Informal learning experiences have become increasingly effective in enhancing self-efficacy and interest in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).This study investigated the impact of access to informal STEM learning experiences on student self-efficacy and interest in STEM before and after participating in the 2018 See Blue See STEM Summer Experience. Pre-survey results indicated that middle school students who had previous access to informal STEM learning experiences are 3.21 times as likely to demonstrate high self-efficacy in STEM as those who had no previous access. After engaging in the 2018 summer experience, post-survey results showed a statistically significant increase in student self-efficacy in STEM and indicated that students who had previous access to informal STEM learning experiences are 4.13 times as likely to manifest interest in STEM as those who had no previous access. These results suggest that increasing exposure to informal STEM learning experiences enhances both self-efficacy and interest in STEM.

Purpose - This dissertation in practice is an evaluation study conducted at Iowa State University, entitled, Learning Ecosystem Assessment Review of Needs (LEARN). The evaluation posed these questions: (a) What educational technologies are currently used and what technologies will be needed in the future? (b) What are the attitudes and practices of faculty and students toward online and blended learning? (c) What academic technology support services are used? What are the perceptions of the support provided for the application of academic technologies? Methodology/design - The study was a mixed-methods design employing interviews with deans and focus groups and surveys of faculty and students. Findings - Iowa State University faculty and students use a wide array of academic technologies both in physical and virtual classrooms. The prevailing sentiment regarding the need for future academic technologies is not for new offerings and new features but for easier to use, more reliable technologies, and more timely support. Although Iowa State University has formally adopted online learning by offering numerous programs and courses, the university is in the early stages of adopting blended learning. Implications - The results and implications of the study inform the university on next steps to ready the institution for leveraging technology and preparing for the transformation toward strategic adoption of online and blended learning. The author outlines an organizational learning approach to manage change and promote adoption of blended learning.

STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) education for youth can lead to the development of skills to design technologies, innovate tools, optimize work processes, and solve problems to improve society. The public high schools in Senegal are reported to have a low enrollment of students in STEM-related subjects. Youth are taught to memorize theories, with limited opportunities for hands-on STEM activities. However, there are other opportunities for Senegalese youth to engage in STEM education outside the formal school system. This research used case studies to explore the experiences of Senegalese youth learners and educators engaged in hands-on STEM education within non-formal learning settings in Dakar, Senegal. The first case involved six youth and six educators from wood carpentry and metal joinery apprenticeships. The second case involved seven youth and five educators from Go4STEAM, an all-girls out-of-school STEM program. The Ecological Systems Theory was used as a theoretical framework to situate the youth and educators in their learning context and consider ways in which their self and environment influences their STEM learning and teaching experience. An asset-based analytical approach was used in both cases to identify and describe positive influences and educational practices related to learning STEM. Results of the study indicated that educators in the apprenticeship setting display elements of cultural-based education as they not only teach the youth learners engineering through guided instructions, but also help raise them into adulthood. The youth learners in this setting have dropped out of school, thus recommendations for this learning setting include leveraging apps, mobile training, and competitions to promote engineering education as well as ensuring a strong foundation in reading, writing, and math. The Go4STEAM learning setting was found to offer activities that were interesting and responsive for their youth learners, and their learning environment emphasized peer collaboration. Recommendations for this learning setting include encouraging youth to take leadership of their learning whilst positioning the educators as co-learners, and offering the youth opportunities to engage in STEM with various partners and settings around the community. By recognizing and valuing the strengths of non-formal learning settings, this study identifies opportunities to strengthen the Senegalese STEM Learning Ecosystem. The additional support can lead to opportunities for Senegalese youth to become innovators and problem