The analysis contained in this report was prepared for the CAISE Convening on Broader Impacts & ISE. The report summarizes interviews with researchers in STEM subjects who were asked about: 1) their perceptions about broader impacts, 2) the planning and process that researchers undertake for broader impacts activities, 3) the resources and supports that currently exist and that researchers would like to exist for broader impacts activities, and 4) how the informal science education field might "market" itself as a potential place to find partners or venues for doing broader impacts activities
This Handbook was developed to provide project directors and principal investigators working with the National Science Foundation (NSF) with a basic guide for evaluating NSF’s educational projects. It is aimed at people who need to learn more about both the value of evaluation and how to design and carry out an evaluation, rather than those who already have a solid base of experience in the field. It builds on firmly established principles, blending technical knowledge and common sense to meet the special needs of NSF and its stakeholders. The Handbook discusses quantitative and qualitative
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Joy Frechtling WestatNational Science Foundation
In November 2012, ASTC asked its science center and museum members to submit annual on-site attendance data for calendar years 2002 to 2011. One hundred fifty-five science centers and museums responded; 107 of those provided data for all 10 years. The goal of the survey was to collect consistent, long-term data to try to determine if there has been a clear upward or downward trend. Attendance increased overall from 2002 to 2009, but declined somewhat in 2010 and 2011. Large institutions showed the flattest attendance across the years.
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Association of Science-Technology Centers
This report is the result of a project to investigate through a sociocultural lens whether girls-only, informal STEM experiences have potential long-term influences on young women's lives, both in terms of STEM but also more generally. The authors documented young women's perceptions of their program experiences and the ways in which they influenced their future choices in education, careers, leisure pursuits, and ways of thinking about what science is and who does it. This report includes the questionnaire used in the study.
This report is the result of work undertaken by Ecsite-uk, The UK network of science & discovery centres and museums, to demonstrate the impact of Science & Discovery Centres, to encourage their effective collaboration, and to maximize their future viability. The report includes three parts: the results of a survey of UK science and discovery centres, recommendations for science and discovery centres which will lead to demonstrating value, and best practices shared between science and discovery centres from those that have achieved financial stability. In addition to this report, Ecsite-uk
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Penny Fidler
resourceresearchProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
This report addressed a request from the President in 2009 to develop specific recommendations concerning the most important actions that the administration should take to ensure that the United States is a leader in STEM education in the coming decades. The report focuses primarily on the K-12 level, and lists two main conclusions: that we must focus on preparation and inspiration to improve STEM education, and that the federal government has historically lacked a coherent strategy and sufficient leadership capacity for K-12 STEM education. Additionally, the report includes seven policy
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President’s Council of Advisors on Science and TechnologyPresident’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology
This report details the findings from an exploratory research study conducted by the Research and Evaluation Department at the Museum of Science, Boston about this exhibition, which came to be known as Provocative Questions (PQ). This investigation was guided by the following questions: 1. Will visitors engage in socio-scientific argumentation in an un-facilitated exhibit space, and are they aware that they are doing so? 2. How do the un-facilitated exhibits impact visitors’ socio-scientific argumentation skills? For the exploratory research study, visitors were cued to use the exhibits and
In October 2012, the National Science Foundation (NSF) released a new version of the Grant Proposal Guide (GPG) that included significant changes to the review elements and considerations underlying the Merit Review Criteria. This was the first major revision of the Criteria in 15 years. Of particular note were significant changes to the criteria used by panelists, reviewers, and program officers to evaluate a proposal’s broader impacts. To help inform Florida ocean scientists of these changes in anticipation of proposal submission deadlines in early 2013, the Center for Ocean Sciences
Young children's everyday scientific thinking often occurs in the context of parent-child interactions. In a study of naturally occurring family conversation, parents were three times more likely to explain science to boys than to girls while using interactive science exhibits in a museum. This difference in explanation occurred despite the fact that parents were equally likely to talk to their male and female children about how to use the exhibits and about the evidence generated by the exhibits. The findings suggest that parents engaged in informal science activities with their children may
In this report, noted scholar James Paul Gee discusses the evolution of digital media and learning (DMAL) from its infancy as an ""academic area"" into a more organized field or coherent discipline. Distinguishing among academic areas, fields, disciplinary specializations, and thematic disciplines, Gee describes other academic areas that have fallen into these categories or developed into established disciplines. He argues that DMAL will not evolve until a real coherence develops through collaboration and the accumulation of shared knowledge. Gee offers a concrete proposal of one way scholars
Throughout the spring, the CSM and The Media Consortium (TMC) drew together dozens of leading public interest media makers, funders and researchers in Chicago, New York, Miami, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington, DC, and Boston for a series of Impact Summits. These convenings—which asked attendees to describe how they measure reach, relevance, engagement, inclusion and influence in their work—informed a new analysis co-published by CSM and TMC: Investing In Impact: Media Summits Reveal Pressing Needs, Tools for Evaluating Public Interest Media. In Investing in Impact, we outline the major
Researchers from the Center for Informal Learning and Schools (CILS), Learning in Informal and Formal Environments (LIFE) Center and two other centers recently published LOST Learning Opportunities: Learning about Out-of-School Time. The book, published by Springer, addresses conceptual, methodological, and empirical issues related to studying learning in everyday and afterschool settings. Primarily written for researchers, LOST Learning Opportunities includes chapters on what math looks like in everyday family settings, how science is positioned in afterschool, how children's learning and