RoP was developed at the Lawrence Hall of Science, and was designed to help educators within an institution learn together and from one another. Anyone interested in RoP can purchase the curriculum or reach out to RoP to find out more.

Contact: Sarah Pedemonte spedemonte@berkeley.edu

Through a combination of student surveys, math assessments, student interviews, and classroom observations, the research is guided by two questions: (1) How and to what extent do the MLCs support engagement for linguistically and culturally diverse students in ways that traditional instruction does not? And (2) To what extent do MLCs support linguistically and culturally diverse students’ growth in STEM learning activation and deeper mathematics learning?

On October 27, 2022, a group of young people presented the findings of their environmental quality research to the Alameda County Joint Powers Authority Board of Directors, which is comprised of representatives from City Councils of each Alameda County city, the Alameda County Board of Supervisors, and the Alameda County Lead Poisoning Prevention Program. During the presentation, the youth revealed that they have found alarming levels of lead in soil samples collected from public parks and neighborhoods in West and East Oakland, CA. The young people shared the fact that of the 150 samples they collected, processed, and analyzed, a very high percentage contain hazardous levels of lead. Joint Powers Authority directors were impressed by the work of the youth and expressed their intent to take steps to elevate the issue.

The youth who delivered the presentation were participants of a program called Energy Interns, based at the Lawrence Hall of Science, and presented in collaboration with local youth-serving community groups including The Good Brothas Network and Lao Family Community Development. Kevin Cuff, director of the program, and Jim Neiss-Cortez, instructor, shared the mission of the program, which is to develop youths’ awareness of environmental justice issues in their community and increase their capacity to use science to address them. In doing so, the program also aims to expose youth to careers in environmental science, public health, management, and advocacy. The Energy Interns program is made possible by a three-year National Science Foundation Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program grant (award #1849958) awarded to the University of California at Berkeley’s Lawrence Hall of Science (the Lawrence).

Program participants took turns presenting their findings to Joint Powers Authority directors, sharing graphs that showed the portion of their samples that exceeded the state of California EPA’s acceptable limits of lead contamination. Their data was derived from samples obtained from sites nearby to where they lived, worked, and went to school. Over 82% of the samples collected in East Oakland had unacceptable levels of lead, and over 75% of samples that were collected in West Oakland. The presenters expressed particular concern about risks associated with such high levels of lead contamination, especially the life-long neurological damage that can occur for youth who experience lead poisoning. 

To build a diverse workforce and achieve socioeconomic well-being for a larger segment of the general population, now, more than ever, youth in urban communities need access to effective workforce development opportunities. Given that the effects of climate change are steadily becoming more noticeable and severe, it is especially important that such opportunities relate to emerging fields engaged in addressing associated needs and demands. Two such fields are clean energy and environmental health, which will drive the need for “green jobs” and environmental monitoring workforce development. The Energy Interns program seeks to surmount this challenge by providing youth who reside in low-income, urban communities in the San Francisco Bay Area with STEM learning experiences that expose them to clean energy and environmental science-related career pathways. The internship program supports the development of a well-honed set of skills, understandings, and awareness that facilitate a higher degree of participation in STEM-related educational, occupational, and civic activities. 

The program partners with community organizations and has taken place in Oakland and San Francisco. During the past year, over 40 youth have participated in the program, and there are another 18 months left of the program. Research on the impacts of the program is ongoing, but early results indicate that youth who have participated in the program have expressed greater confidence in pursuing STEM careers and greater awareness of the types of careers they could pursue. Youth shared:

“Before… I would not imagine myself applying for any type of green job or anything like that… but I think now in the future, I probably will.”

“I feel like more opened up to science careers and views, cuz now I’ve seen the potential of how science-based view could be… connecting back with the community.”

The research will also examine for whom and under which conditions participation in Energy Interns has the greatest impact. These findings will yield valuable insights and model components that can help to fortify other training programs with STEM components, which will increase their capacity to serve youth in their quest for rewarding careers/better lives. 

