Let's give a round of applause to Drs. Chelsea Hackett, Beth Osnes (Theater & Dance), Shawhin Roudbari (Environmental Design), and Rebecca Safran (Ecology and Evolutionary Biology) for their recent NSF grant on Advancing Informal STEM Learning: “Side by Side: Youth-Authored Art-Science Exhibits to Broaden Participation in Climate Communication''! This project seeks to engage diverse youth as critical and informed climate communicators, generate clear pathways into STEM learning for diverse learners, and empower K-4th grade youth from historically marginalized communities to see themselves represented in STEM spaces. Through this work, female-identifying and gender expansive high school aged youth from historically marginalized communities in the Denver Metro Area will generate bilingual (Spanish/English), interactive art-science exhibits centered around humanity’s relationship with birds.These exhibits will be shared with underrepresented K-4th grade learners and distributed broadly. High school aged participants will be mentored by first-generation and culturally diverse undergraduate students from the Miramontes Arts and Science Program (MASP). Youth participants, undergraduate MASP student mentors, and graduate student mentors/researchers will all be involved in participatory aspects of the study, aiding in research design and analysis, and building their research capacities. Partners in this project include the Bird Conservancy of the Rockies, Denver Botanic Gardens, Environment for the Americas, and the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. Learn more at the Side by Side website (opens in new tab).
[Photo by Kylie Clarke]
