Connecting Informal and Formal STEM Education

When it comes to STEM education, the nation’s K–12 public schools cannot do it all. The nature of 21st century proficiency in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics is too complex for any single institution. The good news is that schools do not have to do it alone. Museums, zoos, nature centers, aquariums, and planetariums are among the several thousand informal science institutions in the United States that regularly engage young people in observing, learning, and using STEM knowledge and skills. Providing a richness of resources unavailable in any classroom, informal science institutions across the country have developed exemplary partnerships with public schools—and have room for more. Partnership programs cover a variety of topics and types, from curriculum-related experiments during field trips to intensive after-school math lessons to teaching teachers about the latest developments in environmental science.