Development and assessment of the STEM storytellers program

Figures & data

Figure 1. A brief outline of four narrative structures.

Table 1. Assessments used for each cohort of STEM Storytellers.

Assessment	Cohort 1	Cohort 2	Cohort 3
PSCR (by PIs)	Yes	–	Yes
Jargon	Yes	Yes	Yes
Six item anxiety	10/23/18	10/4/19; 12/6/19; 3/3/20	10/27/20; 3/29/21
PRCA	–	Pre/Post	Pre/Post
Public surveys	Yes	–	Yes
Final talks	In person	YouTube	WebEx

Table 2. STEM Storytellers curricular materials and assessments within the 3C framework.

Connect	Convey	Captivate
	PSCR
	Public surveys
	Reflective Journal entries
Anxiety measures	Jargon calculations	storyboarding

Figure 2. Word clouds for cohort two transcripts before intervention (left panel) and after intervention (right panel).

Figure 3. The chi-square test of independence showed, for all three cohorts, a statistically significant change in use of jargon; cohort 1: chisq(1) = 20.732, p < 0.001; cohort 2: chisq(1) = 20.381, p < 0.001; cohort 3: chisq(1) = 21.952, p < 0.001. In all three cohorts, the amount of jargon in Fellows’ prepared research talks decreased significantly; cohort one dropped from 2.8% jargon to .93%, cohort two dropped from 2.74% to .93%, and cohort three dropped from 2.03% to .65%. Further, Fellows’ public talks dropped below the minimum 2% jargon recommended by Nation (2006).

Figure 4. STAI anxiety scores for cohort two (2019–2020).

Table 3. Summary statistics of the PRCA for cohorts 2 and 3 pre and post intervention.

	Pre	Post	P
Cohort two
Group discussion	18.4	20.2	0.223
Meetings	17.0	18.6	0.088
Interpersonal communication	17.4	20.0	0.042
Public speaking	15.0	18.2	0.225
Cohort three
Group discussion	17.4	21.9	0.054
Meetings	16.6	19.9	0.157
Interpersonal conversations	18.4	21.3	0.165
Public speaking	16.6	17.3	0.753

Nation, I. (2006). How large a vocabulary is needed for Reading and listening? The Canadian Modern Language Review, 63(1), 59–82. https://doi.org/10.3138/cmlr.63.1.59

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