Badges

Two families of badges: STEM Skill badges that recognize demonstrated, graded skills, and Creative Confidence badges that mark growth in creating, experimenting, and collaborating.

STEM Skill Badges

Earned by demonstrating specific skills, reviewed against a rubric by a grader. Some build on others as prerequisites.

JMAP Community Science Participant

Awarded to certified water monitors who actively contribute to JMAP's community science partnership with Watershed Studies, combining monthly field data collection with engineering and storytelling reflection.

Skills

Standardized field data recording in a real civic science context
Translating quantitative field data into narrative and storytelling form
Collaborative, intergenerational fieldwork
Watershed health and community environmental stewardship

Requires first: Texas Stream Team Certified Water Monitor

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Texas Stream Team Certified Water Monitor

Awarded to participants who complete Texas Stream Team certification, qualifying them to collect and submit official water quality data as part of the Junior Monitor Ambassador Program (JMAP) at the Meadows Center.

Skills

Water quality testing procedures per Texas Stream Team protocol
Standardized field data collection methods

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Creative Confidence Badges

Awarded by facilitators to recognize creative growth — from first experiments to creative leadership. Evidence is always voluntary.

Collaborator

Co-creates digital work with others, coordinating roles, tools, and feedback in a shared project.

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Creative Leader

Leads or mentors others in digital creation, helping a group design, produce, and share work with a wider audience.

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Developing Collaborator

Creates and shares digital work within a community setting and begins incorporating peer feedback.

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Emerging Creator

Begins exploring digital creation tools with simple experiments, drafts, and low-stakes artifacts.

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Intentional Creator

Creates digital projects with more intention and begins shaping work for a specific audience or purpose.

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Making It Your Own

You combined something of your own (for example, a skill, an interest, a cultural practice, or a way of seeing) with the STEM tools and materials in front of you, and you made something nobody planned for. The result was recognizably yours. It reflected who you are, not just what the activity asked you to do.

A Note on Evidence & Privacy

For Creative Confidence badges, sharing work is optional. STEM Skill badges require evidence a grader can review. Learners decide what they share beyond what a badge requires.