I really enjoyed this video, I love the mutlpie ways the kids can interact both with images, and the astronomy in the images. I was wondering what measures you used for science affinity and science identity — I could imagine these might overlap?    

   I gather that this is an out-of-school program?  If so, is there any thought of bringing it into classrooms — especially in schools that have a NASA connection already? 

 Hi Brian,

For our "science affinity" measure, we used the 10-item core "Common Instrument" self-report survey developed by Gil Noam et al at The PEAR Institute - it includes items such as "Science is something I get excited about," "I like to participate in science projects," and "I get excited about learning about new discoveries or inventions."

For our "science identity" measure, we used items that our group has used in a number of studies that ask the degree to which our participants see themselves, and believe themselves to be recognized by others (peers, teachers, family), as a "science person." (See, for example, Hazari, Zahra, et al. “The Science Identity of College Students: Exploring the Intersection of Gender, Race, and Ethnicity.” Journal of College Science Teaching, vol. 42, no. 5, 2013, pp. 82–91. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/43631586.)

While these 2 outcomes measures do tend to be correlated, they also differentiate as separate factors in a factor analysis of participant responses.

The ITEAMS/YouthAstroNet program was optimized as an out-of-school program, but a significant fraction of our educator participants were classroom teachers who implemented the program in extended day learning time situations, and some during their actual normal classroom hours.

Classroom teachers are welcome to sign up to join the YouthAstroNet Program -- now that we are at the tail end our our NSF-funded research study, we are opening up the online platform for self-signup, and indeed, we are hoping to make those NASA connections as well.

Thanks so much for your interest!

Thank you for visiting our YouthAstroNet Program on the STEM for All Video Showcase. We are completing a final no-cost extension year of this NSF ITEST project, originally titled "Innovative Technology-Enabled Astronomy for Middle Schools,” and are working on our final analysis and writing an article for a peer-reviewed journal publications. The program revolves around participation in an inclusive online learning community of students, educators, and adult astronomy mentors centered on the use of our MicroObservatory Robotic Telescope Network and associated image analysis software.

To date, nearly 3000 youth participants have experienced the program, mostly in OST settings but also in middle school classrooms. Educators are introduced to the program through an online learning module. The program has several core elements, and then a variety of curricular resources for educators to adapt the program to their local context. (See our 2017 Showcase Video)

In this video, we highlight the results of our research study examining which (if any) program factors contribute to positive gains in 5 outcome measures: science affinity, STEM career interest, computer affinity, science identity, and science (astronomy) content knowledge. Our analysis controlled for the wide variety of program implementation features by asking students the degree to which they experienced 34 different instructional strategies. A factor analysis of student responses reduced these 34 to a set of 5 correlated “treatment variables” — 1. Core YouthAstronet Implementation (e.g., use of telescopes, image software, asking questions, posting images for others); 2. Discussions of STEM Careers (e.g. talking about STEM career options, benefits of becoming a scientist); 3. Discussions of Underrepresentation in Science (e.g., explicit discussion of work of female or minority scientists); 4. Hands-On Activities; and 5. Making STEM Connections (e.g., Connecting science to everyday life, art, or history, having virtual or face-to-face interactions with guest speakers).

When controlling for these 5 different program treatment factors along with students’ prior attitudes, interests, and demographics, only the first and last were found to be predictive of small but significant student gains: 1. the degree to which students reported experiencing the primary learning activities of the YouthAstroNet program, and 5. Making STEM Connections.

Educators: What support would you need to implement YouthAstroNet?

Researchers: All of our “treatment variables” are typically hypothesized to contribute to positive outcomes, but we were only able to demonstrate that relationship with 2 of the factors. What do you think about this?

Exciting to see the final analysis of the program and how we are changing outcomes for our youth.

I appreciate your question, Mary, re: why only two of the factors were related to outcomes. I am curious about your response to Jim's question re: possible interaction effects. I also wonder if you collected any qualitative data that might help explain your findings (from the students themselves, their teachers, observation rubrics, etc.).

What a nice program.  The images look wonderful, and it's so powerful to hear about children posing very mature questions, such as "How do we fit into the universe?" after participating in YouthAstroNet.  Your instructors are clearly excited about the program, too.

I'm curious to know more about the aspect of YouthAstroNet that encourages children to make connections between science, art, history, and everyday life.  Could you provide some more details about what the component looks like?  Your post mentions guest speakers and I would love to know which fields and disciplines within the arts you have invited to speak with your participants (for example, visual, music, dance, poetry?), and how those guest speakers have gone about helping students make those connections.

Thank you for sharing your work!

We, too, are an out-of-school program and can see the great benefits from your work.  I am curious how YouthAstroNet could accompany an already existing program.  

We have a summer camp soon with Aerospace as the focus.  We didn't venture out to space. 

Can activities from YouthAstroNet be used individually, or should only be used as the entire program?  Is it available outside of your area?

How many educators per student did you have trained in the PEAR instrument?  Is it a difficult instrument to use for disaggregating data?  Is there a fee?

It’s great to hear and see the progress of the YouthAstroNet Program, and to hear how you are framing some of the research outcomes. Will this program continue to be available to educators and youth after the grant ends? Which contexts and settings provide the likeliest environments for continued use?

Margaret

Hi Margaret,

Yes, the program WILL continue to be available, thanks to ongoing funding from NASA's Universe of Learning. I like your question about "likeliest learning environments" - here are several that have seemed to thrive: We've had a number of museums implement school vacation or summer camp programs that result in student-produced exhibits that work well (like the Capture the Colorful Cosmos model we first piloted for the International Year of Astronomy). Some museums have also partnered with local schools to help facilitate a "boundary-crossing" formal/informal education program. We also have a cluster of 21st Century Community Learning Centers where the program works well as part of their overall ongoing after school environment. The educators featured in the video are from the Timothy Smith Network a local network of community technology centers with a mission of equity and access. All the centers have computer labs, making the technology very easy to implement. This year, they are also trying to integrate some of the resources of their maker spaces ("Fab Labs") with 3D printers to have students go from 2d images to 3d representations.