The tool is grounded in the teamwork literature, and in the experiences of afterschool program practitioners and youth. The tool is a scenario-based survey that measures a youth's likelihood of exhibiting a team communication skill, their comfort level doing a skill, and their knowledge of ideal communication behaviors on teams. STEM afterschool practioners and evaluators will be able to use the freely available survey for front-end, formative and summative evaluations.
How do STEM afterschool programs define team communication skills?
First, we identified what teamwork skills were most important for STEM afterschool programs. We completed an extensive literature review and conducted interviews with 34 STEM program providers across the country. The results identified team communication skills as the most commonly addressed teamwork skills in STEM programs (85 percent). This became the skill area of focus for the development of the survey.
Next, we worked to define what team communication skills looked like in STEM programs. The literature and interview data identified three overarching skill areas: information exchange, closed-loop communication and listening. Information exchange includes sharing ideas with the team, bringing up new information important to what the team is working on, and summarizing information shared by team members. Closed-loop communication relates to checking understanding through questioning, repeating and clarifying information that team members both send and receive. Listening focuses on the ability to remain an active listener in various team situations.
How is the Team Communication Skills Survey being developed?
We created survey questions to measure each of the three team communication skill areas. Youth respond to the questions based on imagining themselves in a scenario where they are working on a project or challenge with a team of two other youth. The skill definitions, questions and scenario were reviewed by a sample of STEM program providers and experts in the field of youth development, teamwork and measurement. Middle school and high school youth nationwide have also participated in think-aloud interviews, where they completed the survey out loud and described their thinking behind responses.
How can you be help with the development of the survey?
The project is currently recruiting for two rounds of field tests with middle school and high school youth in a diverse set of STEM afterschool programs. One round will take place November to December 2016. The second round will be January to February 2017. Find more details about the field test and sign up here.
Want to stay informed on the development and availability of the Team Communication Skills Survey?
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Contributed by Amy Grack Nelson, Evaluation & Research Manager, Department of Evaluation & Research in Learning, Science Museum of Minnesota.
