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
Fostering interest in science is critical for broadening engagement with science topics, careers, and hobbies. Research suggests that these interests begin to form as early as preschool and have long-term implications for participation and learning. However, scholars have only speculated on the processes that shape interest development at this age, when children’s exposure to science primarily occurs during family-based learning experiences. Moving beyond speculation, we conducted a qualitative study with seven low-income mothers and their four-year-old daughters from Head Start to (a) develop
Although discussions of museums often revolve around exhibits, educators in these spaces have the potential to create in-depth, social learning experiences beyond what is possible at exhibits alone. There is still little empirical research, however, to inform how we understand, approach, and improve museum facilitation practices. In this study, we sought to address this gap by quantifying the impact of facilitation by trained educators working with visitors at interactive museum exhibits and comparing this to visitor engagement and learning outcomes for families without educator support. Using
Casual games are everywhere. People play them throughout life to pass the time, to engage in social interactions, and to learn. However, their simplicity and use in distraction-heavy environments can attenuate their potential for learning. This experimental study explored the effects playing an online, casual game has on awareness of human biological systems. Two hundred and forty-two children were given pretests at a Museum and posttests at home after playing either a treatment or control game. Also, 41 children were interviewed to explore deeper meanings behind the test results. Results show
Field stations across the United States provide learning opportunities to the general public through their outreach programming. With approximately 78% and 98% of the US population living within 60 and 120 miles of a field station, respectively, stations have the potential to be key providers of informal STEM education. We surveyed a sample of US biological field stations and asked them to describe their outreach programming and goals. Our findings indicate that field stations prioritize outreach by dedicating personnel and fiscal resources, but such initiatives are highly variable in