivotal role in the growth of the STEM workforce by disseminating best practices and providing teacher professional development (TPD) experiences designed to improve teacher knowledge of STEM career options and the associated educational pathways for their students while enhancing teacher professionalism. Since 2011, the TEI has hosted 15 TPD conferences and 300 workshops with over 1,800 K-12 teachers participating annually. The number of students impacted through teacher participation exceeds 300,000, covering all grade levels. To date, over 83 scientists, engineers, and STEM-career professionals have participated in TEI sponsored events.

STEM pipeline programs often include research experiences for youth, but fewer focus on youth as shared decision-makers or leaders in research efforts. Youth participatory action research (YPAR) and community-based participatory research (CBPR) orientations suggest that the quality and relevance of research will benefit from youth partnership. Because youth do not traditionally have the opportunity to serve in this type of leadership capacity, STEM pipeline programs that wish to elevate the role of youth in research must create a new culture of co-creation that upends the traditional pedagogical models adolescents experience in high school. We present Research Kickoff as a strategy to engage youth as co-researchers from their very first experience in a year-long STEM pipeline program. We designed activities around a framework consisting of six components: content, process, voice, network, engagement, and culture. Each of the six components of our framework are represented in a series of activities that include participatory research processes, inviting collaboration and valuing diverse expertise, and relationship building. To inform future programs interested in engaging youth as co-researchers, we detail the iterative development of Research Kickoff over two cohorts and describe how it serves to engage youth as change agents from the first touch.

A Near Peer Mentoring Program (NPMP) was developed in which Medical Student Training Program (MSTP) students met weekly with small groups of high school students who were participating in an intensive summer biomedical research immersion program. The goal of the NPMP was to provide and engage the high school students with opportunities to express and discuss their research and more importantly, their stresses and concerns. After initial reservations, the NPMP provided a comfortable venue for high school students to engage in discussions of both laboratory and personal topics. Overall, their concerns and stresses were expressed in five categories: 1) College Preparation, 2) Preparation for MD and PhD Training and Careers, 3) Summer Research Programmatic Issues and Laboratory Social Structure, 4) Social Issues, and 5) Health and Wellness. High school students identified the following major factors as contributing to programmatic success: relatability, role models, comfort and approachability, organization, and mentor fit. The Near Peer Mentoring initiative revealed the need for STEM and other programs targeting academic success and career development to be alert to social and emotional concerns of students and to provide opportunities for their expression, discussion and guidance.

Historically, African American and other underserved students encounter academic challenges in pursuit of a college degree-one of which is their performance on standardized tests. This paper analyzes College Grade Point Averages (CGPAs), ACT Composite (ACTC), and SAT Total (SATT) scores of students who participated in the Health Sciences and Technology Academy (HSTA), an out-of-school-time (OST) program, and Non-HSTA (NHSTA) students attending West Virginia University. Traditionally, OST programs provide academic enrichment to underserved youth to increase their chances for post-secondary entry and success. Two-Way Factorial ANOVA determined if HSTA participants performed better on academic measures than their NHSTA counterparts. The ANOVAs showed statistically significant differences based on Status (HSTA/NHSTA) and Race (African American/White) on the SATT and ACTC. Although not statistically significant, there are favorable outcomes on the CGPA for African American HSTA students comparable to their Non-HSTA counterparts.

This article describes an approach to designing a scalable career development curriculum for elementary school students using minimal-cost and readily available resources. Content experts, veterinary medical students, university staff, teachers, community partners, evaluation experts, and a children's book illustrator developed a library of low-cost, culturally responsive, fun, and educationally engaging lessons to expose elementary school-aged students to scientific knowledge and careers in veterinary medicine. The home team piloted and evaluated the approach at a local community center. Teams in eight other states were provided materials to pilot and assess the program. Seven of those teams successfully piloted the program and provided evidence of child engagement. Although models, props, and other costly supplies enhance delivery of Science Technology Engineering and Math lessons, our experience with the delivery of this curriculum was proof of concept that a low-cost curricular model is one strategy to facilitate scaling and sustainability of an engaging veterinary science curriculum.

Compared to demographic data from other healthcare professions, genetic counselors (GCs) are more likely to be Caucasian females. Many current underrepresented in genetic counseling (URGC) professionals in the field found genetic counseling later in their careers due in part to their lack of awareness. A pilot study consisting of equal numbers of male and female sixth grade science club students was conducted to explore the impact that direct teaching might have on students' awareness of and interest in genetic counseling. The analysis used the non-parametric Wilcoxon signed rank test due to the ordinal, Likert-scale data. Results derived from a pre- and post-survey of lesson participants indicated a statistically significant increase in students' perceptions of having a role model in a science career. Efforts to reach local middle school students to highlight genetic counseling as a potential career choice, especially by role models, may add to the continued work being done to increase the diversity of future genetic counseling applicant pools.

There is a critical need for more effective comprehensive programs to increase the number of underrepresented minority students pursuing scientific careers. Science education often is fragmented, delivered with single-focused approaches - traditional classroom lectures, or hands-on-activities, or conducting research. The current paper examines a comprehensive biomedical research program that integrated classroom teaching, hands-on-activities, conducting a research study, and mentoring from scientists in authentic scientific settings. We assessed short-term psychosocial outcomes and long-term academic outcomes in the participants, largely underrepresented minority high school students. The psychosocial outcomes assessed pre and post program include: knowledge of science pathways, attitudes toward science, self-efficacy in science, and scientific communication skills. Post-program results showed an increasing trend for knowledge of science pathways, attitudes toward science, and self-efficacy in science. Post-program, students also reported significant increases in feeling they had role models in science. A long-term assessment was conducted examining participating students' college attendance and majoring in a STEM field. The long-term assessment showed that 77% of students were attending college, 79% were majoring in STEM, and 75% were planning to pursue additional higher education. Findings provide evidence for the short-term and long-term benefits of a comprehensive biomedical research program conducted in an authentic scientific setting.