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The Framework is a tool for exploring professional competencies across a broad range of ISL work. The Framework is part of a broader project, Professional Pathways in Informal STEM Learning (ISL), which supports professional learning for anyone who works in the ISL field. Science and technology centers and museums, natural history museums, children’s museums, zoos, aquariums, nature centers, botanical gardens,...

Museums and science centers offer rich STEM opportunities for teens, from climate advocacy to leadership development. But how can these institutions build sustainable, equity-centered collaborations with young people and their communities? This session shared outcomes from Creating Sustainable Community, Museum, and University Collaborations, a one-year NSF-AISL–funded partnership among researchers, informal science educators, and teen participants from ten museums and universities...

This paper offers a model of formative science assessment as an ongoing dialogic process for building understanding that is multimodal, embodied, and relational, rooted in cultural expression and collective sense-making....

Video talk of a paper authored by Folashadé Solomon, Dionne Champion, Mariah Steele and Tracey Wright. The paper received the Outstanding Paper Award from the Journal of the Learning Sciences. As the selection panel comments, “By employing culturally responsive pedagogy, the authors established a connection between the learning of physics and dance education, thereby promoting access and equity…The meticulous analysis...

This article appeared in the Journal of Learning Sciences' (2022) special issue on Learning in and through the arts. The paper examines the complex role of embodied funds of knowledge in physics teaching and learning. Through a close analysis of teen dancers as they worked to collaboratively construct new understandings of elements of particle physics in an out-of-school workshop called...

Neurodiverse individuals bring valuable talents to STEM fields and should have the opportunity to explore these subjects as potential career paths. By following these recommendations, based on our systematic review, out-of-school STEM programs can become more inclusive and beneficial for all students, including those who think and learn differently....

Informal STEM settings offer valuable opportunities for students, including neurodiverse students, to engage and participate in STEM activities. However, there is a limited information on how to best engage and include neurodiverse students in informal STEM programming. This systematic review aimed to identify the programmatic elements that facilitated the inclusion of K-12 neurodiverse STEM learners in informal STEM programs. In...

The talents that neurodiverse individuals bring to STEM fields are being increasingly recognized, thus it is important to ensure neurodiverse youth have opportunities to experience an array of STEM fields as viable career options. Based on the results of a systematic review, this article provides recommendations for how informal STEM learning programs can effectively engage neurodiverse middle and high school...

Informal learning experiences in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) can enhance STEM learning that occurs in formal educational settings and curricula as well as generate enthusiasm for considering STEM careers. The aim of this systematic review is to focus on the experiences of neurodiverse students in informal STEM learning. Neurodiversity is a subgroup of neurodevelopmental conditions, such as autism,...

The STEAM Equity project brought science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics learning experiences to 12 public libraries located in rural communities around the U.S., each with significant Latinx populations. Implemented from 2020-2024, participating libraries received resources to help them develop connections with community partners to reach specific audiences (especially Latinx audiences, tweens, and girls), facilitate STEAM programs for their patrons,...

This document is the final evaluation report for the Brains On the Move research project, prepared by the project's Research Advisory Group. The report addresses the accomplishment of the project's stated research goals, the quality and rigor of the research, the value of the research to the ISE field, and reflections on the collaboration between the researchers and advisors....

This poster provides an overview of the Molly Community Science project, including a summary of the project's evaluation and research findings....

Informal learning settings are valuable environments for students to learn beyond the classroom. This article describes the preliminary findings from a systematic review that explored programmatic elements associated with science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) learning, knowledge, identity, and self-efficacy for neurodiverse youth in informal STEM learning environments. ...

As evidence synthesis methodologies, particularly systematic reviews (SRs), continue to gain popularity across social science research disciplines, faculty requests for librarian assistance with literature searchers are also increasing. A critical component of a well-developed systematic review is a robust grey literature search. Grey literature provides access to research outside of traditional publishing streams, such as conference proceedings, government reports, or...

Informal STEM settings offer unique opportunities to engage neurodiverse learners, including those with ADHD, autism, and dyslexia. To understand how these programs can be more accessible, we conducted a systematic review of academic research and grey literature on informal STEM programs for K–12 neurodiverse learners in the U.S. We reviewed more than 2,000 records and identified 11 research articles and 7...

The Molly Community Science project, a collaborative research and design initiative involving rural Alaskan communities, educators, researchers, media producers, and cultural advisors to support STEM education grounded in Alaska Native culture, developed an engaging, place based, culturally responsive educational camp that supports environmental science learning for children aged 6 to 8 in rural Alaska Native communities. The prototype, Molly’s Salmon...

This report assesses how the Molly Community Science project implemented the co-design process by evaluating it against the following indicators: Equity: reduction or removal of barriers to active participation of all members in a co-design process. Trust and respect: skills, expression, and knowledge systems are trusted and respected as having value to the project. Relationships: valuing connectedness and long-term relationships beyond the scope...

North Atlantic storms--such as hurricanes and Nor'easters--disrupt lives and impose significant burdens on coastal communities. Residents in these regions rely on storm forecasts to assess risk and decide on protective actions. To inform the public, news and social media outlets frequently use scientific visualizations--such as cones of uncertainty and spaghetti plots--to communicate storm trajectories and potential impacts. However, these visualizations...

Informal learning environments such as museums, libraries, and community organizations are important settings that provide innovative learning experiences to develop young people's interests and skills with science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and computing. Yet despite the increasing educational opportunities, there are barriers to meaningful participation for all youth. Research suggests that attention to the structural conditions of learning environments...

The increasingly connected and technologically mediated world both gives learners unprecedented access to data about complex systems, and simultaneously requires increasingly sophisticated STEM reasoning skills to grapple with those complex systems. This project will develop analytical tools, simulations, and online learning materials to help adult learners make sense of the complex systems involved in Type 1 Diabetes (T1D). The project...

The objective of this project is to support research on creating, implementing, and testing a novel online serious game on emergency response. Iowa State University (ISU) and Polk County Emergency Management (PCEM) in Iowa collaboratively develop the Disaster Multiplayer Online Game (DMOG). Emergency response is a complex process, involving multiple organizations and decision makers with different roles and responsibilities, objectives,...

Artificial intelligence (AI) technologies are rapidly reshaping daily life; yet older adults--one of the fastest-growing U.S. demographics--have limited chances to understand, critique, and influence AI technologies. Meanwhile, older adults bring a wealth of life experience, and a willingness to share knowledge across generations. Their shared experience and knowledge can have a great impact on human and technology advances. This project...

This project, known as Molly Community Science, aims to support the development of environmental stewardship among 6- to 8-year-old children from rural Alaska Native communities. The project has two goals: (1) to investigate how children develop environmental stewardship (which we refer to as environmental identity); and (2) to co-design, with Alaska Native communities, an intergenerational, culturally responsive science program that...

Studies indicate that informal learning settings such as out-of-school learning (OSL) programs, including afterschool and summer learning programs, can support K-12 students' learning in science, technology, math, and science (STEM) as well as enhance youth career interests in STEM. This project seeks to model how two organizations, the Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics, and Computing (CEISMC) at Georgia Tech...

Young children begin learning math long before they enter school. Between ages 1 and 3, toddlers develop early understandings of number, shape, size, and location through everyday conversations and interacting with materials in their home environment. But not all children are exposed to the same math talk and objects, and early differences in home experiences may contribute to later gaps...