A strategic partnership: Creating a Collaboratory for Environmental Science

Abstract

Our proposed work is that it includes a deep engagement with the community through both a local community organization and the local school district. This work will establish a firm partnership with CRMII, which aligns well with BC and the Schiller institute’s mission around liberal arts and science and technology education. The Charles River Museum of Industry and Innovation (CRMII) is a history museum dedicated to educating the public around how technological innovation emerged in Massachusetts and paved the way for the industrial revolution. Our diverse team will (1) Create interactive public displays where data visuals, created by the youth, will be shared with the public, (2) Utilize and implement a near-peer mentoring model to support youth in not only learning science but in developing a sense of purpose and identity around STEM, and (3) Support youth in creating a social media presence including Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube where youth will leverage media to complement and communicate their work. 

Presentations

• Shah, S. A., Phatak, J. U., Hira, A., Zhang, H., & Barnet, M. (2024, March). Smart Greenhouse: Bridging Physical Computing, Plant Science, and Data Literacy. In Proceedings of the 55th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education V. 2 (pp. 1928-1928). 
• Shah, S. A., Raphael, D., Phatak, J., Hira, A., Zhang, H., & Barnett, M. (2024, March). Cultivating science identity: An automated table-top greenhouse project with middle school students. Paper presented at the National Association for Research in Science Teaching (NARST) 2024 Conference, Denver, CO, USA.
• Zhang, H., Shah, S. A., Phatak, J., & Barnett, M. (2024, March). Creating authentic computing experiences to spark youth’s interest through physical computing and near-peer mentoring. In B. Perret (Presider), Building culturally sustaining projects and partnerships to support science for the 'Rest of Us'. Symposium conducted at the NARST 2024 Conference, Denver, CO, USA.
• Raphael, D., Shah, S. A., Phatak, J. U., Hira, A., Zhang, H., & Barnett, M. (2024, April). Enhancing middle-school students' interest in coding through a tabletop automated greenhouse project [iPoster]. Poster session presented at the AERA 2024 Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, PA, USA. 

Publications 

• Zhang, H., Hira, A., Phatak, J., Barnett, G. M., & Shah, S. A. (2024). Growing STEM Leaders: High School Youth as Teachers and Mentors through Teaching Physical Computing. In Ş. Orakcı (Ed.), Redesigning the Future of Education in the Light of New Theories, Teaching Methods, Learning, and Researches. Information Age Publishing.
  
• Beheshti M, Shah SA, Zhang H, Barnett M, Hira A. Affordances of Technology for Sustainability-Oriented K–12 Informal Engineering Education. Sustainability. 2024; 16(16):6719. 
• Shah, A., Park, J. H., Raphael, D., Beheshti, M., Phatak, J. U., Sun, C., Hira, A., Zhang, H., & Barnett, M. (2024). Dynamics of Interest and Competency Belief in Coding among Middle-schoolers. In Lindgren, R., Asino, T. I., Kyza, E. A., Looi, C. K., Keifert, D. T., & Suárez, E. (Eds.), Proceedings of the 18th International Conference of the Learning Sciences - ICLS 2024 (pp. 1586-1589). International Society of the Learning Sciences.
• Shah, S. A., Phatak, J. U., Hira, A., Zhang, H., & Barnet, M. (2024, March). Smart Greenhouse: Bridging Physical Computing, Plant Science, and Data Literacy. In Proceedings of the 55th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education V. 2 (pp. 1928-1928).
• Shah, S. A., Raphael, D., Phatak, J., Hira, A., Zhang, H., & Barnett, M. (2024, March). Cultivating science identity: An automated table-top greenhouse project with middle school students. Paper presented at the National Association for Research in Science Teaching (NARST) 2024 Conference, Denver, CO, USA.

Additional Grants

• Cummings Foundation, $150,000 (PI: Robert Perry, CRMIII, Co-PIs, Dr. Michael Barnett, Dr. Avneet Hira, Dr. Helen Zhang). 2024-2027. project-for-underserved-youth.html
• Boston Scientific Foundation, $14,500 (PI: Robert Perry, CRMIII, Co-PIs, Dr. Michael Barnett, Dr. Avneet Hira, Dr. Helen Zhang). 2024-2025
• Anonymous Foundation, $200,000. (PI: Dr. Barnett, CO-Pis, Dr. Avneet Hira, Dr. Helen Zhang). Sumer 2023 – Summer 2024

Students Trained 

• 6 Undergraduate Students
• 2 Graduate Students
• 3 Postdoctoral Student 

Additional Accomplishments 

• Operate on Saturdays where youth will become experts on the workshop/content that they wish to lead. 
• Currently scheduling the Saturday sessions, with the first session being a trip to Boston College as a college tour and a learning experience in the BC maker space currently scheduled for October 5th
• Began partnership with Dr. Glen Gaudette’s lab and engaged the youth in learning about tissue engineering and cellular agriculture.
• NSF grant submission with Dr. Gaudette’s lab and Arkansas Tech University on tissue engineering with the Collaboratory being the operational location in Massachusetts for the project.
• Work was discussed in Dr. Barnett’s Presidential Award for Excellence in Science Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring (PAESMEM) documentation.
• The project team also visited the United States Capitol to share the projects underway and the youth leadership of this work with the US representatives and US senators.
• Social Media outreach has been done across multiple platforms