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Drawing upon AERA’s 2023 call for research proposals that “revisit consequential research with a focus upon equity, justice and opportunity” and “engage dialogically with communities” this working group roundtable brings together researchers studying the impacts of out-of-school programs for youth who are exploring alternatives to the ‘pipeline’ conception which has traditionally informed research and policy on STEM pathways. Critics of the ‘pipeline’ conception in STEM contend that the metaphor does not capture cultural or contextual features of marginalized students and groups, nor the systemic barriers to retention and full participation throughout different stages of education and career. This session examines research working with alternatives to the pipeline conception that represent inclusive, youth-centered means of understanding long-term participation in STEM.

Together, these papers signal the growing interest in taking critical stances on how multi-method mixed methods researchers work with marginalized communities, approach the research process, and use theories and research practices that are more culturally relevant and sustaining. There is a growing call for researchers to center justice and equity as an ethical and methodological imperative (Held, 2019). This paper explores what it takes to design and implement a systems change study that aims to utilize humanizing, values-based research practices and center the voices of professionals of color. This round table will explore the methodological decisions and moves of a research team and an evaluation team as a part of an NSF-funded project, Working Towards Racial Equity (WTRE), which aims to transform the field of environmental education (EE) by building the capacity of EE organizations to enact racially just systems change. We argue that centering the voices of EE professionals is critical to examining systems change work.

This five-day, summer workshop covers the Complete Series of the ABE curriculum, including an introduction to micropipettes and gel electrophoresis, plasmid digestion, plasmid ligation, confirmation of digestion and ligation via electrophoresis, bacterial transformation, colony PCR, and protein purification.

Want to learn more about the sun and use engineering to solve problems? Join us for a free Hands-on Solar Camp this summer!

While the NGSS emphasizes the science and engineering practice of computational thinking, there is less familiarity and support for implementing this practice than other practices. In this session, high school biology teachers will learn how to promote computational thinking in their classrooms by engaging with a newly developed computer simulation.

High-quality instructional materials are essential for equitable access to science, but materials are only the start of the instructional journey! Examine the importance of YOUR role as a teacher in leveraging NGSS-designed curriculum to inspire your students to figure out phenomena.