Conference: Equity, Innovation, and STEAM – Strengthening the R&D Connections

STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts, and Math) continues to grow in the informal science learning field, with a wide variety of findings from researchers and practitioners. There is a significant need to assess where this nascent field is in relation to equity and what are the critical next steps that should be taken. Research shows: (1) a need to develop more mutually supportive links in this work between researchers and practitioners; (2) a need to address equitable access, framing, and design in STEAM informal science learning; and additionally, (3) that STEAM engages underserved populations in STEM. This can, potentially, help provide needed diversity in the STEM workforce, along with creative and innovative thinking skills essential to success. Texas Southern University, in partnership with the Innovation Collaborative, will convene a two-year five-phase working conference project to address these issues. This conference project is housed on an HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) campus that has a museum studies program and a university museum. A core group of diverse leading STEAM informal science learning researchers and practitioners will help lead the project. They will assemble diverse teams representing the broad spectrum of informal science learning institutions. During the two years, these participants will immerse themselves in equity, choose and frame the six most important topics to address, and investigate these topics through virtual and in-person components. This conference project can serve as a model for other fields to develop an approach and next steps relating to equity, especially as it integrates research and practice.

The goals of this research are to develop: 1) a cohesive approach, integrating research and practice, to the most salient issues regarding equity in STEAM informal science learning; and 2) an effective model for a STEAM informal science learning conference project to address equity. All targeted outcomes will be iteratively measured using equitable, culturally responsive evaluation techniques. The project findings will be disseminated through traditional and nontraditional means with a focus on reaching a wide variety of diverse audiences. At the conclusion of this process, there will be a more cohesive view of where the STEAM informal science learning field is in relation to equity that will inform next steps that will benefit a broad spectrum of underserved populations.