Projects & Research

The creation and sharing of video have become an essential tool for scientific communication. It increases the outreach and impact of projects, furthers scientific research across disciplines, and offers an accessible medium to engage the public in the understanding of science. The STEM for All Collaboratory will advance educational research and development through the creation and facilitation of two related, interactive platforms – the STEM for All Video Showcase and the STEM for All Multiplex.

The Video Showcase, whose first three years have been funded by the DRK-12 program, provides an annual, online, week-long, interactive event where hundreds of educational researchers and developers create, share, and discuss 3-minute videos of their federally funded work aimed at improving STEM and Computer Science education. A rich database of these videos now exists after five successful Video Showcases. To capitalize on this growing resource and to extend its impact, TERC and its partners created STEM for All Multiplex.

The Multiplex website combines past and future Video Showcase videos to provide visitors a way to search the growing database, create thematic playlists, and re-use the content in new educational and research contexts. The Multiplex hosts interactive, monthly, thematic online events related to emerging research and practices to improve STEM and Computer Science education in formal and informal environments. Each thematic event includes selected video presentations, expert panels, resources, interactive discussions, and a synthesis of lessons learned.

All events are accessible and open to the public. In addition, the project will continue to host and facilitate the annual Video Showcase event which has attracted over 70,000 people from over 180 countries over the course of a year.

The project will further contribute to the STEM education field through its research on the ways that this multimedia environment can improve currently funded projects, catalyze new efforts and collaborations, build the capacity of emerging diverse leadership, and connect research and practice.

The STEM for All Collaboratory fosters increased dissemination of federally funded work and effectively shared NSF’s investments aimed at improving STEM education with the public at large. It enables presenters to learn with and from each other, offering and receiving feedback, critique, and queries that will improve work in progress and to facilitate new collaborations for educational research. It connects researchers with practitioners empowering both groups to benefit from each other’s knowledge and perspective. Further, it connects seasoned investigators with aspiring investigators from diverse backgrounds, including those from Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs). This enables new researchers to broaden their knowledge of currently funded efforts while also providing them with the opportunity to discuss resources, methodology and impact measures with the investigators. The project has the potential to broaden the future pool of investigators in STEM educational research.