{"572541":{"#nid":"572541","#data":{"type":"news","title":"The National Science Foundation Grant for Prototyping Puppets to further STEM education","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThe National Science Foundation has awarded Prof.\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.iac.gatech.edu\/people\/faculty\/nitsche\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EMichael Nitsche\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;from the School of Literature, Media and Communication a\u0026nbsp;\u003Cem\u003E298,885$\u003C\/em\u003E\u0026nbsp;Grant as part of their Advance Informal STEM Learning program for\u0026nbsp;\u003Cem\u003EPrototyping Puppets: Combining Craft and Performance to teach Physical Computing\u003C\/em\u003E. The project started this term (Fall\u0026rsquo;16) and will run until 2018.\u0026nbsp;It\u0026nbsp;aims to combine craft and performance art to teach early middle school students basic prototyping skills. Through their projects, the research team is proposing informal STEM workshops following three steps:\u0026nbsp;1) Narrative Framing2) Craft-inspired Building3) Validation through Performance\u0026nbsp;This key approach combines craft, self-expression through performance, and basic hardware prototyping with the goal to attract new students to STEM related fields. Researchers from Georgia Tech\u0026rsquo;s Digital Media program and from the Center for Puppetry Arts will use the grant to develop and test this approach through multiple puppet-building workshops aimed at informal education for middle-schools children between the ages of 10 to 12 years. The project will serve as a prototype for a larger research agenda to enable engaging new student populations in physical computing through interest-driven exercises - realized through different creative practices in many informal learning institutions, such as science museums and after school education etc.\u0026nbsp;Atlanta\u0026rsquo;s\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/puppet.org\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003ECenter for Puppetry Arts\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;is an internationally acclaimed center for performance (hosting upwards of 600 performances a year), education, and research of puppetry. It is\u0026nbsp;conveniently located in Midtown at the corner of Spring and 18th Street in Atlanta near the Georgia Tech campus.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nThe\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.nsf.gov\/pubs\/2015\/nsf15593\/nsf15593.htm#pgm_intr_txt\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EAdvancing Informal STEM Learning\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/a\u003E(AISL) program seeks to advance new approaches to and evidence-based understanding of the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments for public and professional audiences; provide multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM learning experiences; advance innovative research on and assessment of STEM learning in informal environments; and develop understandings of deeper learning by participants (National Resource Council, 2012). To achieve the greatest return on its investments, the AISL program encourages projects that will \u0026quot;raise the bar\u0026quot; in the fields of informal STEM education. It invests in projects that advance the leading edge of the field and address its most critical challenges.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nIf you are interested in participating in the work, please contact\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:michael.nitsche@gatech.edu\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003Emichael.nitsche@gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"The National Science Foundation has awarded Prof. Michael Nitsche from the School of Literature, Media and Communication a 298,885$ Grant ."}],"uid":"33398","created_gmt":"2016-09-02 13:51:19","changed_gmt":"2016-10-21 17:11:06","author":"Brooke Bosley","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2016-09-02T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2016-09-02T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"572511":{"id":"572511","type":"image","title":"NSF Prototype Puppet Image","body":null,"created":"1472838021","gmt_created":"2016-09-02 17:40:21","changed":"1475895381","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:56:21","alt":"NSF Prototype Puppet Image","file":{"fid":"207124","name":"grantpic1.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/grantpic1.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/grantpic1.png","mime":"image\/png","size":4810579,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/grantpic1.png?itok=pAFpU0vE"}},"572521":{"id":"572521","type":"image","title":"NSF Prototype Puppet Image2","body":null,"created":"1472838056","gmt_created":"2016-09-02 17:40:56","changed":"1475895381","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:56:21","alt":"NSF Prototype Puppet Image2","file":{"fid":"207125","name":"grantpic2.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/grantpic2.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/grantpic2.png","mime":"image\/png","size":4555699,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/grantpic2.png?itok=Q3N8t904"}}},"media_ids":["572511","572521"],"groups":[{"id":"1283","name":"School of Literature, Media, and Communication"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}