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This chapter illuminates the impact of providing informal learning experiences for students pursuing Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) teaching careers at a time when there is a considerable shortage of qualified teachers in America's urban centers. Preservice STEM teachers were provided with the opportunity to participate in a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant funded Noyce Internship Program prior to serving as counselors and teaching assistants in a STEM camp for underrepresented middle school students. Through the Noyce Internship Institute, participants were introduced to interactive sessions that model promising teaching practices including inquiry-based and project-based learning. This narrative inquiry examines the impact of these experiences on preservice STEM teachers' self-efficacy and highlights outcomes in three areas: increase of preservice teachers' confidence, classroom management, and strengthening their desire to teach STEM.

Rapid advancement of data science has disrupted both business and employees in organizations. However, extant literature primarily focuses on the organizational level phenomena, and has almost ignored the employee/individual perspective. This study thereby intends to capture the experiences of mid-level managers about these disruptions vis a vis their corresponding actions.

In a small-sample qualitative research design, Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) was adopted to capture this individual-level phenomenon. Twelve mid-level managers from large-scale Indian organizations that have extensively adopted data science tools and techniques participated in a semi-structured and in-depth interview process.

Our findings unfolded several perspectives gained from their experiences, leading thereby to two emergent person-job (mis)fit process models. (1) Managers, who perceived demands-abilities misfit (D-A misfit) as a growth-alignment opportunity vis a vis their corresponding actions, which effectively trapped them into a vicious cycle; and (2) the managers, who considered D-A misfit as a psychological strain vis a vis their corresponding actions, which engaged them into a benevolent cycle.

The present paper has major theoretical and managerial implications in the field of human resource management and business analytics.

The findings advise managers that the focus should be on developing an organizational learning eco-system, which would enable mid-level managers to gain their confidence and control over their job and work environment in the context of data science disruptions. Importantly, organizations should facilitate integrated workplace learning (both formal and informal) with an appropriate ecosystem to help mid-level managers to adapt to the data-science disruptions.

The present study offers two emergent cyclic models to the existing person–job fit literature in the context of data science disruptions. A scant attention of the earlier researchers on how individual employees actually experience disruption, and the corresponding IPA method used in the present study may add significant value to the extant literature. Further, it opens a timely and relevant future research avenues in the context of data science disruptions.

Mobile technologies, such as QR codes, play a particularly important role in scaffolding the child user’s active learning in informal environments. The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of QR code scanning on two informal learning outcomes: increased interest and greater knowledge understanding.

In total, 91 children and their families participated in the study as part of the iQ Zoo Project. Children in both the smartphone group and the control group completed were assessed qualitatively and quantitatively before and then after their zoo visits.

Qualitative findings suggest that most children’s interest in learning about animals was sustained as a result of the experience. Quantitative results reveal that QR code scanning was effective in promoting knowledge gains, especially on subjects that are challenging for the informal learner. Findings were comparable across the younger (5–8) and older (9–12) age groups.

This study provides empirical support for the value and usefulness of mobile technologies such as QR code scanning for children's learning in informal environments.

This paper aims to focus on two areas of digital badge design that impact learner experience: the value and meaning of badges outside of their original context and badge function and platform functionality that impact learner experience.

This research uses a design-based research approach. For this paper, components of badge systems were analyzed to identify the characteristics of learning experiences in each program.

Findings in this paper are from a National Science Foundation-funded project where digital badge systems were co-designed to connect informal science learning with college credit. The badge design principles presented to address the value of badges and badge function and platform functionality, as well as making program design more systematic and using badge design as a conceptual, organizing design framework for improved educational programs.

Though this research is limited in the number of programs examined, the findings provide a framework for the language and standards to discuss and implement digitals badges.

This paper will be of use to programing developers seeking to integrate badges into their educational programs or simply reexamine their educational goals and opportunities for learners.

This paper challenges the conventional use of badges for simply increasing learner engagement by illustrating that the badge design and development process can improve program design and subsequent learner experience rather than serving purely as a learner motivational tool.

The purpose of this study is to explore teen-adult dialogic interactions during the co-design of data literacy activities in order to determine the nature of teen thinking, their emotions, level of engagement, and the power of relationships between teens and adults in the context of data literacy. This study conceives of co-design as a learning space for data literacy. It investigates the teen–adult dialogic interactions and what these interactions say about the nature of teen thinking, their emotions, level of engagement and the power relationships between teens and adults.

The study conceives of co-design as a learning space for teens. Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC-22), a natural language processing (NLP) software tool, was used to examine the linguistic measures of Analytic Thinking, Clout, Authenticity, and Emotional Tone using transcriptions of recorded Data Labs with teens and adults. Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC-22), a natural language processing (NLP) software tool, was used to examine the linguistic measures of Analytic Thinking, Clout, Authenticity and Emotional Tone using transcriptions of recorded Data Labs with teens and adults.

LIWC-22 scores on the linguistic measures Analytic Thinking, Clout, Authenticity and Emotional Tone indicate that teens had a high level of friendly engagement, a relatively low sense of power compared with the adult co-designers, medium levels of spontaneity and honesty and the prevalence of positive emotions during the co-design sessions.

This study provides a concrete example of how to apply NLP in the context of data literacy in the public library, mapping the LIWC-22 findings to STEM-focused informal learning. It adds to the understanding of assessment/measurement tools and methods for designing data literacy education, stimulating further research and discussion on the ways to empower youth to engage more actively in informal learning about data.

