Fostering Learning, Identity, and Participation in STEM Research Hub

The Fostering Learning, Identity, and Participation within Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (FLIP-STEM) Research Hub uses a student-driven framework to include and center the interests of middle school and high school students who are often not fully engaged in the design of new classroom practices and pedagogies. More specifically, the student-driven framework ensures that students’ perspectives and contributions guide the design process. In this context, we collaborate with students and teachers to identify and construct datasets about problems or issues of interest to students. Together, we analyze and interpret these datasets, making inferences that enable students to identify patterns related to their personal experiences. This process empowers students to tackle meaningful challenges in their communities. As an extension of the FLIP STEM hub initiatives, we are creating place-based, data science camps grounded in a student-driven model in rural counties in NC in partnership with the NC-MSEN Pre-College Program and the NC State Data Science and AI Academy.