Since its inception, NASA's Science Activation program has demonstrated considerable success in leveraging the agency's strong public reputation and resources to engage a diversity of audiences in science education projects nationwide. As the program nears the end of this second five-year funding cycle, NASA tasked the National Academies with…

This article explores immersive learning experiences for young learners in a planetarium setting. These experiences open new learning possibilities and ignite children's inquiry and imagination. The authors describe a naturalistic observational study that examines two immersive planetarium programs for young children. Data was collected as…

The STEM Education Innovation and Research Institute (SEIRI) is a unique independent interdisciplinary unit at Indiana University Indianapolis. An internal evaluation survey was developed to properly assess the strengths and weaknesses of the institute. The design of the survey followed aligning the institute's mission with the programming…

In many educational intervention programs, it is not possible to randomly assign students to an experimental and control condition. For example, in our research we wanted to compare students who were enrolled in a biomedical pathway program to students who were not in such a program. However, students select their academic pathway program and a…

The "IDRA Newsletter" serves as a vehicle for communication with educators, school board members, decision-makers, parents, and the general public concerning the educational needs of all children across the United States. The focus of this issue is "Building STEM Education Pipelines." Contents include: (1) IDRA Youth TechXperts…

The forest school approach to nature learning has gathered momentum in the UK and across parts of Europe including Scandinavia for well over 50 years. In other contexts that include Canada, China, New Zealand and Australia, nature-based early childhood education and care settings, influenced by European forest school approaches, are in a rapid…

In this study, carried out in different provinces of Spain, we assess the impact of a co-educational science program conducted with children aged 3-6, whose objective is to deconstruct gender stereotypes in science by studying the biographies of female scientists. The evaluative methodology we use is based on analysing the opinions the pupils…

Introducing high school students to primary scientific literature in an accessible format fosters early scientific literacy and critical thinking. The AI-guided Scientist-mentored Primary Literature Adaptation for STEMM Education (ASPIRATION) program was developed to teach these skills through the creation of infographics. Over eight weeks,…

This study aimed to explore the implementation of project-based learning (PBL) principles in informal STEM education, focusing on the experiences of Underrepresented Racially Minoritized (UUREM) girls during a week-long residential STEM summer camp. Utilizing a single case study design, the researchers investigated how PBL facilitates engagement…