I-Corps: The Planetary Laboratory: A networked platform for engaging K-12 STEM learning

Northwestern University, Evanston IL

Investigators

Abstract

This Innovation Corps (I-Corps) project focuses on an educational platform that can be used to produce materials for STEM education. The Planetary Laboratory is a desktop/mobile website that helps research labs and informal learning institutions like museums and zoos deliver engaging education programs to large audiences. Such organizations typically have educational mandates and special educational value because they connect students directly to cutting edge STEM research and innovations. However, these organizations often have limited reach because curriculum distribution is a secondary priority. The curricula and resources they produce are "siloed" on individual websites and may not reach a broad audience. The Planetary Laboratory is a cost effective way for organizations to produce and distribute content that is aligned with national education standards for formal instruction and amenable to out of school learning. This will help organizations satisfy their 'broader impacts' goals, improve their ability to secure funding, and expose more students to STEM education materials that may be more effective than traditional text book based lessons. The Planetary Laboratory will operate an online learning management system (LMS) that curates and hosts educational content from multiple organizations. The LMS will present this content in a way that aligns with national education standards and makes it easy for teachers and students (K12 in particular) to use. Each learning challenge (a set of multimedia materials that will guide the student through content on a specific topic) will connect users with a network of organizations that produce relevant curriculum. By linking related curricula and projects across organizations, this team will build larger networks of students/teachers and learning materials, which improves the reach of each individual organization. Content can be organized to cover different types of standards (e.g., Next Generation Science Standards, Common Core) across topic areas and grades. The Planetary Laboratory will use organizations' content to create better STEM education programs for students. It will connect STEM learning with other educational goals, particularly literacy and social and emotional learning. The barriers that schools put between different types of learning (e.g., math class teaches math; reading class teaches literacy) do not exist in the real world. The Planetary Laboratory will help teachers break down these barriers and give students a better sense of how improving their literacy, or knowing how to manage their peer relationships, is relevant to scientific enquiry and STEM careers. It will also help teach more science at earlier ages - science education is often not emphasized until middle school even though it is relevant and teachable far sooner.