Lauren Birney: Billion Oyster Project: Curricular innovations in STEM

Curriculum and Community Enterprise for

New York Harbor

Restoration in New York City Public Schools

Dr. Lauren B. Birney (PI)

Scientix Conference Europe

Brussels, Belgium

October 24, 2014

Pace University

School of Education

Birney DRL 1440869 NSF BOP STEM

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Presentation Summary

I. Overview of Curriculum and Community Enterprise

Project

II. Components of the Project Pillars

III. Details of the Partnerships and Enterprise

IV. Anticipated Project Outcomes

V. Questions and Answers


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I. Billion Oyster Project STEM C

Project Summary

Abstract

Research consistently shows that children who have opportunities to actively investigate natural settings and

engage in problem-based learning greatly benefit from the experiences. They gain skills, interests, knowledge,

aspirations and motivation to learn more. But how can we provide these rich opportunities in densely populated

urban areas where resources and access to natural areas are limited? This project will develop and test a model

of curriculum and community enterprise to address that issue within the nation’s largest urban school system.

Middle-school students will study New York Harbor and the extensive watershed that empties into it, and they

will conduct field research in support of restoring native oyster habitats.


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Billion Oyster Project

Lauren Birney, Principal Investigator

Samuel Janis, Project Manager

Peter Malinowski, Billion Oyster Project Director

Murray Fisher, President New York Harbor

Foundation

Primary Project Goals

BOP STEM-C Curriculum and Community Enterprise

• INCREASE STEM STUDENTS Increase public middle school student access to high quality, engaging andauthentic STEM-C learning in both formal and informal settings, thereby (a) increasing student STEM-Ccontent knowledge; (b) improving student self-efficacy and confidence in STEM-C; and (c) presentingstudents with new role models from STEM-C related career fields.

• INCREASE STEM TEACHERS Increase the number of teachers, OST educators, and STEM-C professionalsinvolved in creating and teaching authentic STEM-C curriculum - particularly in the context of local speciesrestoration and environmental studies - to NYC public school students, particularly those from economicallydisadvantaged neighborhoods by (a) creating an accredited teacher training program at Pace University (b)expanding New York Academy of Science’s successful STEM-C mentoring program to Good ShepherdServices afterschool sites; (c) creating a program for applied learning at local aquariums/marine scienceresearch facilities and enabling students to carry out scientific data collection at local oyster restoration sites;and (d) building a comprehensive online platform for teacher-centered training and curriculum developmentand student-centered environmental monitoring, data collection, and statistical analysis.

• EFFECTIVE STEM CURRICULUM Evaluate the overall effectiveness and impact of the combined curriculumand community enterprise on STEM-C teaching and learning in middle school grades of urban public schoolsby (a) evaluating each of the five main pillars of the model independently on students and teachers through acomparison/treatment group methodology and (b) by evaluating the model holistically through social networkmapping and context based analysis (CIPP 2009)


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II. BOP STEM C CCE PILLARS


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TeacherTrainingCurriculum

StudentLearningCurriculum

DigitalPla orm

AquariumExhibit&Guide

OST

Program

BOPSTEM-CCCE:5Educa on-ResourcePillars

TeacherTrainingUniversityClassrooms

Sites:1(Pace)

NYCPublicSchoolsClassrooms

Sites:16peryear

WaterfrontFieldSiteRestora onResearch

Sites:8ormore

Aquarium/MarineResearchFacility

Sites:2(NYAandTRP)

OST/A erschoolProgramSitesSites:7(GSS)

BOPSTEM-CCCE:5PhysicalSe ngs

(ApplicabilityandSupport)

III. Partnerships and Community

Enterprise


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III. Partnerships and Community

Enterprise


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New York Harbor


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BOP STEM C LITERACY

Oyster Growth

IV. Project Based Learning


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Sample Oyster Filtration


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Manhattan, New York


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Eco-Dock New York Harbor School

Governors Island, New York Harbor


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Oyster Reef Restoration


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BOP STEM C CCE

Lauren Birney, Project (PI) [email protected] Sam Janis [email protected]


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mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

Press Conference

Press Conference and Launch; New York, New York

October 30, 2014; 14:00 – 13:00, Pier 15

“Curriculum and Community Enterprise for the Restoration

of New York Harbor in New York City Public Schools”

This Project is funded by NSF – The National Science

Foundation


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