National Science Foundation Offers New Funding Opportunity For Informal

The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) Directorate for Education & Human Resources (EHR) requests proposals for funding in the EHR Core Research (ECR) program. This program, first established in early 2013, provides funding for foundational research that is “broad, essential, and enduring.” ECR seeks proposals that address one or more of four core research areas identified in the solicitation: STEM learning, STEM learning environments, workforce development, and broadening participation in STEM. To help the field consider ECR topics and questions, CAISE convened a working group of informal science education (ISE) practitioners and researchers, as part of our Practice-and-Research in ISE Initiative, to explore the state of the field starting from questions and challenges posed by a cross-section of ISE professionals at the 2012 Informal Science Education (ISE) Program Principal Investigator Meeting. In April 2013, a working group gathered at The University of Pittsburgh Center for Learning in Out of School Environments (UPLCOSE) to produce a draft road map of research topics. CAISE has since mapped those topics back to the four core EHR research areas. Over the coming months, CAISE will be hosting discussions to further develop these topics. To read the draft road map and participate in future CAISE Practice-and-Research Initiative activities, please join Practice-and-Research group on Informalscience.org. ECR proposals are due February 14, 2014. For more information see the program announcement. Please note that in order to access the CAISE Practice-and-Research Initiative group, you must first join or login to informalscience.org and then request to join the group. Once approved you will gain access to the draft roadmap and the online forum discussion area.