Equity in Out-of-School STEM Learning: Professional Development Needs and Strategies

How can professional learning for out­‐of­‐school staff be organized to promote equity in STEM learning? This is the question a group of out-of‐school educators and educational researchers gathered to discuss at the Exploratorium on January 30­‐31, 2015. The meeting was sponsored by the Research+Practice Collaboratory, an NSF-­‐funded project that develops and tests new models for integrating research and practice perspectives for the improvement of science and mathematics education. Four big ideas for supporting equity-oriented facilitation emerged from the group's discussions: (1) Seeing, hearing, and honoring, (2) Reflecting on teaching, learning, and equity, (3) Adopting asset-based approaches to staff development, and (4) Foregrounding equity to shape program activities.