Materials Engineering as a Context for Middle School Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Learning: A Multi-Site Design-Based Research Study

This project develops and studies an informal chemistry and chemical engineering education program for youth (ages 11-14), built around the design and engineering of athletic footwear. Delivered through partnerships in Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore, cities at the heart of the historic mid-Atlantic chemical industry corridor, the program gives learners hands-on experience investigating the materials that make up an everyday product: the foam, rubber, adhesives, and dyes in a sneaker. Youth test how these materials perform, propose design changes, and explain their reasoning using real chemistry and engineering concepts, building toward a final public presentation of their work. This project will advance knowledge on how informal learning settings can use the design of familiar, everyday objects and materials to support enhanced learning in the disciplines of chemistry and chemical engineering. In particular, this project will advance knowledge on building interest in STEM during the middle school years, which are a critical period for shaping whether young people see STEM fields as accessible and relevant to their futures. The project is open to all youth at each participating site and is expected to strengthen regional STEM education capacity, produce a freely available curriculum that other informal-education organizations nationwide can adopt, and train informal science educators at each site. Results will contribute to the research base on effective approaches to informal learning in chemistry and engineering and to a stronger, more broadly prepared US STEM and chemistry-industry workforce. This design-based research project develops, implements, and studies a three-year, multi-site informal learning program in which youth engineer and test athletic sneaker materials as a vehicle for learning core chemistry and chemical engineering concepts aligned with Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) middle school disciplinary core ideas (e.g., structure and properties of matter, physical and chemical change, and engineering design). The program is implemented at three sites, each delivering 50-60 contact hours organized around three phases: community-based problem framing, iterative material investigation and testing (e.g., foam, rubber, adhesion, and colorfastness tracks), and a culminating public design presentation. The research investigates (1) the disciplinary chemistry and chemical engineering knowledge and NGSS science and engineering practice competencies developed through structured, peer-driven investigation and argumentation routines; (2) how participation shapes learners’ sense of competence, performance, and recognition as chemistry and chemical engineering learners; and (3) points of productive tension between the participants’ ways of knowing and doing and standard NGSS practice frameworks, and what these reveal about assessment design for informal STEM settings. Data collection includes pre/post disciplinary knowledge and NGSS performance assessments, structured field observation, and youth and educator interviews. Deliverables include an open-source curriculum framework with facilitation guides and safety protocols, and peer-reviewed findings on effective design principles for informal chemistry and chemical engineering education. This project was funded by the STEM K-12 program, which supports fundamental, applied, and translational research on STEM learning in both formal K-12 education and informal learning environments. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.