Organizations, institutions, or initiatives often do not engage these influential adults as effectively as they might, nor are they always sensitive to the perspectives, needs, and expertise that caregivers bring to the activities in which their children participate. STEM educators and science communicators can better support youth when they effectively engage parents in relevant aspects of the work by considering whether parents are part of the intended audience and if so, how they can participate.
About this resource:
This is a practice brief produced by CAISE's Broadening
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Dale McCreedyMicaela BalzerBhaskar UpadhyayCenter for Advancement of Informal Science Education (CAISE)
Many communities are adopting a “STEM learning ecosystem” approach to identify and map those settings and time frames, to enrich and reinforce opportunities within them, and to broaden participation in STEM. Science communicators and STEM educators can increase the relevance and inclusiveness of their programs by making explicit connections between the programs they offer and additional or ongoing opportunities learners can pursue in the local STEM learning ecosystem.
About this resource:
This is a practice brief produced by CAISE's Broadening Participation in STEM Task Force to help
Science communication that connects STEM-based professionals with various publics are often designed and implemented with a range of multiple outcomes in mind which can influence the effectiveness of engagement efforts. Scientists, science communicators, and STEM professionals can be more effective at engaging diverse audiences if they align their engagement strategies with their communication goals and target audience.
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
The varied and diverse ways in which people engage with STEM are often not acknowledged due to the historical representation of STEM in school, industry, and society. These cultural models of “who does STEM” discourage many who don’t identify as male and/ or white, or who don’t see themselves as highly intelligent, from choosing or identifying with STEM. To broaden participation, the field needs to define STEM more comprehensively so that people can recognize the ways they already engage in, use, and contribute to STEM disciplines, even if they don’t conform to cultural stereotypes associated
When everybody engaging in STEM is expected to adhere to dominant cultural norms established by the populations that have historically participated in and institutionalized STEM—that is, male, white, western, and privileged, some may feel like outsiders, even though others will find them familiar and comfortable. This can shape perceptions about who has expertise and/or belongs in STEM fields. STEM programs and science representations must encourage and support participation by leveraging audiences' personal experiences and cultural practices.
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This is a practice
Science communicators and educators need strategies to account for the differences in ways that learners build on prior knowledge and experiences, and position these differences as strengths, rather than as weaknesses. Science communicators and STEM educators can more effectively engage their audiences by applying asset-based approaches in their activities and strategies.
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 strengthen their
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Raychelle BurksSunshine MenezesCenter for Advancement of Informal Science Education (CAISE)
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
The STEM Interest and Engagement (STEM IE) Study was a four-year project funded by the National Science Foundation under the auspices of its Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program that was designed to better understand what types of practices, supports, and opportunities afforded to early adolescent youth: (1) Are especially effective in helping youth experience in-the-moment engagement while participating in ISL activities, and (2) Serve to support growth in STEM interest and aspirations. The study was conducted in a total of nine, STEM-oriented, summer learning programs serving
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Neil NaftzgerJennifer SchmidtLee ShumowPatrick BeymerJoshua Rosenberg
Parents are vital players in raising youth’s awareness of the value of STEM and in brokering their participation in activities that build STEM competencies.
STEM Next Opportunity Fund is committed to ensuring that every child – especially girls, youth of color, kids in low-income communities, and youth with disabilities – has access to STEM experiences and the social capital that lead to greater opportunities in academics and careers. We believe family engagement is a game changer and offer this white paper to raise awareness of its importance and amplify promising practices.
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