Welcome to our project page, which presents a brief overview of the activities and formative evaluation findings from the first year of our 5-year project, Bringing the Universe to America's Classrooms. Over the course of this week, we will be sharing the formative results and prototypes from our Needs Assessment efforts, which spanned 2016 and included a national market survey, front-end evaluation on a range of digital media formats for K-12 instruction, and the prototyping and classroom testing of educational resources that incorporate digital media tools and assets (Prototype resources can be explored here).

Fundamental to this project is embracing the digitization of STEM data (i.e. digital imagery, computer simulations and models, etc.) as an opportunity for the design of new digital tools and media (for more on this, visit this blog). Wide availability of STEM data products doesn't mean accessibility, particularly for diverse learners and classroom contexts. WGBH, as the STEM-lead for PBS LearningMedia, has undertaken a national effort to design, test, and evaluate educational resources that integrate digital media across the K-12 spectrum. Resulting resources will be disseminated for free to the almost 1.9 million educators on the platform, reaching over 65% of the public schools in the US, and 81% of Title 1 schools with registration over 1000. Our first release of Instructional Modules, addressing topics in Earth Science, is coming this August, 2017.

Over the course of this week, we will be sharing specific portions of our evaluation findings, so please feel free to ask for specific reports. We are especially interested in discussions surrounding the design of digital media for STEM learning in K-12 contexts, with a particular focus on researching impacts on teacher instruction and student learning outcomes. Thank you again, and we look forward to the conversation.

Hi Rachel and Kelly,

Ambitious project! Is your video is from the needs assessment process activities? Could you say more about how you worked with teachers who tested your prototypes? Were there different prototypes for different grade ranges or are resource for all learners? Love to know more about the protocol you use with teachers that informs your design of resources.   

Teachers are very enthusiastic about these materials! Are there resources for parents as well

Seems like a great project!  Do you think teachers will be using these modules to supplement their regular coursework or do you imagine they will stand on their own?  Also, do you think this concept could be expanded beyond space and earth science topics?

Thanks Julia, those are great questions! Regarding the first, we see these as supplementary materials that include the contextualization (support materials, standards alignment, etc.) that teachers need to successfully select and embed them in their instruction. Our Instructional Modules also contain sample lesson plans that illustrate how to achieve media integration (as well as test-beds for us to innovate and evaluate new approaches with media). 

As for your second question, we very much plan to apply this approach beyond Earth and Space science topics, which will also open the door to exploring additional media formats and digital tools that are found in different STEM fields (i.e. molecular models, VR, AR, etc.).

Love the excitement of the teachers about the resources!

Many teachers, especially at the elementary level, may not have the confidence built from strong knowledge of these topics, having never had the opportunity to learn this content themselves. If they feel that they don't know enough to teach this well, they may not feel that they can "select" and "structure" the learning effectively.

How might a district leverage these resources in a way that empowers teachers AND strengthens equitable access for students? 

Love the model of having teachers from across the country pilot the materials. I am interested in hearing more about how they are integrating them into their instruction. Also, how do you use the feedback from teachers to revise/improve the materials? 

I would love to be able to try out this program to use in my future classroom.  The fact that it is already differentiated for students with diverse learning needs makes it very appealing.  I could imagine myself using this type of program to introduce information and allow students to explore information, and then take it a step further with an engaging and authentic project based on the information they discovered.  

Hi Rachel, Great to have a NASA funded program in the Video Showcase. Very interesting work! Great seeing how you are spreading your resources to classroom teachers and how enthusiastic they are about using them.  Please share with other colleagues funded through NASA and with the agency. Hope we have more from NASA next year :)

We have be thrilled to share this opportunity with our NASA partners and collaborators. As only one of many members of NASA's STEM Activation Team, I hope that there will only be more great NASA projects ahead for this Video Showcase!