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Science Learning+ was an open call for proposals for Planning and Partnership Grants through an international partnership between the NSF and the Wellcome Trust with the UK Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). The aims of Science Learning+ Planning and Partnership Grants were to strengthen the research and knowledge base; bridge the practice and research ... Read more

This month, the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Wellcome Trust, and the U.K. Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) announced 11 new awards that will improve the knowledge base and practice of science learning experiences that happen anywhere and at any time. These awards were made through the Science Learning+ program, which seeks to establish ... Read more

The Science Learning+ program, a partnership between NSF and the UK-based Wellcome Trust and ESRC, working in collaboration with other U.S. foundations, aims to explore the impact of informal learning experiences and improve understanding of how informal environments may help widen access to STEM. This program seeks to bring together partners from the U.S. and ... Read more

Recently, CAISE shared a new opportunity from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and Wellcome Trust (among other partners) called Science Learning+. The NSF will have several opportunities over the coming weeks for proposers to learn more about Science Learning+, and to begin developing partners and networks to include in the Science Learning+ Planning Proposals due ... Read more

The Science Media Awards & Summit (SMASH16) will be held from September 20-22, 2016. SMASH16 is a unique forum to network with top scientists and top science media makers from around the world to share new work, new approaches, new ideas. The unique collaboration between Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival and WGBH Boston brings together a diverse ... Read more

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) recently opened the 100th Science On a Sphere® installation at its headquarters in Silver Spring, MD. Science On a Sphere is an interactive 3D display system for scientists, educators, and the general public to simulate and interact with planetary data. The Sphere’s origins were discussed in a recent ... Read more

A recent Guardian article had some interesting reflections on recent STEM programming in the UK, where critics of a popular science television show argued that it was “dumbing down” science education. One highlight from the article: “Science changes as it makes its way on to television, just as it does as it travels to newspapers, ... Read more

The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology will be hosting a science outreach-themed poster session at their annual meeting in Boston, MA on March 28, 2015, as part of the 2015 Experimental Biology meeting. The event will take place at the Boston Convention and Events Center from 7-8:30 PM, and is open to the ... Read more

This Knowledge Base article was written collaboratively with contributions from Scott Pattison and Josie Melton. This article was migrated from a previous version of the Knowledge Base. The date stamp does not reflect the original publication date. Overview  Research findings in the field of cognitive science have implications for the design and implementation of science programs ... Read more

SCIENCE TALK ’24 is being planned as a hybrid conference to take place both in-person in Portland, Oregon, and with real-time, online participation for speakers and attendees also available. Virtual (live-streamed) presentations will take place between April 3 and April 9. Precise dates and times will be based on presenter availability. All attendees will have access to virtual ... Read more

This article was co-written by Sciencenter staff Michelle Kortenaar, Director of Education, and Alli Sribarra, Grant Administrator. Three years ago, the Sciencenter, a hands-on science museum in Ithaca, New York, was approached by researchers from Cornell University’s Early Childhood Cognition Lab (ECC Lab) who were in search of a real-world setting in which to study ... Read more

This Spotlight was co-written with Sarah Breen Bartecki, Lisa-Anne DeGregoria Kelly, & Michael Howard What happens when two organizations with similar missions partner to focus all of their informal science education programs in an under-resourced neighborhood in ways local residents want to be supported to improve their community? SCIENCES, Supporting a Community’s Informal Education Needs: ... Read more

On September 21 and 22, 2023, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), in collaboration with the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM), will host “Scientific Evidence and the Courts” at AAAS headquarters in Washington, DC. This event will examine critical issues regarding the admission and use of scientific and technical ... Read more

Rose Hendricks is a Kavli Civic Science Fellow and vice-chair of the leadership team for ComSciCon, who is leading a collaboration of scientific societies in expanding their support for scientists who engage with decision makers, communities, and members of the public. She is a social scientist (PhD in cognitive science) with experience as a communications researcher ... Read more

In 2015, AAAS (the American Association for the Advancement of Science) began a project to document and study public engagement with science. As part of this project, a series of scales is being developed to study scientists’ experiences with doing public engagement and the short-term impact of those experiences. The second of these scales is ... Read more

This article was migrated from a previous version of the Knowledge Base. The date stamp does not reflect the original publication date. Overview Several scientific organizations concerned about the impact of entertainment media on public perceptions of science have taken steps to directly improve the accuracy of science in entertainment media and boost interest in ... Read more

Learn about this new program’s goals and how to apply to become a trained volunteer to facilitate introductions to SciStarter and citizen science at a library near you! The SciStarter Ambassador Program is a volunteer training program designed for individuals from diverse backgrounds and experience levels who want to introduce SciStarter and citizen science to ... Read more

Through EBSCO Information Services, InformalScience.org users have access to thousands of peer-reviewed articles and reference resources published in a wide variety of education research journals. These resources include more than 60 full-text, peer-reviewed articles about STEM learning in environments such as makerspaces, afterschool programs, and formal/informal partnerships. To find these resources, run a search in ... Read more

Search the crowdsourced database of thousands of informal STEM learning project descriptions, research materials, and evaluation reports.

The InformalScience.org collection contains more than 7,000 descriptions of funded grants, research papers, evaluation reports, syntheses, and other resources of interest to the informal STEM learning community. These resources are contributed by the field and curated by CAISE. They are organized through a variety of metadata tags that allow users to more effectively filter their ... Read more

Note: In our January newsletter, CAISE provided a high-level overview of a convening organized by the University of Washington, the Afterschool Alliance, and the National Girls Collaborative Project called From Common Measures to Measures in Common: Documenting STEM Learning in Afterschool Programs. Ari Hock, a second-year PhD student in the Learning Sciences and Human Development ... Read more

This year’s Science Education for New Civic Engagements and Responsibilities (SENCER) Summer Institute will again take advantage of continuing virtual environment and combine synchronous and asynchronous content. Institute programming will be held online from August 3 through August 6, 2023. A Zoom link will be sent to registrants before the meeting. The theme for this year’s Institute is: Science ... Read more

This article was co-written by Ellen Mappen, Senior Scholar & Project Director, Informal Science Education Partnership Programs at the National Center for Science & Civic Engagement, Washington, DC, and Hailey Chenevert, Project Coordinator at the National Center for Science & Civic Engagement. SENCER-ISE (Science Education for New Civic Engagements and Responsibilities – Informal Science Education) ... Read more