Bits-2-Bites is a strategies project that will engage middle school and high school students in learning to apply computational thinking and computer based tools to address STEM related community issues. Participants will learn about the biology and chemistry of food science, nutrition, food production, environmental sustainability, and how they relate to relevant community health issues such as the proliferation of obesity and diabetes. Participants will learn how to apply process skills including design, analysis, and troubleshooting to complete a service learning project based on sustainable agriculture. Initial skill building projects for both middle and high school youth will focus on finding comfort with and interest in computer programming, using programming languages such as Scratch and C++.
The Science Museum of Minnesota's Kitty Andersen Youth Science Center (KAYSC) will develop two 12-member high school crews (grades 9-12) as participants in the project who each will receive 350-400 contact hours of instruction per year by museum staff. By year 3, participants who have completed two years will engage in self-directed projects. They will also serve as teaching assistants for those who will have started in years 2 and 3. In addition, four 12- 15 member volunteer teams composed of 7th and 8th graders at four St. Paul middle schools will use the Bits-2-Bites curriculum units that the high school students use to learn about computing focusing on computational thinking and tools.
The structure and design of the program are based on youth development and service learning practices that emphasize: participation that focuses on depth, continued skill development, and long-term involvement, rather than occasional short bursts of activity; teams of youth who work closely with one or more adult museum staff member and come into regular contact with other museum staff, educators and STEM mentors; progression from skill building to skill application through hands-on projects that allow them to make positive contributions to their communities; opportunities to take on greater leadership and responsibility; individual and as a group reflection; opportunities to build awareness of community issues and needs, and to share skills and knowledge with peers, younger children, parents, and professionals; planning for transitions to college and careers by exploring 2- and 4-year college options, STEM, CSE and ICT careers and work places, and what is needed to get there; fostering a community a youth who support one another?s interests in STEM.
Both modules, those for middle school and high school students, include discussions of food justice, site visits, and interaction with professional role models. The museum is predicting 70% completion of high school program participants who will spend two full years in the program. The middle school participants who are exposed to the curriculum are prepared to move into the full museum based activities. Prepared with relevant experience, the high school crews develop outreach activities for middle school children and families that infuse computational thinking into relevant projects such as analyzing school kitchen food waste and food production and sources within the community. Their training prepares them to pursue STEM careers. Parents and other community members also gain exposure to the program and the outcomes.
The program will take place in three phases: 1)training in basic computer programing and how to apply that knowledge to manipulate basic micro-controllers along with the basics of sustainable agriculture. Students learn how individual components can be made to work together to represent a complex system. They apply that knowledge to development of a sustainable system using the example of aquaponics, a sustainable food production process; 2) learning how food they eat can be understood as a complex system, studying school lunches as an example; 3) examine the cultural and dietary habits in their homes developing a picture of community habits and sharing the results with the community through visualizations of the data they have created and presentations to increase the community dialog on patterns of food choices and community access.
