Engaging Youth with Astronomy and Technology
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This document discusses strategies for engaging youth in STEM through astronomy and technology programs. It outlines a program called HOMAGO which offers monthly teen hangouts focused on topics like coding, astronomy, and game design without exams or learning objectives. The program partnered 75 high school girls with 37 STEM mentors. Research suggests providing youth access to STEM disciplines and mentors can positively influence minority student success. Authentic engagement is also key, highlighting skills like problem-solving and collaboration over exams. The document advocates expanding such programs' reach through community partnerships to serve more underprivileged youth.
Engaging Youth with Astronomy and Technology
- 1. Engaging Youth With Astronomy and Technology Laura Whyte
- 2. STEM workforce for the future The United States alone faces a shortage of 140,000 to 190,000 people with deep analytical skills, and a further lack of 1.5 million managers capable of analyzing Big Data and making decisions based on their findings. Manyika et al. 2011
- 3. Science and Technology Literacy Success in a technology rich world and equitable access to the resources of modern society is the civil rights issue of the 21st century, with women, minorities and people of low socioeconomic status being the ‘designated serfs of the information age’ Moses & Cobb 2002
- 5. S 70% of physics and science teachers have no major in that field T 10% American schools offer any kind of coding E 3% of 2009 graduates had taken engineering in high school M 2/3 of middle school maths teachers are not qualified
- 6. Far Horizons
- 7. HOMAGO Hanging Out Messing About
- 9. Teen Hangouts November: Building Websites and Coding December: Capturing the Cosmos January: Programming 3D February: 3D Printing March: Astronomy April: Virtual Exhibits May: Mapping June: Game Design
- 10. Teen Hangouts No Learning Objectives No Exams This is NOT school!
- 13. GDH 2014 75 High School Girls 37 STEM Professional Mentors .... cultural, stereotypes that prevail so strongly that most young women think “typical” scientists are men..... Hill et al. 2013
- 14. PROVIDE YOUTH ACCESS TO STEM DISCIPLINES AND MENTORS. Mentoring is one of several factors that can positively influence the success of racial and ethnic minority students in STEM. Museus et al. 2011 Seeing women who have succeeded in STEM is a vital for inspiring and motivating young women, especially when they can relate to these role models as people with lives outside of the lab. Evans, Whigham, & Wang, 1995; Liston et al., 2008
- 15. STEM Workshops Girls show higher levels of engagement when activities encourage: • Collaboration and cooperative peer engagement (Brickhouse et al. 2000; Stake & Nickens 2005; Williams 2006) • Problem-solving activities that allow multiple paths and many possible answers (Inkpen 1999)
- 21. PROVIDE AUTHENTIC ENGAGEMENT FOR STUDENTS STEM subjects need to be delivered in tangible and reallife oriented ways. Traurig et. al 2010
- 22. STEM Skills Highlighting the unexpected - Communication - Team work - Creativity Building confidence with the expected - Coding - Problem Solving
- 23. Targeted Recruitment Teachers/Schools Youth Organisations Bus Funds
- 24. EXPAND THE ADLER’S REACH IN COMMUNITIES OF NEED The Adler recognizes that transportation costs and lack of familiarity with museums can prevent many Chicago families from coming to the Museum Campus. Committed to engaging a broader cross-section of people with science, Adler leaders are developing innovative programs—in partnership with CPS, the Chicago Park District, Chicago Public Libraries, Hive Chicago Learning Network, and other community organizations—to reach students and their families where they are. Five years from now, a student’s first encounter with Adler programming may be at their school, neighborhood library, park, or community center.
- 27. Alyssa Hui (left) and Terry Melo (right) spent most of their summer writing blog posts on Zooniverse Citizen Science projects, giving presentations to their peers and Adler visitors, and doing scientific research… but they also spent some time eating candy and cupcakes with their mentor Dr. Bans.
- 28. Girl PoWeR MENTORS + +
- 30. Teen Interns & Volunteers
- 32. Family and Community Engagement
- 33. Build students’ STEM related skills and content knowledge. • Students demonstrated significant gains in STEM-related skills and museum related-content knowledge.
- 34. Reinforce positive attitudes toward museums and STEM subjects. • Exposure to the Adler positively affected attitudes, even from those with lower levels of involvement. • The students with the greatest involvement experienced the greatest positive attitudinal impact. • Positive attitudes were the results of encountering diverse experiences and feeling challenged.
