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This brief offers guidance to researchers and developers for responsible AI research and implementation in educational settings.

Funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Trail of Time (ToT) is a three-mile-long and fully accessible, interpretive walking timeline trail located on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. Fifteen years in the making by the Grand Canyon National Park, University of New Mexico, and Arizona State University, the ToT features bronze markers ... Read more

Successfully diversifying STEM education requires a deep understanding of the lived experiences of underrepresented students as they navigate systems that were often not created with them in mind. Numbers only tell part of the story of the challenges these students face while pursuing higher education and thus hold a limited understanding of the solution to ... Read more

You’re invited to participate in an upcoming online discussion about public engagement researcher-practitioner collaboration. This will take place Tuesday, November 7 from 3:00-4:00pm ET on Trellis, the online communication platform for the scientific community, and will be text-based/in a comment thread; no talking, video, slides, etc.  Below is a little more information.  If you’re interested, you may ... Read more

CAISE will host our next monthly Twitter Chat on Thursday, April 30 from 3:00 – 3:30 PM ET. We will discuss environmental education in informal learning environments and settings. To join in, visit Twitter on April 30 and search for the #informalscience hashtag. Starting at 3 PM, we’ll Tweet some discussion prompts about ISE and ... Read more

On Thursday, February 28, the National Science Foundation (NSF) announced two open positions within the Directorate for Education and Human Resources’ (EHR) Division of Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings (DRL). Both positions are located at NSF’s headquarters in Alexandria, VA. The deadline to apply is Thursday, March 21. Below are excerpts from ... Read more

This Knowledge Base article was written collaboratively with contributions from Cat Scharon and Sarah Cohn. This article was migrated from a previous version of the Knowledge Base. The date stamp does not reflect the original publication date. Overview Informal Science Education programs are designed for a wide variety of audiences with a wide variety of intended ... Read more

Resources » Discover Research Overview Understanding Research Types of Research Research Gaps Integrate Research Into Practice See Also Design Evaluation There are many different types of research conducted in ISE contexts. A set of Common Guidelines (a supplement was released in 2018) from the US National Science Foundation and Department of Education’s Institute of Educational Sciences ... Read more

To address equity and accessibility, the Access Board was tasked with several actions in President Biden’s Executive Order on AI. The Board signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in May of 2024, with the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD) and the Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT) to ensure that the disability community ... Read more

Resources » Project Planner Overview Get Oriented Understand the Field Learn from Practice and Research Review the Literature Build Partnerships Develop Equitable Partnerships Collaborate with Community</a Partner with STEM Practitioners and Researchers Find Project Partners See Examples Read Project Stories Watch Project Videos There are many ways to describe the rich and dynamic work of ... Read more

Under the guidance of the Conservation Education Committee (CEC) at the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA), the Visitor Studies Initiative* has been conducting a study to determine the state of educational evaluation and research at AZA institutions. Many AZA-accredited zoos and aquariums are conducting important and useful research and evaluation work with their educational ... Read more

It is not uncommon for children to thrive in one learning context but struggle in another. What accounts for such differences? Writing in the journal Human Development, the authors Bell, Tzou, Bricker, and Baines argue that we lack theory and research for understanding how people do and do not experience meaningful learning across formal and ... 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 Frameworks for thinking about visitors, audiences, and participants vary across fields and purposes. Recognizing the different ways we conceptual visitors can be informative as part of the front-end development of programs as ... Read more

Resources » Discover Research Overview Understanding Research Types of Research Research Gaps Integrate Research Into Practice See Also Design Evaluation As in all scientific endeavors, research-based knowledge is both tentative and cumulative. One study is not sufficient. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) and the National Research Council (NRC) in the United States ... Read more

The Ohio State University (OSU), one of the country’s largest public research universities, and COSI, one of the nation’s largest and most innovative science centers, have formed a deep partnership. Since the 2006 conceptualization and first agreement, COSI & OSU have created a “center of science” at COSI where research, science, and university outreach are ... Read more

The AEOP Veterans Appreciation Challenge invites students (grades 4-12) to design 3D-printable pins honoring veterans. No prior experience needed – they offer FREE resources to guide participants. Why participate? Boost creativity and STEM skills through 3D design. Learn valuable tools with easy-to-follow resources. Amazing prizes include a trip for 2 and a 3D printer for ... Read more

November is a rich month for informal STEM education leaders and science communicators to share practices, findings and insights. ISE professionals from around the world will be gathering November 15-17 at the Science Center World Summit 2017 in Tokyo, Japan. Over the course of three days, discussions will be focused on the theme of “Connecting the World ... Read more

This fall’s conference season provides many opportunities for members of these fields to gather, connect, exchange information, progress, findings and challenges. In October alone, there will be several conferences that are relevant to ISE, SciComm and topics such as broadening participation in these fields. The Society for Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science ... Read more

The November 6 NSF AISL deadline is quickly approaching! Over the next few weeks, CAISE and NSF are conducting a series of webinars for AISL applicants to learn more about the program and the proposal development process. Additional resources for writing AISL proposals, including previously recorded webinars, may be found on InformalScience.org’s AISL landing page. How ... Read more

Join Arlene deStrulle and STEM+C Program Officers in a discussion of NSF’s STEM+C Solicitation and Awards (Proposal Deadline March 29). RSVP Now! Integrating Computational Thinking And Computing In Pre-K-12 STEM Teaching And Learning This webinar will be held multiple times in the coming months and are free and open to the public. To RSVP, click on one ... Read more

The Association of Science-Technology Centers (ASTC) has been hosting a series of webinars on topics related to engaging the public in science research and findings through their Public Engagement with Science Community of Practice (CoP). The most recent webinar in the series featured the latest research on how participating in public engagement can affect the ... Read more

As of this month, CAISE is no longer operating our old website, insci.org. That site now redirects to informalscience.org. Please update your links accordingly, and please also note the following about CAISE-related sites: The ISE Evidence Wiki now redirects to the Evidence Wiki in the Research section of informalscience.org. The Informal Commons (informalcommons.org) remains live. ... Read more

The Relating Research to Practice (RR2P) website recently got a facelift and was relaunched earlier this week. The website has over 300 short research briefs, free for download. Each brief summarizes a STEM-related research study conducted in classrooms, informal, and everyday settings. Visit the new site at http://relatingresearchtopractice.org. Individual briefs are also searchable in the InformalScience.org ... Read more

The Center for Innovative Research on Cyberlearning (CIRCL), a partnership between SRI International, EDC, and NORC at the University of Chicago held the 2014 Cyberlearning Summit on June 9–10 at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In the spirit of cyberlearning, the event was webcast and virtual participation was encouraged. The two-day summit featured panels, twitter discussions, ... Read more

Presenters at this year’s 28th Annual Visitor Studies Association Conference revisited the topic of research agendas, and focused on what it means to implement a research agenda, and on the process of integrating them into one’s practice. Some of the big questions discussed were, “Now that field-wide research agendas have been developed, how can we ... Read more