PROFILE Melissa Ballard Senior Manager of Public Policy & Advocacy Association of Science and Technology Centers About informal science Projects Building Supports Towards a Useful, Usable, and In-Use Framework of Professional Competencies in the Informal STEM Learning Field Center for Advancement of Informal Science Education (2016-2022) Research 2023 AISL Awardee Mini-Poster: 2215274 What Counts as STEM? What Are the Cultural Norms of STEM and Why Do They Matter? Broadening Perspectives on Broadening Participation in STEM: A Toolkit to Support Science Engagement Professionals Teachers spend more time on science in states with accountability requirements Professional development supports integrating technology with reform-based science Preservice teachers learn to teach science in summer camp Positive informal science experiences help students persist in STEM majors Planetarium professionals teach interactively to achieve their goals Mapping U.S. out-of-school time science, technology, and engineering programs Inquiry-based learning may not always lead to higher levels of scientific achievement How science journalism supports science literacy Few state science standards comprehensively address engineering Explicitly teaching technology use improves technology integration Examining pathways to STEM college majors and careers Childrens’ responses to science across settings A connected learning approach to an engineering design challenge Developing science agency Developing a science identity through life-relevant learning Examining the Impact of Afterschool STEM Programs Program design supporting urban youth Preservice science teachers’ conceptions of students’ prior knowledge Why do Norwegian youth choose physics? Student thinking about socioscientific issues Professional development to support culturally relevant science teaching Place-based expertise and science knowledge shape civic action Partnerships are a key support for afterschool science Participation in out-of-school time science and later interest in STEM careers Linking early science interest and informal science experiences Girls’ science identity development in and out of school