Arctic science education using public museum collections from the University of Alaska Museum: an evolving and expanding landscape

Abstract

Alaska faces unique challenges in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) education, including limited accessibility to resources and learning opportunities, and a lack of place-based education resources. Museum education programs, traditionally focused on public outreach through docent-led tours, are playing an increasingly important role in both formal and informal aspects of STEM education to help address these challenges. The University of Alaska Museum (UAM) stands as a model in the Arctic region exemplifying how public natural history museum collections can be utilized to create active place-based learning experiences with the aim of increasing engagement in STEM literacy and building connections between museums and communities. These efforts take many forms, including the development of teaching materials involving physical objects and (or) online data from the open-access database ARCTOS, training preservice teachers, and implementing citizen science projects. Because many UAM specimens and objects are from Alaska, they are easily incorporated into place-based education, thereby demonstrating how the Arctic environment is unique at local and regional scales. Here, we showcase several programs that are either unique to UAM or part of larger national projects and include exemplar teaching modules in order to provide learning opportunities in the Arctic region and other rural settings.Key words : specimen-based science, STEM education, place-based education, citizen science, University of Alaska Museum.Résumé : L'Alaska est confronté à des défis exceptionnels en matière d'éducation en science, technologie, ingénierie et mathématiques (STIM), et parmi ces défis il y a l'accessibilité limitée aux ressources et aux possibilités d'apprentissage et un manque de ressources en éducation selon une approche locale. Les programmes éducatifs de musée, traditionnellement axés sur la sensibilisation du public au moyen de tours guidés, jouent un rôle de plus en plus important sur le plan tant formel qu'informel de l'enseignement de la STIM,

Integrating novel engineering strategies into STEM education: APP design and an assessment of engineering‐related attitudes

“…In recent years, Britain, Germany, Japan, Australia, Finland and other countries have also started STEM education and begin paying attention to the cultivation of innovative talent. Researchers have contributed to further developing diverse aspects of STEM education, such as assessment (Unfried, Faber, Stanhope, & Wiebe, 2015) and curriculum (Anderson et al ., 2017; Margenot, Alldritt, Southard, & O’Geen, 2016; Gilliam, Bouris, Hill, & Jagoda, 2016). The STEM curriculum involves moving beyond the four walls of the classroom by incorporating informal learning and continuously expanding learning methods.…”