“Results of our research further illustrate the power of providing youth with high-quality, authentic, and relevant community-based research that enables participants to seamlessly connect STEM learning with lived experiences,” shared program director Kevin Cuff.

For more information view the Energy Interns program or contact program director Kevin Cuff.

The team developed, pilot tested, and validated two surveys: a survey to measure engagement in informal STEM learning and one to measure STEM Advocacy. Both surveys are available to download below. The team also hosted two intergenerational informal STEM learning events that brought together older adult members of Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) at UC Berkeley and UC Berkeley undergraduate students in the Fung Fellowship. At the event the older adults and undergraduates formed small groups of 2-3 older adults and 1-2 undergraduates to develop solutions to a real-world challenge using the human-centered design process. The two surveys were administered and tested at both learning events.

The interdisciplinary team of investigators from the University of California, Berkeley, received funding from NSF’s Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program to conduct this exploratory research on informal STEM learning among older adults. The researchers include faculty and staff from three campus units: the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute @UC Berkeley (OLLI); the Fung Fellowship for Wellness and Technology (the Fellowship), part of The Coleman Fung Institute for Engineering Leadership in the College of Engineering; and the Lawrence Hall of Science. For more information, please contact principal investigator Jennifer Mangold or research lead Sarah Olsen.

Learning Event Report

This report summarizes findings from a STEM learning event for older adults and includes the two instruments developed as part of this project: The STEM Advocacy Survey which is a 36-item measure that includes four subscales that measure components of STEM Advocacy, including Value of STEM for Society, Knowledge of STEM Advocacy, STEM Advocacy Efficacy, and STEM Advocacy Identification; and the STEM Engagement Survey for Older Adults, a ten-item scale adapted for older populations from a previously developed instrument designed for youth (ActivationLab.org) measuring behavioral, cognitive, and affective engagement as part of one unidimensional scale. Findings suggest that the learning event was highly engaging, that orientation toward advocacy did not change as a result of the learning event, and that engagement was moderately correlated with each of the STEM advocacy variables except STEM Advocacy Identification, which was strongly and significantly correlated. The implications of this work for the informal science education field are that:

• The Engagement Survey can be used by informal learning providers to compare, improve, & identify approaches for engaging older adults and build an evidence base 
• The STEM Advocacy Survey can be used to measure and understand older adults’ stance toward STEM advocacy
• STEM Advocacy Identification and Efficacy may be particularly important levers for encouraging STEM advocacy behaviors in older adults

This report is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant Number #1906720. Any opinions, findings, and recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

Download the Surveys

STEM Advocacy Survey for older adults in informal science learning settings

Engagement Survey for older adults in informal science learning settings

Suggested Citations

Olsen, S., Cannady, M., Mangold, J., Brewster, C., Hartry, A. (2021). Investigating Measurement of STEM Engagement and Advocacy in Older Adults: Learning Event Report. Lawrence Hall of Science. Lawrencehallofscience.org/olderadults

Olsen, S., Cannady, M., Mangold, J., Brewster, C., Hartry, A. (2022). Engagement survey for older adults in informal science learning settings. Lawrence Hall of Science. Lawrencehallofscience.org/olderadults

Olsen, S., Cannady, M., Mangold, J., Brewster, C., Hartry, A. (2022). STEM advocacy survey for older adults in informal science learning settings. Lawrence Hall of Science. Lawrencehallofscience.org/olderadults

BugtOpia Exhibit Design Process

Resources for exhibit developers

• Design Guidelines for Developing Family-Friendly Augmented Reality Exhibits
• Assessment Tool for Family-Friendly Augmented Reality Exhibit Design
• A Review of Augmented Reality for Informal Science Learning: Supporting Design of Intergenerational Group Learning

Collins, M. A., Pande, A., Strang, C., Foreman, J., & Dorph, R. (2021). Impacts from COVID-19: Resilient outdoor science programs need support as challenges persist. Policy brief. Lawrence Hall of Science, University of California, Berkeley; California.  https://lawrencehallofscience.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/impacts-from-covid-19-osps_2-2022.pdf

Romero, V., Laina, V., Pande, A., Chi, B., & Snow, J. Z. (2021). BEETLES: An evaluation of a capacity building model to support outdoor science programs. Berkeley, CA: The Lawrence Hall of Science, University of California, Berkeley. 

