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Our Work and Research

HiSPARC provided the initial infrastructure for Dr. Nyawelo and his collaborators to imagine new research opportunities in K-12 science education. There are currently two projects funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) that deploy HiSPARC cosmic ray detectors with high school students and teachers in Utah: 1) The InSPIRE Program (Investigating the Development of STEM-Positive Identities of Refugee Teens in a Physics Out-of-School Time Experience); and 2) A Research Experiences for Teachers (RET).

InSPIRE

Investigating the Development of STEM-Positive Identities of Refugee
Teens in a Physics Out-of-School Time Experience
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Research Experiences for teachers (RET)

RET seeks to integrate high school education with
professional scientific research in experimental cosmic-ray physics
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Research Contributions

  • Developed pedagogical tools for identifying diverse students’ funds of knowledge and welcoming aspects of students’ multifaceted identities into STEM learning spaces when the STEM topics themselves are more abstract (e.g., cosmic ray physics).
  • Unpacking how refugee-background youth experience (or do not experience) identities as "refugees" and questioning how this term is applied to learners in K-12 settings.
  • Identified the importance of play as a sign-post of relationship building and as a possible pillar of culturally sustaining science pedagogies among diverse groups of students.
  • Unpacking and offering portraits of how instructors and mentors enact culturally sustaining learning environments that leave doors open for identity development through their uses of various discursive practices.
  • Examples of different kinds of translingual practices and students’ commentary on their language practices within an ISL environment.
  • Identifying design principles for enacting asset-based pedagogies for refugee-background youth in online learning through examining the emergence of thirdspace (during COVID-19 pandemic).

Peer-Reviewed Publications to Date

  • Braden, S. & Dexter, T. (2023). Translanguaging as an essential practice in socially just science classrooms: How to make all language styles appropriate for science learning. The Science Teacher, 90(7), 28-31.
  • Nyawelo, T., Braden, S., Matthews, J., Gerton, J., Bamidele, B., Garcia, M., Goldrup, R., Gonzalez, R. & **Kiflom, J. (2023). Investigating the Development of STEM Positive Identities of Refugee Teens in a Physics Out-of-School-Time Experience. Phys. Sci. Forum 2023, 8(1), 45; https://doi.org/10.3390/psf2023008045.
  • Braden, S., Marx, S., Dotterer, A., Bamidele, B., Sugganda, L., Goldrup, R., Nyawelo, T., Gonzalez, R., Gerton, J., Matthews, J. (2023). Examining Teenagers’ Spontaneous Play in a STEM-Based Out-of-School Time Experience for Refugee-Background Youth. Conference Proceedings of the International Conference of the Learning Sciences.

Academic Presentations to Date

  • Bamidele, B., Braden, S., Sugganda, L., Goldrup, R., Gonzalez, R. (Accepted for - April, 2024). African Girls’ Math Identity Work and Refugee Stories in a STEM-focused After-school Program. American Educational Research Association, Philadelphia, PA.
  • Marx, S., Braden, S., Dotterer, A., Bamidele, B., Sugganda, L. & Nyawelo, T. (November, 2023). Examining Third Space in an After-School STEM Program for Refugee-background Youth during Pandemic Times. Paper presented at the annual conference of the American Educational Studies Association.
  • Braden, S., Bamidele, B., Goldrup, R., Valera Garcia, M., Gonzalez, R. (April, 2023). “It sticks with you”: Youth metacommentary on the term “refugee” in a STEM-focused after-school program.” American Educational Research Association (AERA), Chicago, IL.
  • Bamidele, B., Braden, S., Nyawelo, T., Marx, S., Dotterer A., Goldrup R., Valera Garcia, M., Gonzalez, R. (April, 2023). Insights on culturally sustaining science pedagogy in an after-school program for refugee youth. Paper at the annual conference of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching (NARST).
  • Young, T., Barth-Cohen, L. & Braden, S. (July, 2022). “Students’ use of Symmetry Resources when Sense making about Magnetism.” Poster at Physics Education Research Conference (PERC), Grand Rapids, MI.
  • Braden, S., Nyawelo, T., Matthews, J., Gerton, J., Bamidele, B. (July, 2022). “Using multiple methods to explore refugee teens’ STEM identity work in a physics after-school program” Poster at Physics Education Research Conference (PERC), Grand Rapids, MI.
  • Nyawelo, T., Braden, S., Matthews, J., & Gerton, J. (July, 2022). “Investigating the Development of STEM-Positive Identities of Refugee Teens in a Physics Out-of-School Time Experience” Paper at NuFACT, Workshop on Neutrinos from Accelerators; Working Group: Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Education, & Outreach. Snowbird, UT.
  • Braden, S., Dotterer, A., Marx, S., Bamidele, B. & Nyawelo, T. (April, 2022). “Emojis, chat, and black boxes: Challenges and opportunities for linguistic anthropological research in Zoom.” Annual Conference of the Society for Linguistic Anthropology (SLA), Boulder CO.
  • Braden, S., Dotterer, A., Marx, S., Bamidele, B. & Nyawelo, T. (November, 2021). “The girls who thrive in Zoom: Supporting students’ disciplinary identities in science in a virtual afterschool program for refugee youth.” American Anthropological Association (AAA), Council on Anthropology & Education (CAE), Virtual conference due to COVID-19.