This study applies a novel approach for exploring teen engagement within a co-design project tasked with the creation of youth-oriented data literacy activities.

Governments and organizations worldwide are concerned over the declining number of young people choosing to study Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), especially after the age of 16. Research has foregrounded that students with positive attitudes toward science are more likely to find it relevant and aspire to a science career. This study aims to understand the factors shaping students’ attitudes as these are pivotal in promoting science learning.

This study uses the framework of science capital to understand what shapes young people’s engagement with or resistance to science. The authors conducted four Computational Thinking making-based workshops with 106 children aged 15–16 years, of which 58 filled in a questionnaire and 22 were interviewed. Statistical and content analyses were performed respectively.

The results indicate that children who are more exposed to science-related activities and contexts are more likely to have higher self-efficacy, and that those with higher prior coding experience scored higher in their self-efficacy and science capital. Six themes emerged from the content analysis, highlighting the diverse factors shaping students’ attitudes, such as teaching methods, stereotypes and the degree of difficulty encountered while engaging with science in and out of school.

By combining qualitative and quantitative methods with the use of science capital, the authors found a number of aspects of the school experience that shape students’ attitudes to science learning in and out of school, as well as their science career aspirations.

With over 4.5 million objects and specimens from both the natural and human worlds, Manchester Museum, part of The University of Manchester, is the largest University Museum in the United Kingdom. By virtue of its position within The University of Manchester, learning and research are central to Manchester Museum’s work. The Museum has a track-record of educational work, from the ‘Children’s Museum Club’, a travelling school loans service set up in 1954, to the founding of a dedicated Education Department in 1981. Throughout its long history, the Museum has always held objects and collections at the heart of its popular learning offer. More recently, the growth of the learning team led to the creation of a set of learning principles to underpin its work. These principles – that learning should be object-centred, dialogic, imaginative, personalised, multi-sensory, collaborative and exploratory – are all based on inquiry-based learning and aim to foster a research-based disposition in learners.

As a University Museum with engagement at its heart, Manchester Museum is now looking to transform the third floor of its building into a space themed entirely around ‘research’. This redevelopment, due to open in March 2015, will see the creation of a new visitor research space – ‘The Study’. This unique development will extend the successful inquiry-based learning approach used with schools and colleges, into a public research space for all visitors, with collections at its heart.

This paper aims to investigate how families’ sociomaterial experiences in engineering programs held in libraries and a museum influence their creative engineering practices and the creativity expressed in their products derived from their inquiry-driven engineering activities.

This research project takes a naturalistic inquiry using qualitative and quantitative analyses based on video records from activities of 31 parent–child pairs and on creativity assessment of products that used littleBits as prototyping tools.

Families engaged in two sociomaterial experiences related to engineering – collaborative idea exchange and ongoing generative tinkering with materials – which supported the emergence of novel ideas and feasible solutions during the informal engineering programs. Families in the high novelty score group experienced multiple instances of collaborative idea exchange and ongoing generative tinkering with materials, co-constructed through parent-child collaboration, that were expansive toward further idea and solution generation. Families in the low novelty score group experienced brief collaborative idea exchange and material tinkering with specific idea suggestions and high involvement from the parent. An in-depth case study of one family further illustrated that equal engagement by the parent and child as they tinkered with the technology supported families’ creative engineering practices.

This analysis adds to the information sciences and learning sciences literatures with an account that integrates methodologies from sociocultural and engineering design research to understand the relationship between families’ engagement in creative engineering practices and their products. Implications for practitioners include suggestions for designing spaces to support families’ collaborative idea exchange and ongoing generative tinkering to facilitate the development of creative engineering practices during short-term engineering programs.

Middle school participants in the USA attending an on-campus university informal science program indicate an increase in interest toward careers and disciplines in STEM or STEAM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics and the arts). Parents or guardians confirm the change. The paper aims to discuss this issue.

Participants attended “inquiry-based” lectures by scientists and “hands-on” activities conducted by volunteers on campus at a public university over four months, four Saturdays. Participants completed surveys before each lecture and guardians completed surveys afterwards.

Interest increased significantly according to paired samples t-tests for each STEM discipline for students who reported low interest on the initial pre-lecture survey. There was a significant linear improvement in interests in engineering using a repeated measures general linear model. Guardians or parents reported that they observed a higher interest in STEM disciplines resulting in more technical-related interaction among peers and within the family.

Findings support STEM with arts “out-of-school” programs sponsored by museums, corporations, government, higher education and others. Inclusion of the “hands-on” activities, some with arts content, to the science and technical learning appears to spark enthusiasm.

The value is multidisciplinary. The theory of reasoned action from social psychology, sociology, along with related research in science education and the arts are synthesized. Informal extracurricular experiences sustained and improved interests in the disciplines and careers on which the formal educational career pipeline can build.

This paper aims to investigate design principles for transforming existing making communities of practice within public libraries into online knowledge-building communities to support youths, families with young children and adult members’ making and tinkering during COVID-19.

Building upon C4P and connected learning framework, the authors analyze existing literature and practitioner reports on informal learning projects related to making and STEM learning, family learning and online learning as well as emergent cases of innovative approaches in response to COVID-19 from public libraries, informal learning institutions and community groups.

The authors suggest 11 design principles around five areas: program design, facilitation, tools and materials, process documentation and sharing and feedback.

This work contributes to the information and learning sciences concerned with community engagement and knowledge creation by suggesting a design model to transform and sustain existing making communities of practice within public libraries into online knowledge-building communities during COVID-19.