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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

Project descriptions from the National Institute of Health (NIH) Science Education Partnership Award (SEPA) program are now available on InformalScience.org The SEPA program funds innovative projects that create partnerships among biomedical and clinical researchers and K-12 teachers and schools, museums and science centers, media experts, and other educational organizations. SEPA K-12 resources target state and ... Read more

The Serious Play Conference is presented June 13 – 17, 2022 online and in Orlando, FL. More information is here. The Serious Play Conference is a leadership conference for professionals who are exploring the use of game-based learning, sharing their experience and working together to shape the future of training and education.   

Reviewing is an important service to the informal STEM learning field. It is also great professional development with respect to understanding the AISL solicitation, the NSF Merit Review process, and writing strong proposals.

This blog was co-written with Karen Peterman and Cecilia Garibay. See additional author information at the end of the blog. It’s finally fall—temperatures are starting to cool, the leaves will soon begin to change, and the proposal deadline for the National Science Foundation’s (NSF’s) Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program is just around the corner. ... Read more

In Spring 2020, Smirla Ramos-Montañez, Family STEM Learning Researcher at the Technology Education Research Center (TERC) spoke with us about applying a culturally responsive approach to research and evaluation studies of informal STEM learning. The interview was conducted by Dr. Kelly Riedinger as a member of the Center for Advancement of Informal Science Education (CAISE) ... Read more

This article was co-authored by Scott Pattison, TERC​ and Gina Svarovsky, University of Notre Dame.   The Storybook STEM project began from a relatively simple premise. With support from the National Science Foundation (#1902536) and TERC, our goal was to synthesize knowledge about how children’s books can support STEM engagement and learning for preschool-age children ... Read more

This blog was co-written by Marjorie Bequette, Director of Evaluation and Research in Learning  at the Science Museum of Minnesota, and Gina Navoa Svarovsky, Assistant Professor of Practice at the University of Notre Dame’s Center for STEM Education. Making Connections began in 2013 with a vision of a more diverse and inclusive Science Museum of Minnesota (SMM), where families ... Read more

This webinar will focus on questions and issues relevant for these types of organizations to submit and/or be part of grants to the AISL program.

This webinar will highlight insights, common questions, and emerging advancements from NSF-funded projects. Come talk with program officers about how the AISL program can support future projects.

Authors: Perrin Chick, Sue Allen, Kate Cook, Maine Mathematics and Science Alliance Well before COVID-19, there were occasions when we all hosted meetings or offered workshops and inevitably there would be at least one person who could not physically attend but wanted to be included. Unfortunately, in many cases the default would be to send along notes ... 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  Simulation offers the learning fields the ability to use rich models and visualizations to create interactive learning experiences. The ability of those experiences to explore the elements of time, space and scale, ... Read more

Founded in 2008, The Inclusive Museum Research Network is brought together by a shared concern for the future role of the museum and how it can become more inclusive. We seek to build an epistemic community where we can make linkages across disciplinary, geographic, and cultural boundaries. As a Research Network, we are defined by our scope ... Read more