This research study was designed to explore and document the current “landscape” of the informal science education community. The authors outline the theoretical framework used to approach their research, research goals and design, methods, results, and conclusions and recommendations. Based on the authors' preliminary and exploratory investigation, they argue that currently the ISE community does not function as an effective community of practice. However, many of the pieces that are necessary for ISE to become a true community of practice are currently in place. The report raises the
The National Research Council, through its Board on Science Education, will carry out a synthesis study of informal science learning based on a workshop funded by a prior NSF planning grant. The intellectual merit of this project is based on the formation of a committee of experts representative of the diversity of the field who will engage in a fact-finding process on learning science in informal settings, deliberate about the evidence and produce a major report that will be published by the National Academies Press. The study will describe the status of knowledge in the field currently, articulate a common framework for the next generation of research on informal science learning and provide guidance to the community of practice. By presenting what we know about the characteristics of effective informal science learning environments across a range of outcome measures, the study will achieve broader impacts by assisting practitioners, policymakers and researchers in directing their efforts towards realizing the potential of informal science education for advancing public science literacy.
The University of Pittsburgh Center for Learning in Out-of-School Environments (UPCLOSE) proposes to redevelop its web-site, http://www.informalscience.org, which has become the primary online resource for researchers and practitioners dedicated to dissemination and development of knowledge about informal science and learning. The redesigned site will include more multimedia elements, an expanded research database and an improved search function. The site will be expanded by adding a quarterly Informal Learning Research newsletter (with the American Educational Research Association), conference reporting, interview articles, monthly evaluation tools and tips articles, Informal Science in the News clipping service, Research Toolkit and a listserv. It also will include digitized resources of the Visitor Studies Association. This web-site will support the continued creation of a cumulative body of empirical research and improve connections between research and practice. In so doing, it will foster the continued development of a community of practice in informal STEM education. This project will significantly enhance a major element of the infrastructure for this field.
The Franklin Institute Science Museum is planning, implementing, evaluating and disseminating the results of a 2.5 day conference entitled "Museums and New Family. Audiences - Building Relationships." The conference will be held in Philadelphia and involve a total of 75 professionals representing 25 museum/community programs, local community partners, advisers, and community partnership funders. Growing out of several initiatives over the past decade, the primary goal of the conference is to explore how museums and other informal science education organizations can develop and maintain long-term museum/community relationships to engage underserved families in informal STEM activities. Outcomes will include stronger relationships, a set of best practices and guidelines to be disseminated to the field, and the beginnings of a network.
The Liberty Science Center (LSC) will develop "Science Now, Science Everywhere (SNSE)," a three-year project using mobile phones to expand exhibit learning at three LSC exhibits. Goals of the project include conducting intensive research on the capabilities of mobile phones for exhibit learning; developing methods with mobile technology to sustain and expand informal learning beyond the science center; investigating the effectiveness of mobile learning, as a means to engage wider audiences and underrepresented groups in science learning; and inspire new generations of technology users to participate in informal science learning. "SNSE" research will greatly expand upon limited findings on pedagogical and technological issues associated with mobile learning. Results will be disseminated to the field at professional conferences, via the project's website, and at the Association of Science and Technology Centers' RAP Sessions at the Liberty Science Center. An online resource and planned symposia for ISE professionals will be hosted by LSC on the "SNSE" process with review of the research and guidance on how to utilize project prototypes. Collaborators include Caterpillar Mobile, the Center for Mobile Communication Studies at Rutgers University, the Institute for Learning Innovation, and Verizon Communications.
The Boston Children's Museum will collaborate with Action for Boston Community Head Start Programs and Evergreene Research and Evaluation on an integrated research-to-practice project whose focus is science learning by pre-school age children. It will produce the following deliverables: a research-based Adult-Child Interaction Inventory (ACII) cataloging a spectrum of nonverbal and verbal interactions that occur during science engagement between parents, grandparents, or caregivers and young children; an ACII User Guide for museum professionals detailing how the inventory can be used for exhibit and professional development; a 2,800 sq ft Peep's World permanent exhibition informed by the ACII research; and a best practices survey highlighting effective strategies for eliciting positive adult-child interactions derived from a Community of Practice established by this project. The project will apply the research findings on nonverbal adult-child behavior to designing exhibits eliciting interactions supporting early childhood STEM learning. Project outcomes will benefit museum exhibit and program developers, preshool educators and families with children ages 3 to 5.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Gail RingelTimothy PorterAnn Marie StephanLorrie Beaumont
resourceprojectProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and the University of Washington propose a conference, conference proceedings, and book that will build capacity and new collaborations at the intersection of the learning sciences and informal science education. These activities continue to expand on the outcomes of several recent conferences, publications, and projects related to research on the learning sciences and their application to varieties of educational settings. Fifty participants in this initiative will include both emerging and established researchers and practitioners, as well as international professionals.
