Learn from Experience
Ideas and methods for engaging intended audiences with STEM topics and practices using designed approaches often have historical precedence. Best practices of project development are built on front-end or formative evaluation feedback and are grounded in learning theory and/or the collective wisdom gathered from years of experience and experimentation.
Where can I learn more about specific environments where informal STEM learning is taking place?
These pages are curated by CAISE staff with the help of professionals working in STEM education to provide portals to InformalScience.org resources for specific learning environments, audiences, and approaches.
Where can I find information about current, on-going projects?
Our active blog regularly spotlights ISE projects, focusing on their development processes, learning goals, evaluation results, challenges and next steps. These spotlights provide a sense of ISE work happening in a variety of environments from cultural institutions to media platforms.
Where can I find more examples of informal STEM education approaches, findings and theory?
- Project descriptions on InformalScience.org provide a good starting place for finding abstracts of funded work in a wide variety of learning environments.
- Sources of learning theory and empirical evidence are available in the Discover Research section of the site, as well as by searching the repository for evaluation reports.
- On the "Discover Research" pages you can also learn how to apply research in practical ways and explore key areas for future research for ideas to pursue in developing a project.
Share your experience!
Help to build the informal STEM education field by contributing resources to InformalScience.org. By creating a project page that includes a clear and concise description, list of team members, and project findings/products, you become part of a growing repository of field knowledge. Review repository criteria or contact the resource center for assistance.