Center for STEM Education

1. Center for STEM Education K-12 Engagement and Outreach

2. The Center for STEM Education seeks to build and support a community of educators, researchers, and students with the collective goal of strengthening the K-20 STEM educational pipeline.

3. Programs • Proposal Development and Broader Impacts • Academic Year • K-12 STEM Field Trips • Boston Public Library After-School • Science Fair • Building Bridges • Robotics (NUTRONS) • Summer • Young Scholars Program • NU Summer STEM Program • Imagining the Future of Transporation • GE Girls

4. STEMOut STEMout is a Northeastern University student organization formed in 2016 in collaboration with Northeastern’s Center for STEM Education. STEMout’s mission is to unite and aid students who want to design or volunteer for outreach efforts in the Boston community, and to serve as a resource for student organizations and faculty members hoping to participate in or develop their own STEM outreach efforts. We look to bring the enthusiasm and expertise of those involved in STEM pursuits at Northeastern to students in our surrounding communities. For more information, visit our website:https://web.northeastern.edu/stemout/ or email us at neustemout@gmail.com!

5. NUTRONS • The Nutrons is a FIRST Robotics team based in Boston, Massachusetts. In collaboration with FIRST and our sponsors, we are able to bring STEM to students from the Greater Boston area through competitive robotics. First LEGO LeagueLatino STEM AllianceUniversity Day

6. History- Why are universities engaged in outreach? • National crisis in STEM • Rising Above the Gathering Storm • President’s Innovation Agenda Federal Agencies respond to the challenge • Expansion of Broader Impact requirements on research grants • Dedicated grant efforts to increase STEM interest, engagement, persistence and success • Math Science Partnerships • ITEST • NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates and Teachers

7. Broader Impacts • Broader Impact requirements • Full participation of women, persons with disabilities, and underrepresented minorities in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) • Improved STEM education and educator development at any level • Increased public scientific literacy and public engagement with science and technology • Improved well-being of individuals in society • Development of a diverse, globally competitive STEM workforce • Increased partnerships between academia, industry, and others • Improved national security • Increased economic competitiveness of the United States • Enhanced infrastructure for research and education

8. Community Outreach - Why? Benefit to community, benefit to you as students, benefit to faculty and the university You and your fellow club/organization members have an idea for a great event to host on campus and/or in the community. The first step in event planning includes brainstorming together and writing everything down. What type of program/event? Intended audience? One time offering and/or series? Age level? Contacts?

9. Motivation • What motivates your organization to engage in community outreach? • It’s part of our mission • It’s a good thing to do • I am able to/I am good at it • It makes me feel good • To support youth and the community • What prevents you from engaging? • We don’t have the time • We don’t have the capacity • I don’t have the money/there’s no room in my budget for this • I don’t know what to do • I don’t know how to do it/how to do it well

10. Other questions to consider • Do you offer your event aloneor partner with another organization or established outreach effort? • Ex: STEM Field trip series, Cambridge Science Festival, After-School Programs, etc. • Other Campus departments and organizations that might assist you in reaching this audience. • Office of Community Affairs • University Scholars/Honors Program • Service Learning • Student Advisory Committee

11. Factors to consider • Who is the intended audience? Working with Minors? • What does your intended audience want? Does this meet their needs? • Is this event aligned with your organization’s mission? The University’s mission? • Will this help develop leadership skills? • When/where do we want to hold the event? Is space available / conflicting events? • Dates for other events on campus? Other events in the community? • How much money will we need? • Where are we going to look for funding? • Do we need additional training and/or resources to offer this event?

12. Other Challenges • Involving regular members/younger students in meaningful ways • Sustained support – keeping people engaged • Communication with members, other groups • Funding to support time/travel/expenses • Working with Minors (next slide)

13. Working with Minors (Risk Services)Compliance • If you are hosting or sponsoring a program involving minors: • Registerthe program with the Office of Risk Services; • Complete training on recognizing and reporting child abuse and neglect (Mandatory Reporter 51A); • Undergo a Criminal Background Check if you are proposing to teach, coach, supervise, mentor or otherwise have direct, potentially unsupervised contact with minors in the program; • Secure Consent to Participate forms from the parents/guardians of the participating minors. • http://www.northeastern.edu/risk_services/

14. How will you measure success? • Evaluation and Assessment • Quantitative & Anecdotal Feedback Michael Quinn Patton, in his Utilization-Focused Evaluation (2008 p.5) states that in the simplest terms, evaluation answers three questions: What? So what? Now what?

15. What? So what? Now what? • What: What happens in the program? What services and experiences does the program offer? What activities and processes occur? What outcomes and impacts result? What unanticipated outcomes emerge? What are the program’s documented costs and benefits? • So what: What do the findings mean? Why did the results turn out as they did? What are the implications of the findings? What judgments can be made? To what degree and in what ways can the program be considered a success? A failure? A mixed bag of positives and negatives? How does this program compare to other programs? What sense can we make of the findings? • Now what: What recommendations can be made from the findings? What improvements should be made? Should funding be continued, expanded, reduced, or ended? Should others adopt the program? What do findings from this project suggest for other or future projects? In short, what actions flow from the findings and their interpretations?

16. Publications and Funding • Publications • Consider submitting to present at the ASEE Annual Conference. http://k12division.asee.org/annual-conference • K12 Division Mission and Vision • The Division strives to provide a focus for development of innovative K-12 engineering education curricula and delivery approaches and a forum for the presentation and sharing of K-12 engineering educational initiatives and methods; create a vital community engaged in K-12 engineering initiatives; encourage the professional development of teachers in K-12 engineering education methodologies; increase awareness and participation of university faculty and industrial educators/partners in K-12 engineering initiatives; promote engineering as the context to integrate science and mathematics with all subjects in the K-12 setting; encourage the participation of K-12 educators in the creation and delivery of K-12 engineering content; and, synthesize and broadly disseminate lessons learned.

17. Center for STEM Education Resources Page • https://stem.neu.edu/resources/web/

18. Get Involved • https://stem.neu.edu/get-involved/studentorgs/