Resources For NSF AISL Proposals
In a session at October’s 2014 Association of Science-Technology Centers (ASTC) annual conference, Program Directors from AISL presented guidelines and tips for submitting competitive proposals to the program. The slides from that presentation are available on InformalScience.org. The presentation includes an overview and context of AISL, the types of projects that AISL funds, the different components of AISL proposals (such as the project description, narrative, rationale, design, dissemination plan, and evaluation and external review plan), as well as information about other NSF funding opportunities. These include the Education and Human Resources Directorate (EHR) Core Research program, with a deadline of February 3, 2015 and the Integrative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers, or ITEST, program, with a deadline of November 6, 2014. Also in the presentation is information about the Common Guidelines for Education Research and Development; proposers may also find this webinar presentation on the Common Guidelines helpful for preparing their proposals.
When preparing your proposal, be sure to read the solicitation thoroughly multiple times. Proposers should also read the NSF Grant Proposal Guidelines. Proposals should be prepared well enough in advance of the November 14 deadline to allow time to catch and correct any technical errors that might result in missing the deadline or in noncompliance with the Guidelines (compliance can be checked in the NSF Fastlane system). Questions about submitting your proposal can be submitted to drlaisl@nsf.gov.
InformalScience.org has additional resources to help you build your proposal and work with NSF support. You can use the project database to find prior work that may inform proposals, and use the research library to find evidence to strengthen and/or identify the need for your proposal idea. The National Science Foundation requires funded projects to submit their evaluation reports to InformalScience.org so that they will be accessible through our searchable evaluation database.