Learning is a lifelong, life-wide, and life-deep process. Narrow definitions of learning as consisting only of conceptual knowledge can limit how we engage people with and in STEM. Science communicators and educators can design opportunities to build on prior knowledge to help people make sense of new ideas and experiences in ways that can guide decision-making as well as future choices.
About this resource:
This is a practice brief produced by CAISE's Broadening Participation in STEM Task Force to help informal STEM education (ISE) and science communication groups reflect on and
Though many communities are now undertaking collective efforts to transform who participates in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), the informal science education and science communication sectors are largely peripheral to these initiatives.
A task force assembled by the Center for the Advancement of Informal STEM Education (CAISE) spent 18 months examining how the public engagement with STEM sector typically presents and represents STEM, and deliberated on whether or not it does so in truly inclusive ways that can contribute to efforts to broaden participation. In this
To help informal STEM education (ISE) and science communication groups reflect on and strengthen their efforts to broaden participation in STEM, CAISE’s Broadening Participation in STEM Task Force developed a suite of professional development tools.
If you are a staff leader or trainer working on broadening participation, these resources can help support your work. You can use them to plan and lead reflective discussions about current practices, with an eye to developing goals, strategies, and priorities that can make your ISE and science communication work more inclusive.
Toolkit
In informal STEM education, thinking about engagement has evolved from a focus on innovative ways of attracting the initial attention of science center/museum visitors or media consumers to strategies for designing environments and activities that foster deeper experiences such as experimentation, skill development, and contemplation in a variety of settings. In the science communication field, engagement increasingly refers to “two-way” approaches to designing and facilitating interactions between STEM professionals and diverse “publics” that take into account the knowledge and prior
The landmark 2009 National Research Council consensus report Learning Science in Informal Environments, posited that learners in informal environments “experience excitement, interest, and motivation to learn about phenomena in the natural and physical world” as one of six strands of informal science learning. In 2016, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Center for Public Engagement with Science and Technology identified “increased interest and motivation” around STEM topics as a short-term, measurable outcome of science engagement activities. For many professionals
In everyday language, one might define “identity” as the way that people answer questions such as: “Who do I think I am, or who can I be, where do I belong, and how do I think other people see me?” The concept of identity has become an increasingly important factor in the study of informal science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education and science communication. And a growing number of designers name an enhanced science or STEM identity as an intended outcome for participants in their activities and programs.
In 2017, the CAISE Evaluation and Measurement Task Force asked a
The Field Museum contracted RK&A to conduct a summative evaluation of the Grainger Science Hub and the Discovery Squad Carts, two museum experiences facilitated by educators or trained volunteers. The goals of the study are to explore the extent to which visitors interact with programming in the Science Hub and at Discovery Squad Carts and the nature of those interactions, as well as visitor motivations and takeaways.
How did we approach this study?
RK&A conducted observations in the Science Hub and at Discovery Squad Carts to understand the nature of experiences at each. The
This is a summary description of the 2018 Summer Science Camp offered by the Morgridge Institute for Research at the Discovery Building on the UW-Madison campus. The camp has been offered annualy since 2007, and the 2018 evaluation produced some specific ideas for improving the camp. Since 2007, more than 300 students from rural Wisconsin high schools have attended the camp. This population has less access to the many educational advantages that regular internet access affords their urban counterparts. The science camp team is exploring how to carry out a study of camp alumni.
The aim of this project is to build capacity among institutions of informal science education (ISE) to design co-created public engagement with science (CCPES) activities in partnership with civic, community, and scientist partners.
The COMPASS conference will bring together 80 participants for two days in September 2018 at the Exploratorium in San Francisco, CA. The first dissemination will take place in a presentation at the ASTC conference the following month in October 2018. A webinar sharing insights from COMPASS and inviting others to engage will be held in March 2019 hosted by ASTC and accessible by ASTC members and non-members alike. A companion COMPASS e-publication will be released for free download, also in March 2019, with summaries of conference proceedings, key issues identified, case histories of ILAM in
How does focusing on “community science literacy” change the role of an informal science learning center?
This poster was presented at the 2019 NSF AISL Principal Investigators meeting.
This project creates "data-catcher" exhibits that allow museum visitors to participate in scientific research, contributing data from their interactions while engaged in compelling learning experiences.