The Billion Oyster Project and Curriculum and Community Enterprise for Restoration Science Curriculum Impact on Underrepresented Student Motivation to Pursue STEM Careers

Abstract

The Billion Oyster Project and Curriculum and Community Enterprise for the Restoration of New York Harbor with New York City Public Schools (BOP-CCERS) program is a National Science Foundation (NSF) supported initiative and collaboration of multiple institutions and organizations led by Pace University. The NSF project, Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST), had generated a large amount of data through engagement with teachers and students throughout New York City public schools. One purpose of this project is to engage with middle and high school science teachers to assist them in using project-based learning and real-world data collection in their classrooms with their students through harbor restoration initiatives. It was found that Underrepresented Minority (URM) students reported having higher levels of interest in STEM and science than did the non-URM students. While this is a success, it was found that the URM students had lower expectations for success in STEM courses and interest in STEM careers. It was concluded that URM students may need additional support in order to build their confidence and help them to become aware of opportunities in STEM education and careers.

The Billion Oyster Project and Curriculum and Community Enterprise for Restoration Science Curriculum: The Digital Platform and Student Symposium Presentations

“…The BOP-CCERS' model engages over 5600 of New York City's 1.1 million public school students. This article presents the third part to a large data collection study (Birney et al, 2021b(Birney et al, , 2022 with focus on Underrepresented Minority (URM) student interest in STEM and engagement with teachers to support them in teaching STEM through experiential learning and lessons that connect STEM to the real world, particularly through science in the New York City Harbor. The first component of the study focused on Underrepresented Minority (URM) student interest in STEM (Birney et al, 2021b).…”

“…This article presents the third part to a large data collection study (Birney et al, 2021b(Birney et al, , 2022 with focus on Underrepresented Minority (URM) student interest in STEM and engagement with teachers to support them in teaching STEM through experiential learning and lessons that connect STEM to the real world, particularly through science in the New York City Harbor. The first component of the study focused on Underrepresented Minority (URM) student interest in STEM (Birney et al, 2021b). The second component of the study focused on teacher engagement in the program, and what the researchers had learned in the process (Birney et al, 2022).…”

“…The theoretical framework for the third part of this study comes from Birney et al (2021bBirney et al ( , 2022, which is built upon Bandura's (1986Bandura's ( , 1997 self-efficacy and social cognitive theory. Student development occurs through social interactions both between student and student and teacher and students, and this impacts the development of their self-efficacy.…”

“…Student development occurs through social interactions both between student and student and teacher and students, and this impacts the development of their self-efficacy. As reported in Birney et al (2021b and, self-efficacy is one of the important variables for academic success and relates to student engagement and persistence. Vygotsky's sociocultural theory of learning (Vygotsky, 1987) provided a framework for the larger study in which "teacher facilitators and students form a community of learners through their collaboration and connections" (Birney et al, 2022, p. 54).…”

“…The foundation for the three part study rests upon providing students with real-world and engaging STEM activities while providing professional development for teachers in order to provide students with these engaging real-world experiences (Birney et al, 2021b(Birney et al, , 2022. Moreover, the project is designed to provide the teachers with tools needed for hands-on and real-world STEM learning in the way in which STEM professionals conduct their work.…”