Overall Rating Gold
Overall Score 65.20
Liaison Denice Koljonen
Submission Date Feb. 17, 2022

STARS v2.2

Boston College
IN-47: Innovation A

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 0.50 / 0.50 Denice Koljonen
assoc. director, strategic services
IR&P
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Name or title of the innovative policy, practice, program, or outcome:
Boston College's Urban Outreach College Bound program STEAM Curriculum

A brief description of the innovative policy, practice, program, or outcome that outlines how credit criteria are met and any positive measurable outcomes associated with the innovation:

Boston College works with the College Bound Program to develop and implement the STEAM (Science Technology Engineering Arts and Mathematics) component of the program. It includes a year-long component (about 12 to 14 sessions a year) whereby College Bound students come to Boston College's campus every other Saturday (transportation and lunch is provided). Students spend a whole day on the college campus engaging in social justice infused S.T.E.A.M. projects (e.g., hydroponics, aquaponics, 3-D printing, laster cutting, smart greenhouse, and drones). The program also includes a 2 to 3 week summer Institute geared towards middle and high school students. We ran a two-week online summer institute with the College Bound students in July last year, where the high-school students worked remotely on the desktop greenhouse project (a previous version of the project is detailed below) during the first week, and then worked as co-instructors with middle-school students in the second week to walk them through the same project.

DIY Greenhouse Project (for middle-school and high-school students):
Short video summarizing the project: https://stemforall2021.videohall.com/presentations/2106

This project is in collaboration with a physical computing team at the University of Colorado Boulder and utilizes a low-cost desktop mini-greenhouse that incorporates laser cut and 3D printed parts and components. The laser cut parts are used to assemble the physical greenhouse and additional connectors can be 3D printed to mount all the electronics and sensors to the outside and inside of the greenhouse. Students utilize an online block-based coding platform to program the microcontroller and sensors to monitor and control their desktop systems.


A letter of affirmation from an individual with relevant expertise or a press release or publication featuring the innovation :
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The website URL where information about the innovation is available :
Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

Rajeev Rupani, Sr. Research Assoc., Innovation in Urban Science Education Lab

Article (2/2021) describing Dr. Barnett's ongoing NSF grant work:
https://www.bc.edu/bc-web/bcnews/nation-world-society/education/nsf-grant-supports-learning-initiative-for-low-income-youth.html


Rajeev Rupani, Sr. Research Assoc., Innovation in Urban Science Education Lab

Article (2/2021) describing Dr. Barnett's ongoing NSF grant work:
https://www.bc.edu/bc-web/bcnews/nation-world-society/education/nsf-grant-supports-learning-initiative-for-low-income-youth.html

The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.