Challenger Center Partners with RAND on Randomized Control Trial Study

Overdeck Family Foundation Awards Funding to Support Critical Research

Washington D.C. (November 21, 2024) – Challenger Center is proud to announce a partnership with RAND, a nonprofit research organization, to conduct a randomized controlled trial estimating the causal impacts of Challenger Center Missions. The Randomized Control Trial (RCT) study is being funded by Overdeck Family Foundation with a $550,000 grant along with supporting funds from NASA.

“The value of our immersive, simulated space missions is their unique power to increase students’ positive attitudes about STEM, their ability to participate in STEM, and their interest in a broad range of STEM careers,” said Valerie Fitton-Kane, Vice President, Development and Partnerships at Challenger Center. “This study represents a vital opportunity to strengthen the evidence supporting participatory simulations as a powerful education tool for helping educators and industry achieve their goals.”

To complete the study, the research team will randomly assign sixth-grade science classrooms to either experience Challenger Center simulated space missions or engage in another type of STEM activity. The team will then estimate the causal impacts of Challenger Center missions on self-efficacy in science, interest in science, and STEM identity and interest in STEM careers immediately after the mission and six months later, student elective course-taking in seventh grade and STEM out-of-school time participation six months after the mission.

“STEM careers continue to be essential to the prosperity and security of our nation and an important pathway to personal economic security. This study will not only help us understand whether Challenger Center is meeting its mission but will also provide us important lessons on how experiential learning can help provide authentic and inspiring learning experiences for students. As a former Physics teacher, this study is especially exciting for me,” says Christopher Doss, Senior Policy Researcher at RAND and study lead.

Earlier this year, Overdeck Family Foundation awarded Challenger Center with a multi-year $1.4 million grant to scale its innovative digital programs, enhance its in-person programs, and continue to strengthen the organization’s ability to evaluate and deepen program impact. This followed a grant pilot year during which Challenger Center received $300,000, as well as in-kind consulting, to begin scaling its digital programs and to strengthen the organization’s systems for tracking student reach and program impact.

“Challenger Center offers highly engaging, immersive STEM learning experiences that capture students’ imagination and attention—something that too few students have access to in the classroom. This RCT offers an exciting opportunity for the research team and the field at large to more deeply understand how inspiring, short-duration experiences like these can spark students’ STEM interest and inspire future participation in other enriching STEM opportunities,” said Emma Banay, Portfolio Manager, Inspired Minds, at Overdeck Family Foundation.

In 2022, Challenger Center partnered with RAND Corporation and Carnegie Mellon University to study five learner populations—adults, K-12 teachers, K-12 principals, middle school students, and college students—and their ability to distinguish between real and deepfake videos about climate change.

About Challenger Center 

As a leader in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education, each year Challenger Center provides hundreds of thousands of students with experiential education programs that engage students in hands-on learning opportunities. These programs, delivered in Challenger Learning Centers and classrooms, strengthen knowledge in STEM subjects and inspire students to pursue careers in these important fields. Challenger Center was created by the Challenger families to honor the crew of shuttle flight STS-51-L. For more information about Challenger Center, please visit www.challenger.org or connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

About RAND

RAND is a research organization that develops solutions to public policy challenges to help make communities throughout the world safer and more secure, healthier and more prosperous. RAND Education and Labor provides objective research and analysis that improves social and economic well-being through education and workforce development. The division does research on early childhood through postsecondary education programs, workforce development, programs and policies affecting workers, entrepreneurship, and financial literacy and decision making.