A rich variety of projects funded in 2020 by the National Science Foundation’s Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program are now cataloged on InformalScience.org. Below, the awards are listed with their Principal Investigators’ names and categorized alphabetically by project type: Broad Implementation, Conferences, Innovations in Development, Pilots and Feasibility Studies, Post-Doctoral Fellowship Awards, Rapid Response Research (RAPID), Research Coordination Networks, Research in Service to Practice, and Travel Grants.
You may also use the advanced search function on InformalScience.org to sort by audience type, disciplinary content, and other tags of interest.
Broad Implementation
These projects more fully explore questions and issues for which there are already preliminary findings, significant literature, or a practice base.
Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program
Career awards provide stable support at a sufficient level and duration to enable awardees to develop careers not only as outstanding researchers, but also as educators demonstrating commitment to teaching, learning, and dissemination of knowledge.
Conferences
Early-concept Grants for Exploratory Research (EAGER)
These exploratory projects are working in the early stages of untested, but potentially transformative, research ideas or approaches.
Inclusion across the Nation of Communities of Learners of Underrepresented Discoverers in Engineering and Science (INCLUDES)
These NSF INCLUDES Alliances are building infrastructure to foster collaboration and broaden participation in STEM by using the design elements of collective impact.
Innovations in Development
These are projects that are expected to result in deliverables such as exhibits, media products, after school programs, etc., and in innovative models, programs, technologies, assessments, resources, or systems for an area of STEM learning in informal environments.
| SciGirls in the National Parks: Building Positive STEM Identities in Underserved Girls in Citizen Science Programs Using Gender Equitable and Culturally Responsive Practices |
Rita Karl, Twin Cities Public TV |
| Game Changers exhibition: A sports exhibition and research study to encourage inventive identity development and broaden participation in STEM innovation |
Monica Smith, Smithsonian Institution |
| Broadening Participation in Informal STEM Learning for Autistic Learners and Others through Virtual Reality |
Teon Edwards, TERC Inc |
| Collaborative Research: Understanding the Role of Informal STEM Educators in Creating Maker-based and Community-Centered Technology and Computer Science Learning Hubs for Urban Youth |
Foad Hamidi, U of MD Baltimore County |
| Collaborative Research: Understanding the Role of Informal STEM Educators in Creating Maker-based and Community-Centered Technology and Computer Science Learning Hubs for Urban Youth |
Andrew Coy, Digital Harbor Foundation |
| Collaborative Research: The Development of Culturally Responsive Digital Media to Support STEM Knowledge Acquisition for English Learners |
Kelsey Savage, Complexly |
| Collaborative Research: The Development of Culturally Responsive Digital Media to Support STEM Knowledge Acquisition for English Learners |
Heather Lavigne, Education Development Center |
| Youth Lead the Way: A Youth Advisory Research Board Model for Climate Impact Education |
Christopher Cardiel, Oregon Museum of Science & Industry |
| Collaborative Research: Tinkering and Making Strategies to Engage Children and Families in Creating with Code |
Natalie Rusk, MIT |
| Collaborative Research: Tinkering and Making Strategies to Engage Children and Families in Creating with Code |
Mike Petrich, Exploratorium |
| Collaborative Research: Tinkering and Making Strategies to Engage Children and Families in Creating with Code |
Ricarose Roque, U of Colorado Boulder |
| Playful Learning Landscapes: Promoting Informal STEM Learning in Public Spaces |
Andres Bustamante, UC Irvine |
| Empowering Informal Educators to Prepare Future Generations in Wireless Radio Communications with Mobile Resources |
Sherry Hsi, BSCS Science Learning |
| Baltimore Online Algebra for High School Students in Technology |
Michael Falk, Johns Hopkins University |
| STEM, growth mindset, and sports: Investigating STEM program design features that impact youth engagement |
Ricardo Valerdi, U of Arizona |
| Multi-Gen STEM Makerspaces in Affordable Housing: Co-Designing a Model with the Community |
Sam Catherine Johnston, CAST, Inc. |
| Creating a Teen Science Cafe Movement |
Michelle Hall, Science Education Solution |
| Social Wearables: Enhancing Girls' Computational Learning and Motivation |
Katherine Isbister, U of Cal Santa Cruz |
| Working Toward Equitable Organizations: Building Capacity for Leadership of Color in Outdoor and Environmental Science Education |
Craig Strang, UC Berkeley |
| Seeing Scientifically: Developing Smart Microscope Exhibits That Support Authentic Visitor Observation and Scientific Inquiry of Living Microscopic Organisms |
Kristina Yu, Exploratorium |
| Building Capacity for Inclusive Informal STEM Learning Opportunities for People with Autism Spectrum Disorder |
Judith Koke, Institute for Learning Innovation |
| Collaborative Research: The Notion of Failure and Maker Programming for Youth: Supporting the Professional Development, Reflection, and Learning of Informal Educators |
Adam Maltese, Indiana University |
| Collaborative Research: The Notion of Failure and Maker Programming for Youth: Supporting the Professional Development, Reflection, and Learning of Informal Educators |
Amber Simpson, SUNY Binghamton |
| Young Patients as Innovators: Developing Pediatric Makerspaces to Enhance Chronically Ill Children's STEM Learning, Self-Agency, and Identity. |
Gokul Krishnan, Digital Harbor Foundation |
| Intelligent Science Exhibits: Enhancing STEM Learning through Sustained Use of Mixed-Reality in Multiple Informal Learning Spaces |
Nesra Yannier, Carnegie Mellon University |
| Investigating the Development of STEM-Positive Identities of Refugee Teens in a Physics Out-of-School Time Experience |
Tino Nyawelo, University of Utah |
| Fostering Joint Parent/Child Engagement in Preschool Computational Thinking by Leveraging Digital Media, Mobile Technology, and Library Settings in Urban and Rural Communities |
Marisa Wolsky, WGBH Educational Foundation |
| Using Guided Nature Experiences To Engage 18-25 Year-Olds in STEM and Climate Science Content |
Loren Smith, National Audubon Society |
| Guardians of the Living Water: Advancing STEM Learning in Informal Settings Across Apsaalooke Communities in the Western United States |
Vanessa Simonds, Montana State University |
| Collaborative Research: A new model for producing science documentaries: Building collaborations between scientists and storytellers to test methods of communication in film |
Dietram Scheufele, U of Wisconsin Madison |
| Collaborative Research: A new model for producing science documentaries: Building collaborations between scientists and storytellers to test methods of communication in film |
Sarah Goodwin, iBiology |
| iPAGE 2.0: Understanding and Supporting Transformative Change Toward Equity in the ISE Sector |
E. Liesl Chatman, Science Museum of Minnesota |
Pilots and Feasibility Studies
These projects offer opportunities for practitioners and researchers to investigate issues in and approaches to informal STEM learning and to establish the basis for future research, design, and development of innovations or approaches.
