In December, 2013, a group of leaders of six informal science education (ISE) assessment projects met in Palo Alto, CA for a 2-day exploration of the state of the art of measuring the impact of informal STEM education experiences. The goals for the meeting were to explore in depth the technical and practical details of the assessments, share and critique findings, and review plans for ongoing work to validate and refine measures.
This poster was presented at the 2014 AISL PI Meeting in Washington, DC. Madison Area Technical College, in collaboration with the Institute for Chemical Education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the American Chemical Society (ACS) and area science centers and museums will create a national program to disseminate the Fusion Science Theater (FST) model which directly engages children in playful, participatory, and inquiry-based science learning of chemistry and physics topics.
This paper summarizes a Center for Advancement of Informal Science Education (CAISE) convening (June 20-21, 2013) on Evaluation Capacity Building. The convening was designed to facilitate discussion about the resources needed to improve the quality of evaluation in ISE. Participants included evaluators currently practicing in the field, as well as those working in other disciplines; learning researchers; experience and setting designers; organizational leaders; program officers from the National Science Foundation (NSF); other federal funding agencies; and private philanthropic foundations.
This poster was presented at the 2014 AISL PI Meeting in Washington, DC. It describes a professional development collaborative research project to explore commonalities between native and western science, infusing an indigenous voice into programs and exhibits focused on environmental change. Native Universe builds on the Cosmic Serpent project.
This poster was presented at the 2014 AISL PI Meeting in Washington, DC. Using STEM America (USA) is a two-year Pathways project designed to examine the feasibility of using informal STEM learning opportunities to improve science literacy among English Language Learner (ELL) students in Imperial County, California.
This poster was presented at the 2014 AISL PI Meeting in Washington, DC. This project seeks to improve public engagement in climate communication by broadcast meteorologists, using scientific methods to identify probable causes for their skepticism and/or reticence, and to test the efficacy of proposed solutions.
This poster was presented at the 2014 AISL PI Meeting. The Prairie Science project is about facilitating learning STEM concepts by integrating a historical perspective (Conner Prairie Museum) and a science center-based perspective (Science Museum of Minnesota).
DATE:
TEAM MEMBERS:
Cathy Ferree
resourceresearchProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
This document contains the proceedings from the Natural Science Gallery Symposium held by the Oakland Museum of California on September 15 & 16, 2008. Attendees discussed plans and ideas for an updated design of the Natural Science Gallery.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Lori Fogarty
resourceresearchProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
The NSF/IES Common Guidelines for Education Research and Development suggest that external feedback is appropriate for each of the different types of research described. What exactly does that mean? How does a project effectively engage an advisory board in the evaluation process? This session will provide suggestions for how the external feedback function can be undertaken by an advisory board with clearly defined roles and expectations that correspond to the type of research and the purpose of the feedback.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
John SuttonCatherine Callow-Heusser
resourceresearchProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
This paper reports on a two-year schoolwide professional development initiative designed to enhance teachers’ pedagogical skills in inquiry-based science instruction. The programme emphasised the importance of time for reflection and the role of collaboration among participating teachers to ensure sustained change in their beliefs and practice.
This review paper summarises the current state of research on professional development in science education. It offers a number of insights and recommendations for the many informal science institutions that offer teacher professional development courses.