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1. People, places, and pets: Situating STEM education in youths’ homes with their pets

   Kelly, A.; Johnson, G. M.; Polman, J. L.; Kane, S. K.; Shapiro, R. B. (June 2021, International Conference of the Learning Sciences)

   de Vries, E.; Hod, Y.; null (Ed.)

   We facilitated a remote educational summer camp for teenage youth, with participants “sheltering in place” at home due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The summer camp was part of an initiative aimed at promoting STEM education for youth through learning about their pets’ senses and engaging in a co-design project to enrich aspects of their pets’ lives. We describe how situating scientific and design activities within the home and with pets engages participants in ethnomethodological practices such as field work, naturalistic observation, and in situ design that build upon their funds of knowledge. We discuss implications for the designs of learning environments that leverage the benefits of at-home science and design with pets. 

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2. Food, Energy and Water Learning Module Workbooks (FEWLM): Low-Cost Affordable Inquiry-Based STEM Curricula

   https://doi.org/10.15695/jstem/v4i1.10  

   Spence, Porché L.; Gerald-Goins, Tonya M.; Weems, Kimberly; Jackson, Caesar; Goins, Gregory (September 2021, Journal of STEM outreach)

   The Diverse and Integrative STEM Continua Using Socio-environmental Systems In and Out of Neighborhoods (DISCUSSION) network core team developed a low-cost, interdisciplinary, inquiry-based STEM curriculum of workbooks called the Food, Energy, and Water Learning Module (FEWLM). Built on the Next Generation Science Standards with a systems thinking approach, these workbooks provide hands-on, self-driven and team-building activities for elementary and middle school youth with the intent to increase their scientific exposure and awareness about environmental sustainability and human health issues. FEWLM was implemented at local Boys and Girls Clubs, local public after-school programs, and the DISCUSSION “HydroPHonics” Summer Enrichment camp. More than 150 underrepresented minority youths were engaged in our FEWLM science learning events during a two-year period; however, approximately 50 youths were surveyed about their experiences with FEWLM, attitudes and interest in science, and career ambitions. Evidence indicated that our FEWLM learning experiences had a positive impact on elementary and middle school youth by increasing their interest in STEM, perception of STEM in their lives, and confidence in their ability to participate in STEM. 

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3. STEM Summer Camp for Girls Positively Affects Self-Efficacy

   https://doi.org/10.1525/abt.2023.85.8.432  

   Broder, E. Dale; Fetrow, Kirsten J.; Murphy, Shannon M.; Hoffman, Jennifer L.; Tinghitella, Robin M. (October 2023, The American Biology Teacher)

   Women and racially and ethnically minoritized populations are underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Out-of-school time programs like summer camps can provide positive science experiences that may increase self-efficacy and awareness of STEM opportunities. Such programs often use the same high-impact practices used in K–12 classrooms including relating concepts to real-world examples, engaging students as active participants in inquiry-driven projects, and facilitating learning in a cooperative context. They additionally provide opportunities for engaging in STEM without fear of failure, offer a community of mentors, and allow families to become more involved. We designed a summer camp for middle schoolers who identified as girls, low-income, and as a minoritized race or ethnicity. We describe the design of the camp as well as the results from a simple pre- and post-camp questionnaire that examined each camper’s relationship to science, scientific self-efficacy, and interest in having a job in STEM. We found an increase in self-efficacy in camp participants, which is important because high scientific self-efficacy predicts student performance and persistence in STEM, especially for girls. We did not detect an increase in interest in pursuing a STEM job, likely because of already high values for this question on the pre-camp survey. We add to the growing body of work recognizing the potential of out-of-school time STEM programs to increase scientific self-efficacy for girls and racially minoritized students. Tweet: Summer camp for minoritized middle-school girls increases scientific self-efficacy, a characteristic that may be important for removing barriers to participation in STEM. 

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4. Embodying STEM: Learning at the intersection of Dance & STEM

   Solomon, F. (July 2021, International Conference of the Learning Sciences)

   de Vries, E. (Ed.)

   This symposium addresses dance as a site for STEM learning. We present papers from five research projects that each sought to engage youth in embodied STEM learning using dance, exploring the power of creative embodied experiences and the body’s potential as an expressive tool and resource for learning. We show how dance activities expanded access to STEM and supported sense-making; how dancer and dance-making practices were leveraged to support computational thinking, modeling, and inquiry; and how moving bodies in creative ways helped to generate new insights by allowing for new perspectives. Across our work, we seek to understand the multiple, rich learning opportunities that emerge from working across the arts and sciences, dance and STEM. Together our research shows that attending to opportunities for STEM engagement and learning through dance practices can broaden access to learning and engagement in STEM for all. 

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5. “Go[ing] Hard...as a Woman of Color”: A Case Study Examining Identity Work within a Performative Dance and Computing Learning Environment

   https://doi.org/10.1145/3531000  

   Desportes, Kayla; McDermott, Kathleen; Bergner, Yoav; Payne, William (December 2022, ACM Transactions on Computing Education)

   Performing arts computing environments have received little attention in the educational sphere; yet, they offer opportunities for learners to validate their efforts, ideas, and skills through showcasing their work in a public-facing performance. In this work, we explore an out-of-school dance and computing educational program run by the organization, STEM From Dance. The organizational mission is to create an equitable learning experience for young women of color to engage with computing while exposing them to STEM careers. Through an analysis of eleven interviews with youth participants, instructors, and the executive director, we examine how the social, cultural, and political dimensions of the learning environment facilitate identity work in computing and dance. Our findings point to three primary activities used by the organization to promote equity: (1) providing psychological safety through a supportive community environment, (2) meaningfully engaging with learners’ social and cultural context through creative work with constructionist artifacts, and (3) actively promoting identity work as women of color in computing and STEM through both artifact work and community events. Applying the constructs of identity and psychological safety we explore the tensions and synergies of designing for equity in this performing arts and computing learning environment. We demonstrate how the seemingly contradictory elements of a high-stakes performance within a novice learning environment provides unique opportunities for supporting young women of color in computing, making them non-negotiable in the organization’s efforts to promote equity and inclusion. Our work illustrates how attending closely to the sociocultural dimensions in a constructionist learning environment provides lenses for navigating equity, identity work, and support for inclusive computing. 

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