| Indigenous Hawaiian Knowledge/Ike Hawaii Pop-up Science Center: Exploring the Effectiveness of Community-driven, Culturally Sustaining STEM Exhibit Development |
Maile Keliipio-Acoba, INPEACE |
| STEM Workforce Stories for Adolescents Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing |
Judy Vesel, TERC Inc |
| Investigating the Impact of Head Start Family Interactions on Children’s STEM Process Skills during Family Events at Two Science Centers |
Jennifer Schwade, Sciencenter |
| Data Literacy with, for, and by Youth: Exploring How Teens Co-Design After-School Programs as Sites of Critical Data Practice |
Leanne Bowler, Pratt Institute |
| Engaging Rural Youth in Multidisciplinary Inquiry through Archaeology |
Laurie Miroff, SUNY Binghamton |
| Collaborative Informal STEM Learning Between Researchers and Homeless Communities |
Chris Hawn, U of MD Baltimore County |
| Museums and Inclusion: Understanding Visitors' Sense of Belonging in Science and Natural History Museums |
Marjorie Bequette, Science Museum of MN |
| Enacting a culturally-sustaining STEM Institute in the Gullah/Geechee Community |
Fenice Boyd, U of SC Columbia |
| Wildlife Neighbors: facilitated ecological research via camera surveys with minority youth in Detroit |
Nyeema Harris, University of Michigan |
| Cultivating Science: Examining the Free-Choice Science Learning Networks of Urban Gardeners |
Elysa Corin, Institute for Learning Innovation |
| Learning Data Science Through Civic Engagement With Open Data |
Oded Nov, New York University |
| Studying Scientist-Educator-Artist Collaborations and Participatory Community Learning around Environmental Change and Adaptation |
Amy Lesen, Tulane University |
| Stories of Fire: Integrative Informal STEM Learning through Participatory Narratives |
Teresa Cohn, University of Idaho |
| Learning Solutions: Investigating Fundamental Tools, Resources & Strategies to Support Professionals Addressing Persistent Issues in STEM |
John Falk, Institute for Learning Innovation |
Rapid Response Research (RAPID)
These projects were funded to address a range of STEM learning, science communication and public engagement aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
| COVID RAPID: Rapidly building a collaborative network of informal educators to address extended school closures related to the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic |
Adam Maltese, Indiana University |
| COVID RAPID: Broadening Access to Science-Based Information and Practices to Protect Families and Curb the Spread of COVID-19 Among Low Income Families With a Focus on Latino Families |
Alicia Torres, Child Trends Inc |
| COVID RAPID: PBS NewsHour coverage of non-medical, non-clinical care research around COVID-19 |
Patti Parson, Greater Washington Educational Telecommunications Association |
| COVID RAPID: Using Popular Media to Educate Youth About the Biology of Viruses and the Current COVID-19 Pandemic |
Judy Diamond, University of Nebraska-Lincoln |
| COVID RAPID: How People Learn Rapidly: COVID-19 as a Crisis of Socioscientific Understanding and Educational Equity |
Angela Calabrese Barton, Regents of the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor |
| COVID RAPID: Collaborative Research: Influencing Young Adults' Science Engagement and Learning with COVID-19 Media Coverage |
Sue Ellen McCann, KQED Inc |
| COVID RAPID: Collaborative Research: Influencing Young Adults' Science Engagement and Learning with COVID-19 Media Coverage |
Asheley Landrum, Texas Tech University |
| COVID RAPID: Addressing Families' Covid-19 Information and Education Needs Through Podcast Media |
Amy Grack Nelson, Minnesota Public Radio |
| COVID RAPID: Exploring the Effects of Parent-Child Interactions on Children's Learning about Handwashing Behavior and Disease Prevention |
David Sobel, Brown University |
| COVID RAPID: Supports and Challenges in an Educational Crisis: The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Youth STEM Pathways |
Preeti Gupta, American Museum Natural History |
| RAPID: Advancing Museum-Community Conversations that Intersect STEM and Racial Justice |
Joanne Jones-Rizzi, Science Museum of Minnesota |
Research Coordination Networks (RCNs)
This first-ever AISL RCN award funds new directions in learning research by supporting groups of investigators to communicate and coordinate their activities across disciplinary, organizational, geographic and international boundaries.
Research in Service to Practice
These projects focus on research that advances knowledge and the evidence base for practices, assumptions, broadening participation, or emerging educational arrangements in STEM learning in informal environments, including the science of science communication.