Informalscience Rolls Out New Search Functions
The Center for Advancement of Informal Science Education (CAISE) launched InformalScience.org to be a central point of access for informal science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education resources. The site continues to grow and evolve in response to the needs of the field.
CAISE recently streamlined the Search tool on InformalScience.org to make it easier for users to discover resources on the site. Search results now display the date and resource type (such as project description, peer-reviewed article, or evaluation report) to give users more information while browsing. Users can refine search results by using metadata tags that describe characteristics of informal learning.
By searching the InformalScience.org repository, users can:
Explore the diverse landscape of informal STEM learning. With over 9,500 resources contributed from a dozen websites serving informal science education professionals, users can access a wide representation of work from across the various sectors of the ISE field. Project leaders and managers might consider using the repository as a way to introduce new staff to the growing body of knowledge about informal STEM learning settings and experiences, while experts can search for the latest research questions, findings, and design strategies from a wide variety of projects, programs, and institutions.
Build strong grant proposals. InformalScience.org offers a central place to access both foundational documents and recent publications that can strengthen new project ideas. Users can also use the repository and membership directory as ways to find potential collaborators and particular expertise, and draw ideas and inspiration from previously funded work.
Access peer-reviewed literature from leading education research journals. Registered, logged-in users of InformalScience.org can access thousands of peer-reviewed education research articles and abstracts through EBSCO’s Education Research Complete database. Now, researchers and practitioners who work outside of academic settings can access similar resources to their university colleagues. CAISE proactively catalogues articles most relevant to site users to appear in search results. The full database, and more information, is available at InformalScience.org/research/ebsco.
Visit InformalScience.org/search to explore the collection.