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This is a Knowledge Base article, designed to streamline access to and share evidence about informal STEM learning. Knowledge Base articles are evidence-supported claims about what is new and emerging in the field that you can reference when you develop a proposal or “make the case” for a strategy or approach to funders and stakeholders.  Veronica Garcia-Luis co-authored this article. Research ... 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  Researchers and evaluators have studied how social interactions around exhibits influence learning, and exhibit developers have experimented with design strategies to facilitate conversations and social interactions at exhibits. Findings from Research 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  Note, this Wiki content is based on a manuscript in preparation for publication. Designing exhibits to support family learning is a widely shared goal among museums. Thus, there have been many efforts ... 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 Partner with STEM Practitioners and Researchers Find Project Partners See Examples Read Project Stories Watch Project Videos Partnerships cross all sorts of boundaries between research and practice, between institutions ... Read more

The content below has been updated in the Project Planner Sections: The Project Lifecycle Finding Funding Reporting to Funders Dissemination and Sharing Learn from Experience Science Communication, Public Engagement, and Outreach As a growing professional field, informal STEM education has developed a variety of evidence-based approaches to learning and an established,experienced community of educators, researchers, ... Read more

Informal science education (ISE) is lifelong learning in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) that takes place across a multitude of designed settings and experiences outside of the formal classroom. Potential informal STEM education projects encompass a wide range of experiences and platforms including film and broadcast media; science centers and museums; zoos and aquaria; ... Read more

The Natural Academy of Science and Drexel University were founded as two separate institutions in Philadelphia, PA in the 1800s. For over a hundred years they worked separately in STEM education and research, until 2011 when they formed an affiliation, The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University. The affiliation was a synergistic opportunity that ... Read more

Resources » Design Evaluation Overview Working with an Evaluator Developing an Evaluation Plan Evaluation Tools and Instruments Evaluation Reporting and Dissemination Learn More About Evaluation See Also Discover Research Planning for success starts with development of an evaluation plan. The plan serves as the roadmap for project evaluation and provides a window into the evaluation ... Read more

The Education & Human Resources (EHR) Directorate at the National Science Foundation (NSF) will host an Open House on Monday, September 8 at 10:30 AM ET. The EHR Open House will feature speakers from the Innovation Corps for Learning (I-Corps L) pilot program will be accessible by phone and through WebEx. Please see below for ... Read more

Understanding an approach to facilitating conversations to bring community members together

This post is part of a series on the Building Informal Science Education (BISE) project. See previous posts in this series. How did the Building Informal Science Education (BISE) project start to make sense of the content in over 500 evaluation reports on InformalScience.org? It all began with our coding framework. Coding categories and related ... Read more

The SCE Foundation will be opening applications for its next Digital Learning Challenge to afterschool providers on January 2, 2017. SCE believes that in order for the next generation to thrive as individuals, professionals, and citizens in a rapidly changing world, they must become motivated, thoughtful lifelong learners. They are extremely interested in understanding how ... Read more

The Dimensions of Success observation tool, or DoS, pinpoints twelve indicators of Science Technology Enginerring and Math (STEM) program quality in out-of-school time. It was developed and studied with funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF Award #1008591) by the Program in Education, Afterschool and Resiliency (PEAR), along with partners at Educational Testing Service (ETS) ... Read more

University of Rhode Island’s Metcalf Institute seeks a dynamic new leader to implement its mission and strategic priorities and expand its stature and impacts across the globe. Metcalf Institute advances informed, inclusive public conversations about environmental issues by conducting science training for journalists, communication training for scientists, and a variety of public programs. The new director will ... Read more

There are two updated post-doctoral opportunities in NSF/EDU. These solicitations clarify that organizations such as “independent museums, observatories, research laboratories, professional societies and similar organizations located in the U.S. that are directly associated with educational research activities” are encouraged to either serve as host organizations for individual postdoctoral Fellows or to apply directly in the ... Read more

In 2008, CAISE convened an Access Inquiry Group in order to examine how the field of informal science education thinks (and acts) about disability and inclusion. The group developed and released a white paper on Inclusion, Disabilities, and Informal Science Learning in 2010. Using that paper as a starting point, this post revisits the theoretical ... Read more

Learn what's applicable to the design, implementation, and assessment of ISE

By Lesley Markham, Margaret Glass, Kris Morrissey, Dennis Schatz, Joe Heimlich, Martin Storksdieck, Nancy Staus, and Cat Stylinski We’ve all seen amazing people who got into the science center and museum field through many different routes and then grow to love and thrive in their work. But they may struggle to move forward because they ... Read more

Although people with disabilities are the largest minority group in the United States, stigma and ableism continue to limit opportunities for disabled people to fully contribute to and be successful in the STEM ecosystem.  The public is invited to join National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine for a transformational set of conversations on Disrupting Ableism ... Read more

The content below has been updated in the Project Planner Return to Developing Projects (2016) Just as communicating the results of an experiment is a vital practice in the sciences, communicating with the broader field of STEM education is vital to spark innovation and learning for everyone. Sharing with professional and stakeholder communities helps you ... Read more

Join NSF from 12 – 1:30 pm Eastern on August 10, 2023 for a Distinguished Lecture by John Matsui, PhD, titled “STEM Equity, ‘Good’ Mentoring, and the ‘Hidden Curriculum’” The lecture is sponsored by the Directorate for Biological Sciences (BIO)’s Broadening Participation Working Group. Learn more and register.

DiverSci will be exploring how an audit can be used to support more equitable practice and sharing the learning from the Center for Advancement of Informal Science Education (CAISE) to spark wider learning.  Summary: Results from an equity audit can identify areas of strength to build on, as well as gaps and opportunities to address equity in ... Read more

Interested in social justice, equity, diversity and inclusion in informal science engagement? Join colleagues and peers from across the world in the free Diversci “Community of Practice” regularly meeting to share ideas, resources and challenge with each other. The community of practice meets every two months online which involves a peer-led spotlight talk exploring a specific theme.  The ... Read more

Tools to support diverse museum board trustees

Join an interactive presentation by the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES) within the National Science Foundation (NSF) on the report, Diversity and STEM: Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities, which will be released on January 30. As an official federal statistical agency, NCSES is the nation’s leading provider of data on the ... Read more