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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

“All of the professions that traffic in the dissemination of what’s known by science, should use science to help their crafts to evolve to be exactly what they want them to be.”–Dan Kahan, Yale University. The Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival held its third biennial Science Media Awards and Symposium at public media outlet WBGH ... Read more

What is the state of the art in how we assess outcomes of informal STEM experiences? In early December 2013, a group of six informal STEM learning assessment projects met for a two-day, deep dive on this question at the offices of the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation in Palo Alto, California. The projects had ... Read more

In March 2014, CAISE participated in the summit on Advancing Opportunity for Quality Science Learning organized by the Coalition for Science After School. This blog post, prepared by the summit’s organizers, reports out on that meeting, and the conclusion of 10 years of work by the Coalition to advance opportunities for doing STEM outside of ... Read more

The inaugural Public Libraries & STEM Conference (funded in part through NSF #1413783) brought together more than 150 thought leaders from the library and STEM education communities in Denver, CO on August 20-22, 2015, to discuss the opportunity space that libraries present to help provide STEM experiences to underserved communities. Slides and notes from the conference ... Read more

This post was written by Carlin Hseuh, Project Manager for the World Biotech Tour, and Grace Troxel, Digital Librarian for CAISE. On May 5-6 2015, the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) Roundtable on Public Interfaces of the Life Sciences hosted a discussion entitled “Trust and Confidence at the Intersections of the Life Sciences and Society.” ... Read more

This past March, the annual meeting of the National Association for Research on Science Teaching (NARST) was held in Pittsburgh, PA. About 50 science education researchers and practitioners attended a four-hour workshop that explored strategies for building collaborations between researchers and practitioners, described the opportunities and challenges of two ongoing collaborations, and helped researchers sharpen ... Read more

Top image: Kevin Crowley, co-PI of CAISE, discusses research agenda development at a session at the 2014 AISL PI Meeting. The theme of this summer’s Visitor Studies Association (VSA) conference was Building Capacity for Evaluation: Individuals, Institutions, the Field. One session addressed the role that research agendas are playing in building capacity among researchers and ... Read more