STEMTELLING:
HELPING STUDENTS CONNECT THEIR PERSONAL EXPERIENCES TO STEM SUBJECTS
CHALLENGE
Educator and Ph.D. student, Jenny Norman, approached my team to design an educational application focused on connecting lived experiences to STEM subjects.
SOLUTION
I collaborated with a team to create an interactive prototype, from the ground up, that is functional for both high school students and teachers. The prototype demonstrates value and incentive to engage learners of all backgrounds with both the application and with fellow classmates.
TOOLS AND METHODS
Heuristic Analysis
Comparative Audit
User Survey & Interviews
SUS Usability Testing
Interactive prototyping
Figma
USERS
High School Students
MY ROLE
I collaborated to scope the research and prototyping plan, wrote survey questions and interview scripts, conducted secondary research and comparative & heuristic analyses, collaborated to create a sitemap, designed and provided interactivity to the student-facing prototype, and conducted user interviews & usability testing.
Many high school students lack interest in subjects related to STEM because they cannot see how STEM relates to their own lives. With STEMtelling, high school students can bridge the gap that seems to separate their interests and cultures from STEM knowledge and exploration. It also allows them to discover the many interesting ways that STEM relates to the lives of their peers and well-known influencers.
JENNY AND HER WORK SO FAR
Jenny Norman, science educator, researcher, coach, curriculum designer, and current Ph.D. student, did not like science as a kid. As she grew older, however, she learned the many ways that science relates directly to her own life. When she became a teacher she wanted to learn how her students’ lives related to science too, inspiring her to develop the new educational program, STEMtelling.
“This project is really about focusing on how to get kids to internalize science so that they understand that it comes from within and that it’s based on all of these interactions that we have with other people.”
During the kick-off meeting, Jenny told me about the promising results her analog version has shown for engaging students' interactions with various STEM fields. She envisions the digital version of STEMtelling to be a story-telling platform that reflects EdTech tools high school students are familiar with, as well as the social media platforms that they find most engaging.
DIVING INTO RESEARCH WHILE MEETING BUMPS
As this project was kicking off at the tail end of a challenging school year, finding high school students and teachers with availability was a challenge. Following a scope alteration to support this, I began to gain an understanding of the contexts of high school students via survey. I learned that they like to use YouTube when learning about something new, and prefer TikTok and Snapchat for social media platforms. A comparative audit of commonly used EdTech platforms and a heuristic analysis of popular social media sites provided further insights into integrations and features that would help keep students engaged while using STEMtelling.
HEARING FROM TEENS
Speaking directly with high school students allowed me to discover that teenagers want a platform that is free of garish color or distracting graphics and that provides flexibility in the mediums they use to tell their stories. Also, they are most likely to use an application only if it features a dark mode setting and they feel some concerns surrounding the potential for toxicity in an environment that resembles social media.
“The children love dark mode.”
“Yeah I think that would be interesting, having some kind of reward system kind of like how other social medias have followers and stuff. Like the admiration of one's peers is the most important thing to a lot of kids.”
BRINGING STEMTELLING TO THE SCREEN
Using Figma, I brought the student-facing side of STEMtelling to life. A huge priority for making STEMtelling successful is keeping students interested and engaged. The system I designed appeals to their young but mature nature, and the social media-like feed of STEMtell-posts keeps the viewable content exciting. Integrating a gamified activity system facilitates an environment that is both inclusive and engaged, and featured micro-interactions promote confidence in students when they are interacting with the application.
View the wireframes and interactive prototype below.
PROJECT OUTCOME AND FUTURE HOPES
I have created a scalable framework to allow Jenny to build a beta-version of STEMtelling that will be tested in high school classrooms this upcoming school year. My hope is that this digital platform will introduce teens to the ever-changing fields of STEM, strengthen their understanding and confidence in what is possible for themselves, and to see that STEM really is for everyone.
Non-Profit Implementation Plan & EdTech Prototype Design
Multi-Touchpoint Service Design Strategy
New Features Design With Tech Constraints
Interactive Professional Service Updates
Usability Review, Testing, and Recommendations