NSF Awards: 1657366
The media often portrays people in STEM careers as successful geniuses explaining their science or showcasing their Indiana-Jonesque lifestyles. These portrayals do little to humanize the viewers' perceptions of STEM professionals and to foster the children and adolescents' perception of themselves as capable of participating in the STEM world. Based on our experiences observing the excitement that children feel when they meet college-aged people in STEM paths, we created wavemakers, a docu-series showcasing young, underrepresented people in a STEM path. This docuseries is used as an extension of listeningtowaves.com, our educational program engaging students in STEM through the science of music.
NSF Awards: 1657366
The media often portrays people in STEM careers as successful geniuses explaining their science or showcasing their Indiana-Jonesque lifestyles. These portrayals do little to humanize the viewers' perceptions of STEM professionals and to foster the children and adolescents' perception of themselves as capable of participating in the STEM world. Based on our experiences observing the excitement that children feel when they meet college-aged people in STEM paths, we created wavemakers, a docu-series showcasing young, underrepresented people in a STEM path. This docuseries is used as an extension of listeningtowaves.com, our educational program engaging students in STEM through the science of music.
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Kevin Cooper
Great work. We are doing something very similar with girls interviewing young women in their STEM workplace perhaps we could collaborate down the road..
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLeBADt6D...
Kevin Cooper
kcooper@irsc.edu
Chanda Jefferson
Victor Minces
Research Scientist
Hello Kevin, that's a great concept. Yes I'm always open for collaborations.
Thanks!
Chanda Jefferson
Daniel Damelin
Senior Scientist
Are these videos publicly available? It was inspiring to see such a diverse set of young people involved and passionate about their work.
Can you tell us more about the curricular context in which these videos were used and how they link to the curriculum?
Chanda Jefferson
Victor Minces
Research Scientist
Hello Daniel,
Yes! They are available at www.listeningtowaves.com/wavemakers
Our programs develops web applications for children to explore the science of sound while creating music. Think of sound engineering. We have created NGSS aligned curriculum centered on those web applications. These videos are complimentary to our program, so children can see that the things they do in their science class also connect with the world of work.
Thanks!
Chanda Jefferson
Ann Bebout
Your videos are excellent! I think the teachers in our professional development program will be very interested in showing these to their students...especially Devon with his music production!
Victor Minces
Research Scientist
Hello Ann.
If you are interested in connecting music production with science and CS we have some web applications that are super engaging, and I'll be happy to have a virtual training with teachers.
You can see a short video featuring some applications here https://youtu.be/pvsie4P7G0E
and see more about our science of music work at www.listeningtowaves.com
The CS application is not publicly available yet but it will soon be.
Thanks!
Sally Crissman
Senior Science Educator
There's evidence to support your statement that students need to see people like them engaged (enthusiastically) in stem careers or activities. As a teacher, I searched for images and examples to show my students who does (or can do) science.
How have you measured the impact of your videos on students? Do you know what features of the videos make the greatest impact?
Sally
Chanda Jefferson
Victor Minces
Research Scientist
Hello Sally.
These videos are part of an organic program with many components. We have not evaluated the impact of the videos in isolation. The program, including the videos, significantly improved the children's attitudes towards science. You can read about it here: https://www.nsta.org/connected-science-learning...
Thanks!
Chanda Jefferson
Emily Edwards
This is so great, Victor! I have been thinking about this for quantum science and scientists. It's so true what you said about the media portrayals of scientists and engineers. Thanks so much for putting this video together about your project. Are there plans for a second round of wavemakers documentaries?
Chanda Jefferson
Victor Minces
Research Scientist
Hello Emily,
I'm glad you like the series. Yes, as we improve the web applications we have made for connecting science and music (a musical spectrogram, a signal generator, and a musical oscilloscope) we are planning to make a new round in which young underrepresented scientist are featured specifically using those tools. So children understand the connection between their classroom practice and actual grown-up occupations.
By the way, if you are ever interested in connecting quantum and music let me know, maybe we can adapt our tools for that. I can see a few connections that can be explored through our web apps (for example musical scales as quantization of the continuum of frequency, or creating computer programs that make random music).
You can check our apps at www.listeningtowaves.com/sound-exploration
Thanks!
Chanda Jefferson
Tabatha Rainwater
Victor, what a fabulous project! In your argument, you use mainstream media examples, like good will hunting and Indiana jones. Beyond the context of this video, I'd love to hear more about your work with mainstream media.
Chanda Jefferson
Victor Minces
Research Scientist
Hello Tabatha. Our main project is creating web apps for connecting music and science through the science of sound and waves (see www.listeningtowaves.com/media). This video series is an addition to that. I am an expert in mainstream media as much as everybody else that grew up watching TV, and I remember my surprise when I met my first physics professor and I realized he was a real person just like me. That said, I am not a mainstream media scholar.
Thanks!
Chanda Jefferson
Chanda Jefferson
Educator/Education Policy Fellow
Hi my name is Chanda Jefferson and I am so happy to join the conversation. As a former Biology teacher who spent my entire career teaching in title one schools, I would have enjoyed working with the docu-series showcasing young, underrepresented people pursuing STEM pathways and careers. This idea was embedded into my lessons, but I learned to rely on google and twitter to find historically underrepresented people in STEM. I am curious to learn about the ways teachers are using these videos in their classes and how do you intend to expand the project? I love your work!
Victor Minces
Research Scientist
Hello Chanda!
This is different than finding underrepresented people in STEM online, because those people, even if they are URMs, are so exceptional that they are far removed from the students' lives.This concept showcases real people in a STEM path only a few years down the line from the students. These videos are a part of our pedagogy but not the focus of our research, which focuses on using playful web applications for children to engage with the science of music. Teachers have children watching the videos at some point while implementing the program. You can see more about our program at www.listeningtowaves.com
Chanda Jefferson
Chanda Jefferson
Educator/Education Policy Fellow
I love it! Thanks so much for sharing more about the program. Students want to see young folks engaging in STEM and it is always great to engage students with music. I taught Biology and gospel choir so I love what you all are doing!
Victor Minces
Research Scientist
Thanks Chanda. :)
Chanda Jefferson
Ying Wu
Great to see your work, Victor! I'm glad to find out about your video series. I think a lot of young people can benefit from it. I agree that conceptions of scientists tend to be distorted in popular culture. I wonder if tracking some of these people longitudinally and showing how connections to STEM play out later in life might be feasible ...
Monica Cardella
Thanks for sharing this video - and the video series you created! It's exciting to learn about your latest work & the impact your work is having!
Victor Minces
Research Scientist
Thanks so much Monica. The projects are going great.