- 35. Develop a suite of programs that allows for multiple entry points to engender a sense of belonging within the scientific and museum community. • The partnership programs were able to engage a diverse community of AFAHS students and other under-represented teens. • Programs that empowered youth to contribute made them feel highly valued. • The diverse suite of programs provided opportunities successful in gaining student engagement beyond what was mandatory.
- 37. Engaging Youth with Astronomy and Technology • Find Partners • Be a Mentor • HOMAGO! • Multiple Entry Points • Financial Incentives Work • Food and Transport
Editor's Notes
- #4: Tech literacy is the new literacy. You can’t access the world without tech these days. Science literacy is empowerment.
- #5: But mostly science and tech are FUN and everyone should enjoy them the way everyone can enjoy a good book without a degree in English lit.
- #6: What are the schools doing to meet these needs? They are struggling – they are lacking resources and training.
- #7: Cultural institutions like the Adler need to step up. We at the Adler are really well place to do this as we have Zooniverse, Far Horizons and an active Research group. AUTHENTIC Plus – we don’t have to worry about exams!
- #8: A common approach in youth work is HOMAGO
- #9: The GO in HOMAGO
- #10: Hanging out – quite literally!
- #11: Last month they took stuff apart. How many of you started that way?
- #12: Trivia Competition Costume Competition Grainger Dance Party Floor Programs Photo Booth
- #13: 2013 we held our first GDH
- #14: Girls’ interest, achievement, and retention in STEM is also strongly shaped by positive STEM/CS interactions with peers (Azmitia & Cooper 2001; Herzig 2004; Kindermann 2007; Margolis et al. 2000; Robnett & Leaper 2012; Stake & Nickens 2005; Zeldin & Pajares 2000; Riegle-Crumb et al. 2006). Adolescent girls tend to feel less supported in their STEM/CS interests than boys (Kessels 2005; Robnett & Leaper 2012; Stake & Nickens 2005). Notably, in courses where peer relationships are encouraged, girls have more positive perceptions of themselves as scientists (Stake & Nickens 2005).
- #15: here is a rich literature suggesting that a major factor in young people’s, especially girls’ and in particular minority girls’, reluctance to participate in STEM/CS is that they perceive the identities of STEM/CS professionals as incongruent with their own (Boaler 1997; Lightbody & Durndell 1996; Mendick 2006; Sjøberg & Schreiner 2007; Walkerdine 1998). Exposure to their personal career stories can not only prevent girls from developing negative attitudes towards STEM/CS careers, but can reverse previously formed negative perceptions (Finson 2002; Stout et al. 2011; Townsend 2002). Through sharing their work experiences, these mentors can directly address the misperception that STEM/CS careers are solitary, lacking creativity, relevance to the real world, and positive impact on people’s every day lives; misperceptions that are particularly dissuasive for girls (Jessup & Sumner 2005; Jones & Clarke 1995; Fisher & Margolis 2003; Yardi & Bruckman 2007).
- #16: Structured Hacking – less intimidating. We couldn’t throw them in a room with a bunch of laptops.
- #17: Mobile phone hacking
- #18: Programming Robots
- #19: Water Testing Samples donated from the Shedd!!!
- #20: The science of candy.
- #21: Exo-planet workshop
- #22: We are very well place to do that.
- #24: We didn’t want only young women from the suburbs who were already excited about STEM
- #26: Once we get them in the door we can start doing some STEM programs.
- #27: Web-making workshops Coding with purpose
- #28: Astro bio bloggers
- #29: Girls – Projects with Women Researchers Laura T.
- #30: Today the Astro-Science Workshop students and the Illinois Space Grant Consortium interns launched a high altitude balloon that reached a maximum altitude of 90,000 feet with a payload including a Geiger counter, a pressure sensor, GPS tracker, and a two-way communication system.
- #33: Brings in families Addressing “Threshold” fear.
- #34: Results of recent evaluation.
- #37: \
- #38: The target audience for the Adler is now largely made up of youth from low-income areas, and partnership programs would benefit from compensation or incentives for its participants, even at minimal levels. Offering additional paid internships and stipend-based programs would enable these teens to feel more financially secure, and make Adler programs more competitive with part-time job opportunities and other paid programs around the city