Sezen-Barrie participates in 2022 STEM for All Video Showcase

Asli Sezen-Barrie, associate professor of curriculum, assessment and instruction in the University of Maine College of Education and Human Development, is participating in the 2022 STEM for All Video Showcase virtual event, May 10–17. 

Sezen-Barrie is former co-principal investigator of a National Science Foundation-funded project with colleagues from the Education Development Center (EDC) in Waltham, Massachusetts; Mount Washington Observatory (MWO) in North Conway, New Hampshire; and the University of Washington, titled “WeatherX: Building Data Literacy Among Rural Youth.” She had to step down as co-PI last year, when she accepted a two-year position as program director of the National Science Foundation (NSF) Division for Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings. She still designs and leads research efforts during her approved independent research time. 

The WeatherX project works with middle school science teachers in New Hampshire and Maine to promote interest in data science careers among students from low-income rural communities. The research team developed and has been testing two, three-week prototype curriculum units in which students investigate local weather patterns using large-scale data collected from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and extreme storm data from MWO, a site that has been called the “Home of the World’s Worst Weather.”

“Our project team has designed equitable and locally relevant units to engage middle school students in analyzing data on extreme weather, one of the grand challenges of our time,” says Sezen-Barrie, who participated in the STEM for All Video Showcase in 2017. “Students have opportunities to work with the scientists at the summit of Mount Washington and community members in their local neighborhoods. We are participating in the STEM for All Video Showcase because it gives us [the] opportunity to share our work with [a] wider audience and connect with similar projects nationwide.”

The WeatherX team’s showcase presentation can be viewed on the STEM for All website

Now in its eighth year, the annual showcase will feature over 250 projects aimed at improving science, technology, math, engineering and computer science education that have been funded by NSF and other federal agencies. During the eight-day event, researchers, practitioners, policy makers and members of the public are invited to view short videos, discuss them with the presenters online and vote for their favorites. 

The theme for this year’s event is “Access, Inclusion, and Equity.” The presentations cover a broad range of topics including science, mathematics, computer science, engineering, cyberlearning, citizen science, maker spaces, broadening participation, research experiences, mentoring, professional development, Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and the Common Core. 

Last year’s STEM for All Video Showcase is still being accessed, and to date has had over 103,000 unique visitors from 178 countries.  

The showcase is hosted by the nonprofit TERC, in partnership with: STEMTLnet, CADRE, CAISE, CIRCLS, STELAR, CS for All Teachers, NARST, NCTM, NSTA, NSF INCLUDES and QEM. The showcase is funded by a grant from the NSF.