Modern Blanket Toss: Findings and Observations

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2016 FINDINGS The mission of Modern Blanket Toss was to help these Upward Bound students develop interest in STEM fields through the use of technology that can directly improve the well-being of Alaskans. The project’s goal was to demonstrate how a three-part program of science education built around 1) cutting-edge STEM technologies (in this case, UAVs), 2) science communication and leadership skills, and 3) community involvement, can better expose these students to STEM careers, prepare them for higher education, and enable them to contribute to their communities. Seven Upward Bound programs participated in Modern Blanket Toss over the three year program period: Chefornak, Seward, Bethel, Nikiski, Shishmaref, Chevak, and Saint Mary’s. These communities vary widely in terms of location, local economy, population size, poverty levels, racial makeup, and income, representing a cross-section of rural Alaska. Overall, 28 individual students attended at least one summer session of the Modern Blanket Toss program – 19 students attended one summer session, six students attended two summer sessions, and three students attended three summer sessions. Approximately 60 individual students participated in the Modern Blanket Toss activities at their Upward Bound site. The purpose of the evaluation was to assess the effectiveness of the Modern Blanket Toss program in increasing the likelihood that participating students would go on to pursue college degrees in STEM areas and ultimately pursue STEM careers. The evaluation used six indicators to measure the program’s effectiveness, including 1) Upward Bound local coordinator capacity to facilitate the program locally; 2) student satisfaction and engagement with program activities; 3) student knowledge about the Modern Blanket Toss content; 4) student communication and leadership skills; 5) student interest in STEM and confidence in STEM abilities; and 6) student academic data including their overall grade point average and their math and science course grades specifically. Key Findings At the beginning of the project, Upward Bound local coordinators reported already feeling they had the knowledge and ability to implement science practices and project-based learning with their students, yet by the end of the three year project they reported significant gains in their knowledge about UAVs and GIS software instrumental in planning and carrying out community projects. • Local coordinators made the greatest gains in four areas: how to build a UAV, applications of UAV technology, the safety rules and regulations that apply to flying a UAV, and how to acquire different types of data using UAVs. • Three areas showed no gains, because coordinators reported high levels of knowledge at the beginning of the program: The range of science, technology, engineering and math careers that are available to students; the level of math and science students will need for various science, technology, engineering, and math careers; and principles of flight (e.g., lift, drag, gravity). • Coordinators reported a low level of initial knowledge and little growth related to several important content areas that were potentially important to community projects: how to ask questions using GIS software; how to use GIS mapping software; and how to acquire data from databases. • Students reported consistently high satisfaction with the Modern Blanket Toss summer program. In particular students noted the following: • Students were excited about learning new technology. • Students liked the hands-on aspect of the course, both the experience flying and the application of mapping. • Students felt that the connections they made with people was an important benefit of the program and appreciated working together with like-minded peers, and cited this as an important aspect of the program. 35
2016 FINDINGS • Students reported gains in their understanding of the Modern Blanket Toss content areas and science practices and in their communication skills. Students also increased their already positive attitudes toward science. • Student content understanding clearly and significantly (P < 0.05) increased as a result of participating in the Modern Blanket Toss program. Students reported the greatest content gains in 1) how to use GIS mapping software, 2) how to acquire different types of data using UAVs, 3) how to use data collected to develop a map/image that represents reality, and 4) the safety rules and regulations that apply to flying a UAV. • Content gains were greater during the summer program than during the school-year program. • Students also reported significant gains (P < 0.05) in their understanding of science practices. They reported the greatest gains in four areas: 1) asking a new scientific question from data; 2) formulating and refining experimental questions; 3) communicating the results of data analysis to a broader audience; and 4) using a map to analyze scientific data. • Students reported significant increases in their Students of MBT Bethel. communication skills (P < 0.05). They reported the greatest gains in four areas: 1) ability to talk to a group of strangers; 2) ability to talk with a stranger; 3) ability to talk in a small group of acquaintances; and 4) ability to talk in a large meeting of strangers. • Many of the students already had a positive attitude toward science when they started, however, the overall the attitude toward science scale score still shifted positively. Students reported the greatest changes in two items: 1) my scientific investigations are better when I begin by asking a question; and 2) using a map to study scientific data helps me to learn. • While overall students scale scores for attitude toward STEM careers did not increase, several individual items did increase, including 1) a career in STEM would be financially rewarding. In addition, students were less likely to agree that a career in STEM would be dull and boring and that a degree in STEM does not interest them. These are both positive outcomes. • Students who participated in the program two or more school years showed cumulative gains in understanding of the Modern Blanket Toss content, but those gains leveled off after two years of participation for students who participated all three years. Students who participated in the program two or more years did not however show corresponding cumulative gains in their understanding of science practices or communication skills. •Students’ grades and the number of math and science courses completed in high school did not increase during the evaluation period. •Students who participated in Modern Blanket Toss had significantly higher GPAs and science and math grades than control group students. •The number of math or science classes taken by Modern Blanket Toss participants did not change from pre to post program. However, the sample size was extremely small and it is difficult to find significant relationships from the data as statistical tests normally require a larger sample size to ensure a representative distribution of the population. • The average math and science grades for Modern Blanket Toss participants did not change from pre to post program. Again, the sample size was extremely small and it is difficult to find significant relationships from the data as statistical tests normally require a larger sample size to ensure a representative distribution of the population. 36
Page 1 and 2: BOOK THREE MODERN BLANKET TOSS FIND
Page 3 and 4: FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS The evaluatio
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Page 7 and 8: 2014 FINDINGS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The
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Page 17 and 18: 2014 FINDINGS The UAV aircraft kind
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