solvers that use their skills for educational and career advancement, upward economic mobility, and improved community development. / Doctor of Philosophy / STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) Education can be beneficial for the youth because it gives them useful skills for their jobs and their community. There are many factors that influence how youth learn STEM, and youth are able to learn in school and out of school. In Senegal, there are a low number of students enrolled in STEM-related subjects in high school, and the schools do not offer hands-on STEM activities. This research uses case studies to investigate STEM education for youth in non-formal, out-of-school settings, in Dakar, Senegal. Six youth and six educators from the wood carpentry and metal joinery apprenticeships, and seven youth and five educators from the Go4STEAM all-girls program, participated in this study. For each case, the Ecological Systems Theory was used to help consider the various influences that may directly or indirectly impact the youth's STEM education. An asset-based approach was used to identify positive influences and educational practices from the two cases. The study determined that the educators in apprenticeships use cultural norms and values to teach the youth learners engineering and raise them to become adults. The learners do not go to school so they can potentially benefit from apps, mobile training, and competitions that facilitate learning engineering, and the basics of reading, writing and math. At Go4STEM, the study determined that the learning environment was fun for the youth and encourages teamwork. The learners at Go4STEAM may benefit from deciding what STEM topics they want explore and the educators support as co-learners. Also, the educators can help facilitate STEM activities that engage community resources. This study identifies the strengths of non-formal, out-of-school-learning, and identifies opportunities to improve the Senegalese STEM Learning Ecosystem. With the additional support, Senegalese youth can become innovators and problem solvers that use their skills to benefit themselves, their families, and their communities.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-27T16:57:08Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Diva Valerio Novaes.pdf: 2823527 bytes, checksum: 17ea15131520d732f9fb8c60ce4d5769 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-08-10 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / This study sought to investigate conceptions about objects of Descriptive Statistics related to teaching or to specific content that 1st- to 12th-grade Brazilian teachers employ when organizing and managing teaching sequences focused on this theme. To this end, the procedures adopted in the classroom by teachers attending a continued education program were observed. The investigation was carried out in response to the finding, by previous studies conducted in this field, of barriers to the learning of notions of Statistics. Selection of the objects of study was based on identification of their mutual relationships in analogy to those established within a stable ecosystem herein assumed in analogy to the biological notion of the food chain. The research was part of the project entitled Teaching and Learning Process Involving Probabilistic and Statistical Thinking (PEA-ESTAT), funded by the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP). Based on the case study method, the investigation sought to address the following questions: What ideas can be identified when 1st- to 12th-grade teachers apply their statistical knowledge of variation to solve problems and prepare their lessons on this topic? How can this knowledge be modeled with the aid of the Theory of Conceptions so as to establish parameters that contribute to overcoming or minimizing barriers and difficulties associated to the learning of statistical content, as identified in studies in this area? The ck¢ model was adopted to describe and explain the conceptions expressed by the teachers participating in this study. This model provided a theoretical framework that allowed plausible explanations to be inferred for cognitive procedures that generate many of the problems identified in other studies, with regard to eliciting the knowledge required to conduct an exploratory data analysis that leads to correct comprehension of the concept of variability. Sixteen consistently interconnected teaching- and statistics-related conceptions were identified, which provided answers to the questions posed in this investigation / Esta pesquisa teve por objetivo analisar concepções sobre objetos da Estatística Descritiva, tanto didáticas quanto específicas de conteúdo, mobilizadas por professores da Educação Básica quando organizam e fazem a gestão de sequências didáticas nesse tema e, para tanto, observamos os procedimentos adotados em sala de aula por professores em formação continuada. A pesquisa teve origem na constatação da existência de entraves à aprendizagem das noções estatísticas identificados em outros estudos na área. A escolha dos objetos de estudo foi feita a partir da identificação das