NASA's Science Activation Program Achievements and Opportunities (2020) / Chapter Skim
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Program to increase the overall coherence of SMD's education efforts; to support more effective, sustainable, and efficient use of SMD science discoveries for education; and to enable NASA scientists and engineers to engage more effectively and efficiently in the STEM learning environment with learners of all ages. As SciAct transitions into its second round of funding, it is important that NASA take stock of the status of the portfolio and consider how it might be improved.
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To accomplish this task, the committee reviewed documentation of the SciAct Program including descriptions provided by NASA, the solicitation for proposal, and evaluation reports from individual projects in the portfolio. We also heard input from NASA staff associated with the SciAct Program and from awardees.
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SciAct pursues this objective by supporting awardees in their partnerships in local communities, while also developing collaborations across the portfolio. Further, SciAct documentation defines NASA assets and resources as including: • exciting science and engineering content that engages audiences and motivates them to learn more; • subject matter experts (SMEs)
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The committee concludes CONCLUSION 1: The National Aeronautics and Space Administra tion has a unique role to play in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education landscape, but the current four objectives for the Science Activation Program are too broad and do not appro priately reflect that role. CONCLUSION 2: The four current Science Activation Program objec tives are general enough to inform a vision for the program, however they lack specific, actionable targets.
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SMEs are engaged in SciAct projects in a variety of roles, from providing scientific and technical expertise to educational teams to actively participating in SciAct programming by sharing stories, presenting scientific and technical information, and leading program activities. SciAct projects are using NASA scientific content, data, science mission activities, or technologies as the basis for their educational programs and resources.
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EXAMINING PROGRESS TOWARD SciAct'S VISION AND OBJECTIVES The committee examined the work of the 24 awards in the SciAct portfolio in greater detail in order to understand how each project contributes to the larger objectives of the portfolio. Because the current portfolio objectives are very broad, the committee focused on four key themes that are linked to the stated objectives but are closer to the actual activities of the projects: 1.
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Building this kind of network would require additional investments to create the infrastructure needed to support ongoing communication and collaboration among projects. In summary, in examining the SciAct portfolio's progress toward the current objectives, the committee concludes CONCLUSION 9: While science, technology, engineering, and math ematics learning is in the foreground as a Science Activation goal, there is no explicit link between theories of learning and how the National Aeronautics and Space Administration assets are used (e.g., transmis sion models, inquiry-based practices)
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CONCLUSION 13: The projects that are part of the Science Activa tion portfolio use a variety of design strategies to translate the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's assets -- subject matter experts, media assets, scientific instruments, datasets, etc. -- to support learning in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. However, there are limited mechanisms for gathering, synthesizing, and sharing these innova tions across the portfolio or for learning from cases of success or failure.
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This process should also consider how SciAct fits within and contributes to the larger STEM education ecosystem and should provide the foundation for developing actionable and measureable portfolio goals. RECOMMENDATION 2: Science Activation should articulate how it expects that the portfolio will leverage National Aeronautics and Space Administration assets, how partnerships and networks will be built, and how these actions will lead to desired, measurable outcomes.
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In order to do this, SciAct must identify ways that the portfolio as a whole could draw upon and implement evidence-based strategies for broadening participation. RECOMMENDATION 6: Science Activation should build ongoing opportunities for dialogue with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Science Mission Directorate's missions and scientists.
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