NASA's Science Activation Program Achievements and Opportunities (2020) / Chapter Skim
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1 Introduction
1 Introduction
Pages 11-28
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From page 11... ...
The new portfolio of competitive award investments, NASA SMD's Science Activation (SciAct) Program, endeavors to increase the overall coherence of SMD's efforts in support of more effective, sustainable, and efficient use of SMD science discoveries and learning experiences.
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From page 12... ...
concise written assessment of the status of the SMD Science Activation Program including feedback on improving the program. The assessment will be based on evidence gathered by the committee at its in-person and virtual meetings and on established principles for evidence-based science education as summarized in previ ous reports from the Board on Science Education.
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Yet, even with limited authority over public education, the federal government is uniquely positioned to augment ongoing efforts in the formal education system through legislation and funding. The federal government also plays an important role in informal education, providing management and financial support for many museums, aquariums, planetariums, zoos, science centers, libraries, and after-school programs.
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. Indeed, the latest 5-year strategic plan for the federal government's efforts in STEM education emphasized STEM workforce development and STEM literacy as top national priorities (National Science and Technology Council, 2018)
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It is important for federal science agencies, including NASA, to be aware of advances in the understanding of learning and of current efforts to improve science education through new standards. STEM Education at NASA NASA has been a long-standing stakeholder in science and engineering education with programs dating back to its authorizing legislation in 1958.
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However, in an effort to improve coordination and maximize collaboration across education and communications activities at NASA, SMD undertook significant restructuring of its STEM education related activities and established the SciAct Program in 2015. This program was established as a collective comprised of 27 competitively selected awardees to further enable NASA scientists and engineers to engage more effectively and efficiently with learners of
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. Given that the mission education activities did not always leverage education resources within and outside NASA, their reach and potential to go to scale were presumably limited.
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. Additionally, SMD appointed Kristen Erickson as the director for science engagement and partnerships to oversee and provide strategic direction for the SciAct Program.
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This report considers this finding in the context of how SciAct can best leverage its considerable assets while also meeting the needs of the communities it serves. Summary Based on current national priority areas, federal science agencies have been encouraged to incorporate STEM education more explicitly into their programs, to prioritize policies and practices that place an emphasis on expanding the STEM workforce, and to develop methods and metrics to collect data and track the effectiveness of the STEM programs (National Science and Technology Council, 2018; Office of Science and Technology Policy, 2017)
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Beginning in 2008, the Board on Science Education of the National Academies was asked to conduct a review and evaluation of NASA's precollege science, technology, and mathematics education program (housed in NASA headquarters' Office of STEM Engagement, formerly the Office of Education) as mandated by the NASA Authorization Act of 2005 (P.L.
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2017: ASA Science Mission Directorate Expert Meetings (convenings con N ducted by the Board on Science Education and the Space Studies Board) 2017: hriving on Our Changing Planet: A Decadal Strategy for Earth Ob T servations from Space (study conducted by the Space Studies Board)
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. The Board on Science Education of the National Academies has been involved in all of the efforts related to federal STEM education programs, and thus was well positioned to undertake this new request to assess the education portfolio of NASA's SciAct Program.
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The committee was charged with conducting an assessment of SciAct's aggregate program efforts, and not of the specific efforts of individual projects. Moreover, the committee took care not to inadvertently endorse or critique individual project efforts; for this reason, we do not comment on the efficacy of individual project approaches to meeting SciAct goals but rather attempt to characterize trends in the portfolio.
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The committee heard from Jackie Delisi of the Education Development Center and project investigator Leigh Peake of the Gulf of Maine Research Institute, Eric Banilower of Horizon Research and Robert Winglee from the University of Washington, and Martin Storksdiek of Oregon State University and Rachel Connolly from WGBH. In order to augment committee expertise on critical issues, the committee heard testimony from Carol O'Donnell of the Smithsonian Institution, who discussed efforts to leverage federal-level funds through local partnerships.
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Instead, the committee was asked to rely on its collective expertise to assess the current SciAct portfolio of an education program in a federal agency, a task that required deep expertise in content areas ranging from federal education policy to STEM engagement and learning to the inner workings and functionality of NASA itself. In assessing the portfolio, the committee took care to conduct a full review of all the documents and artifacts described above.
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From page 26... ...
Chapter 3 characterizes the current portfolio, describing the logic undergirding the current organization of the awards and describing the breadth of SciAct programming. Chapter 4 presents our assessment of the SciAct portfolio according to key themes that connect to the overarching program goals and reflects most of the activities across the constituent projects, beginning with a discussion of STEM learning and leveraging NASA assets in the portfolio.
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From page 27... ...
Appendix C includes the PowerPoint slides used by Kristen Erickson in her presentation to the committee and are available on The National Academies Press Webpage at http://www.nap.edu/25569.
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