relações estabelecidas entre eles em analogia com as que se estabelecem em um ecossistema estável, por sua vez assumido em analogia à noção biológica de cadeia alimentar. A pesquisa está inserida no projeto Processo de Ensino e Aprendizagem Envolvendo Pensamento Estatístico e Probabilístico (PEA-ESTAT), financiado pela Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP). A metodologia utilizada foi o estudo de caso, com o qual buscamos responder às seguintes questões: Quais concepções podem ser identificadas quando professores da Educação Básica mobilizam seus conhecimentos estatísticos sobre variação ao resolverem problemas e prepararem suas aulas sobre esse tema? Como esses conhecimentos podem ser modelados com auxílio da Teoria das Concepções, de modo a se estabelecerem parâmetros que contribuam para a superação ou minimização de entraves e dificuldades de aprendizagem desses conteúdos estatísticos, já identificados em pesquisas na área? Utilizamos o modelo ck¢ para descrever e explicar as concepções manifestadas pelos professores que foram sujeitos nesta pesquisa. Tal modelo proporcionou um quadro teórico que permitiu inferir, a partir dos dados coletados, explicações plausíveis para procedimentos cognitivos que geram diversas das dificuldades já identificadas em outros estudos, no que se refere a mobilizar os conhecimentos necessários para realizar uma análise exploratória de dados que conduza à correta apreensão do conceito de variabilidade. Identificaram-se 16 concepções didáticas e estatísticas que sempre funcionam interrelacionadas, o que nos permitiu responder às questões propostas nesta pesquisa

The purpose of the study has been to investigate and shed light on practical measures companies take to create a culture that promotes learning, as well as the role of technology. It is an important topic for organizations to face major challenges regarding reskilling and upskilling of employees, to ensure that the company has the right skills for the future. We have examined 11 companies where we took a closer look at their organizational structure, how they use leadership around learning, their vision, mission and strategy for learning, what technology is used for learning (and how and why exactly these technologies), how they create and buy digital content / courses, what can be measured and used as guidelines for driving learning and finally we have looked at the challenges production companies are especially faced with. Our analysis shows that there are some common denominators in which competencies and tasks must exist and take place internally to be able to facilitate work towards a learning culture, that learning is designed after having a high business relevance, that the top management's attitude to learning is essential, that learning technologies are used frequently, there is data on learning activities that can be used as guidelines and that production companies need to take special measures to be able to include their entire workforce in their learning initiatives. Our analysis also shows that the quality and usefulness of learning technologies has accelerated in recent years and has been given a leading role in organizations' investments to improve the learning culture. In the report, we propose that companies realize the power they have to influence how learning is done by setting up and working with the essential building blocks of the learning ecosystem we have identified. / Syftet med studien har varit att undersöka och belysa praktiska åtgärder företag tar sig an för att skapa en kultur som främjar lärande, samt vilken roll teknologi har. Det är ett viktigt ämne för att organisationer står inför stora utmaningar gällande upplärning och omskolning av anställda, för att säkerställa att företaget har rätt kompetenser. Vi har undersökt 11 företag där vi har tittat närmare på deras organisationsstruktur, hur de använder sig av ledarskap kring lärande, deras vision, mission och strategi för lärande, vilka teknologier som används för lärande (samt hur och varför just dessa teknologier), hur de skapar och köper in digitalt innehåll/kurser, vad som kan mätas och användas som riktlinjer för att driva lärande och till sist har vi tittat på utmaningar produktionsföretag speciellt ställs inför. Vår analys visar att det finns några gemensamma nämnare i vilka kompetenser och arbetsuppgifter som ska finnas internt för att lättare kunna arbeta mot en lärande kultur, att lärande designas efter att ha hög affärsrelevans, att högsta ledningens inställning till lärande är essentiell, att lärande teknologier används flitigt, det finns data kring lärande aktiviteter som kan användas som riktlinjer samt att produktionsbolag behöver vidta särskilda åtgärder för att kunna inkludera hela sin arbetsstyrka i sina lärande initiativ. Vår analys visar även att kvaliteten på och nyttan av lärande teknologier har accelererat de senaste åren och har fått en huvudroll i organisationers investeringar för att förbättra lärande kulturen. I rapporten föreslår vi att företag inser makten de har att påverka hur lärande går till genom att sätta upp och arbeta med de olika delarna vi belyser är essentiella i ett lärande ekosystem.