The Nanoscale Science and Engineering Education (NSEE) Center for Learning and Teaching (NCLT) would focus on the research and development of nano-science instructional resources for grades 7-16, related professional development opportunities for 7-12 teachers, and programs infused with nano-science content for education doctoral students. The Center would bring together educators and scientists from several areas of nano-science and engineering research to collaborate with science teachers and doctoral candidates in education on both the development of the resources and research on their efficacy. The PI has prior experience as director of the Materials World Modules project, an NSF-funded curriculum currently in use in several secondary schools across the country. Lead partners in the proposed Center are Northwestern University, Purdue University, University of Michigan, University of Illinois at Chicago and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Additional partners include Argonne National Laboratory, West Point Military Academy, Alabama A & M University, Fisk University, Hampton University, Morehouse College and University of Texas at El Paso. The additional partners will widen the geographic range of the project, expanding opportunities to reach a diverse and currently underrepresented population of graduate students, teachers and ultimately students. STEM and Education faculty and researchers from the partner institutions would participate in interdisciplinary teams to address the Center's mission: Provide national education leadership and resources for advancing NSEE Create and implement professional development programs in NSEE Use innovative ideas in learning to design instructional materials for grades 7-16 Conduct research relating to integration of NSEE into science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
R. P. H. ChangThomas MasonNcholas GiordanoJoseph Krajcik
resourceprojectProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
The Association of Science-Technology Centers, the Institute for Learning Innovation, University of Pittsburgh Center for Learning in Out-of-School Environments, the Visitor Studies Association and other collaborators stewarded development of an Informal Science Education Resource Center (ISERC) to support ongoing improvement of the national infrastructure for informal science education. Activities included a clearinghouse for ISE-funded awards to enable others to learn from and build upon prior work, identification of practices and findings, and leadership development, with emphasis on increasing diversity in the field.
Understanding the Tree of Life was a 36-month-long conference project that brought together evolutionary biologists, museum educators (including natural history museums, science centers, zoos, aquaria and botanical gardens), and STEM-education/cognitive psychology researchers with the goal of improving both the research agenda and practice of the use of phylogenetic "tree of life" visual representations in museum exhibits on evolution. The project was multi-faceted, incorporating pilot research studies, a planning meeting and a major conference, and evaluation of the conference and impact on professionals. Participants represented several museums and university-based researchers across the country and one in Israel. Four research groups, twenty planning meeting participants, sixty-two conference attendees from thirty institutions, and twelve advisors were involved.
The Fort Worth Museum of Science and History will partner with The Exploratorium and with three smaller science museums that have strong connections to rural and Spanish-speaking populations in Texas: Discovery Science Place, Loredo Children's Museum, and Science Spectrum to develop TexNET, a four-year project modeled on the Exploratorium Network for Exhibit-based Teaching (ExNET). TexNET builds on lessons learned from past exhibit outreach models and addresses the needs of small, rural partners for exhibits and capacity-building workshops. Each small museum partner will host a set of ten exhibits for one year. Exhibit topics are 1) motion, 2) weather and 3) sound. Workshops focus on inquiry learning techniques, science content, programming and workshop design, as well as the institutional needs of each partner. Based on feedback from formative evaluation, the project added three additional partners in its final year, the Children's Museum of Houston, the Austin Children's Museum, and the Don Herrington Discovery Center, and focused its remaining year on building institutional capacity around tinkering. Inverness Research Associates will conduct the project evaluation. They will examine the success of this project by looking at the effectiveness of the TexNET model, the success of the individual exhibit elements to engage rural communities, the effectiveness with which this project has enhanced the abilities of local rural communities to sustain their own educational improvements and the effectiveness of the training components in increasing the capabilities of the local museums to serve their rural audiences.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Charlie WalterSamuel DeanJoe HastingsRobert Lindsey
resourceprojectProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
This is a five-year project aimed at organizing a DRK-12 Resource Network to provide assistance for projects in areas such as research and development methods, implementation, and analysis procedures; synthesis of findings across the portfolio of projects; and national dissemination of the R&D contributions of the DRK-12 program. To accomplish these goals, Education Development Center (EDC) will join efforts with Abt Associates Inc., and Policy Studies Associates to implement three major strands: (1) Technical Assistance, which consists of (a) a portfolio assessment to define it in terms of composition and major characteristics and identify project needs, (b) individual technical work services to project leadership, (c) focus groups, (d) thematic meetings, (e) Principal Investigators (PI) meetings, and (f) a web portal; (2) Portfolio Analysis, including (a) synthesis activities to capture a comprehensive view of the portfolio in order to understand the role that the program has played in advancing K-12 student and teacher learning, and (b) evaluative studies of selected projects describing specific contributions to the field; and (3) Dissemination, comprising (a) the development of a white paper to summarize research findings on dissemination and implementation of research in practice and policy settings and highlight examples from the portfolio, and (b) a series of dissemination-related workshops.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Barbara BernsAlina MartinezJacqueline MillerE. Paul GoldenbergCatherine McCullochBrenda TurnbullFran O'Reilly