Gonzalez, J., Arciniega, M., Romero, V., & Pande, A. (2021). Centering equity and inclusion in cultivating community. Berkeley, CA: The Lawrence Hall of Science, University of California, Berkeley. http://beetlesproject.org/resources/centering-equity/ 

Castillo, C., Yun, S., Hartry, A. (2020). Supporting Making-Centered Experiences in Distance-Learning Contexts.
https://lawrencehallofscience.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/LHS_MakingBrief.pdf

Collins, M. A., Dorph, R., Foreman, J., Pande, A., Strang, C., & Young, A. (2020). A field at risk: The impact of COVID-19 on environmental and outdoor science education: Policy brief. Lawrence Hall of Science, University of California, Berkeley; California. https://lawrencehallofscience.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/EE_A_Field_at_Risk_Policy_Brief.pdf

Hernández, B., Romero, V., Foreman, J., & Aaholm, E. (2020). Building Towards an Inclusive Organizational Culture: Insights and Lessons Learned from YES Nature to Neighborhoods. Berkeley, CA.

Bell, James, Besley, J., Cannady, M., Crowley, K., Grack Nelson, A., Philips, T., & Storksdieck, M. (2019). The role of engagement in STEM learning and science communication: Reflections on interviews from the field. Washington, DC: Center for Advancement of Informal Science Education.

Romero, V., Foreman, J., Strang, C., Maybury, C., Pepito, E., & Rocca, C. (2019). Intentional hiring and recruitment through the lens of equity and inclusion: Insights and lessons learned from Crissy Field Center, Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy. Berkeley, CA.

Romero, V., Foreman, J., Strang, C., Rodriguez, L., Payan, R., & Moore Bailey, K. (2019). Examining equitable and inclusive work environments in environmental education: Perspectives from the field and implications for organizations. Berkeley, CA.

Caspary, K., Ammah-Tagoe, N., Cannady, M., & Greenwald, E. (2017). Developing protocols to support collaborative teacher reflection and professional learning for science argument writing. Menlo Park, CA: SRI International.

Chung, J., Cannady, M. A., Schunn, C., Dorph, R., & Bathgate, M. (2016). Measures technical brief: Engagement in science learning activities.

Chung, J., Cannady, M. A., Schunn, C., Dorph, R., & Bathgate, M. (2016b). Measures technical brief: Fascination in science.

Chung, J., Cannady, M. A., Schunn, C., Dorph, R., & Vincent-Ruz, P. (2016). Measures technical brief: Competency beliefs in science.

Cannady, M. (2015). STEM and the City: A Report on STEM Education in the Great American Urban Public School System, by Clair T. Berube, Information Age Publishing, Charlotte, NC, USA, 2014. x+ 114 pp. ISBN 978-1-62396-637-9. Science Education, 1(100), 182–183.

Dorph, R., & Cannady, M. A. (2014). Making the future: Promising evidence of influence. A report submitted to Cognizant Technologies by The Research Group. The Lawrence Hall of Science, University of California, Berkeley.

Davis, M., Cannady, M., Chung, J., & Reisman, L. (2013). Rethinking Pre-College Math Evaluation Report June 7, 2013.

Chung, Joo, Cannady, M., Plude, D., Anderson, A., Dorph, R., & Kwon, P. (2012). COSEE’s Influence on Scientists’ Professional Practices: Findings from the COSEE Scientist Study.

Moore, D. W., Bathgate, M. E., Chung, J., & Cannady, M. A. (2011). Technical report: Measuring activation and engagement. Activation Lab, Enables Success Study.

Technical Report: Measuring Computational Thinking For Science (CT-S) PDF

Computational Thinking for Science Framework PDF