People often have very little knowledge about the impact of unsustainable human population growth on the environment and social well-being especially in developing countries. Therefore, an efficient method should be explored in order to educate, and if possible, to convince the members of the public to realize the environmental and social problems caused by the unsustainable population growth. Digital Game-Based Learning (DGBL) has been highlighted by some studies as an innovative tool for learning enhancement. While only a handful of studies have scientifically evaluated the impact of DGBL on knowledge outcomes, the approach is an attractive tool to increase knowledge and motivate engagement with environmental issues surrounding population growth because of its potential to improve learners’ motivation and engagement thereby compared to traditional learning approaches. Therefore, the three primary research questions for this study are: 1) "Can a single-player digital game be an appropriate and attractive learning application for the players to gain insight about the relationship between the growing human population and the environmental issues?" 2) "How can we design environmental games for the players to gain insights about the relationship between the growing human population and the environmental issues via playing a game?" and 3) "What are the obstacles preventing the players from adapting environmental knowledge obtained from the learning mediums into the real-life?" To inform the development of an efficacious DGBL game to impact learning outcomes, critical reviews of environmental issues related to population growth as well as critical reviews of commercial and serious environmental games in terms of their educational and motivational values were undertaken in this study. The results of these critical reviews informed the development of a Guideline for Environmental Games (or GEG). The GEG was developed by combining the engaging game technology with environmental learning and persuasion theories. The GEG was then used to inform the development of a prototype game called THE GROWTH; a single-player, quiz-based, city-management game targeting young adolescents and adults. Multiple evaluation methods of the game were used to answer the three key research questions mentioned earlier. These methods included: 1) The Randomized Controlled Trial approach (RCT) where the participants were systematically divided into the experimental and the control group respectively and their knowledge scores (quantitative data) compared and analyzed, 2) The participants’ abilities to recall and describe the environmental and well-being issues were collected and analyzed qualitatively using The Content Analysis method (CA) and, 3) The participants’ overall feedback on the learning mediums was collected and analyzed to evaluate the motivational values of THE GROWTH itself. To this end, THE GROWTH was evaluated with 82 Thai-nationality participants (70 males and 12 females). The results showed that participants assigned to play THE GROWTH demonstrated greater environmental and social-well-being knowledge related to population growth (F(1,40) = 43.86, p = .006) compared to the control group participants assigned to a non-interactive reading activity (consistent with material presented in THE GROWTH). Furthermore, participants who played THE GROWTH recalled on average more content presented in the game when compared to participants who were presented with similar content in the reading material (t (59) = 3.35, p = .001). In terms of level of engagement, the study suggested that participants assigned to the game were more engaging with their learning medium on average when compared to participants assigned to the non-interactive reading activity. This is evidenced by the longer time participants spent on the task, the activity observed from participants’ recorded gameplay, and their positive responses in the survey. The semi-structured interviews used in this study highlighted the participants’ attitudes towards the environmental, social, and technological issues. Although the participants’ perceived behavioural intention towards the environmental commitments were not statistically differed between the two study group, their responses still provide some evidences that leaps may occur from the learning mediums to the real-world context. Furthermore, these responses can be valuable evidences for the policy makers and for the future development of environmental serious games. Overall, the results suggested that digital environmental games such as THE GROWTH might be an effective and motivational tool in promote the learning about sustainable population size, the environment, and the social well-being. The game’s ability to convince the participants to change towards sustainable lifestyles, however, might be subjected to the future research and other real-world circumstances such as the governmental and public supports. In summary, the research in this thesis makes the following contributions to knowledge: • The Guideline for Environmental Games (GEG) contributes to knowledge about making theoretically-based environmental games. It has particular significance because the guideline was validated by demonstrating learning improvements in a systematic randomized controlled trial. • The use of Multi-Strategy Study Design where multiple systematic evaluation methods were used in conjunction to provide conclusive findings about the efficacy of DGBL to impact outcomes. • THE GROWTH itself is a contribution to applied research as an example of an effective DGBL learning tool.