This virtual conference proposal would bring together NSF researchers and their media partners who worked collaboratively on previous NSF projects involved with communicating research to public audiences (the now archived CRPA program). The goal of the conference to is examine successful practices and lessons learned and aggregate the findings in a manner that can productively inform and support current and future efforts of this kind. The key objectives of the work will be to identify approaches that broaden reach, increase the effectiveness of researcher/outreach organizational partnerships, and make recommendations for amplifying the strategic impact of these projects. Prior to the conference the PI will conduct a multiphase process of document review, online interviews, and questionnaires. Two virtual workshops will be conducted with a subset of previous grantees and their media partners noted for effective collaboration and outcomes. The first workshop will have participants sharing findings on project strengths and areas needing improvement based on past experience. They will identify possible generic tools and a framework that could be shared across projects. The second workshop will focus on the identified successful strategies might be implemented more widely. The broader impacts of this multi-component conference will help future grantees better understand, expand, and work more strategically with their outreach partners.
As a part of the strategy to reach the NASA Science Mission Directorate (SMD) Science Education and Public Outreach Forum Objective 1.2: Provide resources and opportunities to enable sharing of best practices relevant to SMD education and public outreach (E/PO), the Informal Education Working Group members designed a nationally-distributed online survey to answer the following questions: 1. How, when, where, and for how long do informal educators prefer to receive science, mathematics, engineering, and/or technology content professional development? 2. What are the professional development and
This document provides graphic representations from the NSF INCLUDES Workshop held on June 3, 2015 in Arlington, VA. The purpose of the workshop was to think about the broadening participation ecosystem through the lens of collective impact and catalytic innovation, in order to develop ideas, strategies, and actions that will alter the current landscape and result in scalable solutions for the inclusion of people from all sectors of American society to engage in STEM careers.
This presentation was part of the "Working with ISE Institutions and Networks" dyad at the 2015 CAISE Convening on Broader Impacts + Informal Science Education held in Arlington, VA on April 7-8. The presentation describes the opportunities that the Portal to the Public network offers for collaborations between scientists and informal science education (ISE) institutions.
This presentation was part of the "Working with ISE Institutions and Networks" dyad at the 2015 CAISE Convening on Broader Impacts + Informal Science Education held in Arlington, VA on April 7-8. The presentation provides examples exploring the opportunity for scientists to work with informal science education (ISE) institutions and networks in order to communicate their research.
This document is an analysis of the surveys received at the conclusion of the November 7, 2013 Preparing Minnesotans for Climate Change conference. The conference hosted by the Science Museum of Minnesota attracted 240 participants and was the first conference in Minnesota to be devoted exclusively to the issues of climate adaptation.
This report provides a brief summary of a research meeting on making and makerspaces organized by Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh and the University of Pittsburgh’s Learning Research and Development Center. The meeting took place July 21st and 22nd, 2014 at The Children’s Museum. Motivated by a resurgence of interest in DIY (do-it-yourself) culture and prompted by the introduction of new technologies, physical computing and fabrication, the Maker Movement offers new opportunities for learning experiences that develop creativity and innovation. Making and makerspaces represent an emerging
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Children's Museum of PittsburghUniversity of PittsburghPeter WardripLisa BrahmsKevin Crowley
Science communications proficiency is an important skill for STEM graduate students but is not a typical part of STEM graduate education nationally. At the institutions that do offer such science communications training, instructional approaches are highly variable, reflecting an absence of standards and evaluation metrics. The workshop will 1) inventory science communications training for STEM graduate students nationally, (2) identify high effective practices in science communications training with attention to curriculum, approaches, and evaluation, and (3) define a roadmap that gives concrete recommendations to university administrators and funding agencies for national implementation and scale-up of science communications training. The workshop will involve IGERT PIs, science communications trainers, science communications researchers, and individuals from national agencies and organizations with a high interest in STEM graduate student communications training. Products of the workshop will include a white paper to NSF that identifies best practices for science communications training and specifies a roadmap for national scale-up of effective practices; publications in the peer-reviewed literature and other media; and briefings of officials at organizations with capacity to foster changes in graduate education (e.g., NSF, Council of Graduate Schools, and AAAS).
The Franklin Institute (TFI), in collaboration with the Institute for Learning Innovation (ILI), will conduct a research effort that explores the role that informal science learning plays in supporting girls' long-term interest, engagement and participation in science communities, hobbies and careers. Five longstanding programs for girls, begun 5-20+ years ago, will be the focus of the proposed study and include the National Science Partnership (NSP), Girls at the Center (GAC), Wonderwise, and Women in Natural Sciences (WINS). The selected study projects have access to girl participants who are high-school aged or older and represent diverse race, ethnicity and SES. A national Research Advisory Council will ground the investigation and review the findings at each stage of the research. The Community of Practice (CoP) literature (Lave and Wenger, 1991) will provide the theoretical frame for the overarching research question. Findings will document long-term impacts of girls' participation in identified informal science programs, determine how informal contexts in general contribute to girls' science learning and achievement, and develop a model for understanding the impact of informal science learning initiatives. Deliverables will include specific examples of informal learning experiences that support girls' long-term participation in science and evidence of the types of influences, including significant adults and particular activities, that contribute to girls' trajectories of participation. Dissemination tools will be a national conference, a research monograph and a series of workshops conducted in conjunction with professional conferences for informal science educators. By better understanding the impact of informal programs in science, specifically and more generally, and by developing and demonstrating an effective model for understanding such impact across projects, the proposed research stands to inform the field and provide a base for future project development and research efforts. The research results will improve the understanding of practice in these arenas and will document the significant role that informal programs place in influencing girls' vocational and avocational choices and participation in STEM fields. The study will also demonstrate the applicability of the CoP research model and its lessons to other informal science programs.
In May 2014, Latin America was the stage for the 13th International Public Communication of Science and Technology Conference (PCST 2014). It was the first time that this important international conference had reached the region since its launch in 1989, and it provides a good opportunity to discuss science communication in Latin America. The region is huge and extraordinarily diverse. As such, this article is only the starting point of a conversation on the subject: here the author presents an overview of the field in the region, highlighting some of the landmarks and discussing some
Successful scientists must be effective communicators within their professions. Without those skills, they could not write papers and funding proposals, give talks and field questions, or teach classes and mentor students. However, communicating with audiences outside their profession - people who may not share scientists' interests, technical background, cultural assumptions, and modes of expression - presents different challenges and requires additional skills. Communication about science in political or social settings differs from discourse within a scientific discipline. Not only are
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National Research Council
resourceevaluationProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
In February 2012, the National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) convened the Twenty-first Century Learning in Natural History Settings Conference with funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF). The Conference initiated a national, collaborative effort to understand what, how and why diverse publics learn natural history and what role natural history museums can play in their pursuits, as well as to discuss how these findings can translate into widespread practice. Education, exhibits and science staff from natural history settings, as well as researchers and innovators from the
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National Museum of Natural HistoryKirsten Buchner