Although virtual conferences have become commonplace in the age of COVID-19, this format poses both challenges and opportunities for organizers to design, implement, and engage participants in productive and connected ways. We created this brief to share an example of the process and lessons learned as we designed and hosted a virtual NSF-funded conference called: Mapping Connections Between STEM and Social-Emotional Development (SED) in Out-of-School Time (OST) Programs. This conference focused on identifying outcomes at the interface of STEM and SED in OST research and practice (e.g
The Atomic Heritage Foundation is conducting a two-day conference in Washington, D.C. that brings together scholars, researchers and informal science education professionals to explore new approaches to engage the public in issues at the interface of science and society. The conference will consider recent scholarship about the legacy of the Manhattan Project during and post WWII and address how questions about science and society raised by the development of the atomic bomb can inform and be integrated with contemporary issues. Also attending the conference will be representatives from the American Science and Energy Museum in Oak Ridge, TN, the Los Alamos Historical Society in Los Alamos, NM, the National Museum of Nuclear Science and History in Albuquerque, NM, and the Columbia River Exhibition on Science, History and Technology in Richland, WA. This exploratory workshop is intended both to advance the inter-disciplinary scholarship and to generate innovative ideas and recommendations for the development of exhibits, programs and media about this topic and its relevance to the 21st Century. The focus is not about presenting the underlying science of nuclear fission or energy, for example, but speaks to the greater challenges that emerge when presenting issues raised by science in the broader context of history, society and culture. Given the goals and inter-disciplinary nature of the topic and the diversity of the expertise of participating professionals, the workshop is being supported by the Informal Science Education program in the Directorate for Education and Human Resources (EHR) and the Science, Technology and Society Program in the Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE).
The Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ (AZA) Conservation Education Committee (CEC) supports the appropriate use of living animals in zoos and aquariums as an important and powerful educational tool to advance a conservation agenda. EC leaders and scholars see the need for a zoo and aquarium social science research framework to help those in the education and conservation communications field understand how they can contribute to a greater body of knowledge. This report represents the CEC’s determination to view zoo and aquarium social science research as a collective endeavor that values and
In December 2008, the Monterey Bay Aquarium, in partnership with the New England Aquarium and the National Aquarium in Baltimore, hosted a summit of leaders from aquariums across North America and beyond. The intent was to empower aquarium professionals to elevate their collective focus on the relationship between climate change and the ocean, and to develop collaborative strategies for communicating climate change and inspiring solution-‐oriented actions among our institutions and audiences. The summit represented the birth of a community. The three‐day event succeeded in mobilizing 34
The Climate Interpretation Coalition is maturing beyond a set of discrete institutions to become a collective voice for communicating climate change and the ocean. As the three‐year funded NOAA program and the empowerment evaluation end, the question of how to build ongoing communities of support arises. The findings are based upon an interview‐based exploration of individuals who participated in the 2012 Baltimore summit and who represent a broad spectrum of engagement (highly engaged with creating the coalition through to limited engagement in a single summit). The interviews were nested
Leaders of the only two large-scale assessments of environmental literacy used in the U.S. to date (Programme for International Student Assessment [PISA] and the National Environmental Literacy Assessment [NELA]), led by an experienced PI representing the North American Association for Environmental Education, to develop a new, comprehensive, research-based framework for assessing environmental literacy. By bringing together, for the first time, experts in research, assessment, and evaluation from the fields of science education, environmental education, and related social science fields -
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Joe E HeimlichNorth American Association for Environmental Education
Illuminated Verses explored issues of traditional culture and modernity, as well as differences and diversity within the Islamic world, and offers an interpretive bridge to these content areas for both scholarly and general audiences. Through a symposium and a series of pre-events leading up to that program, Poets House and CityLore explored ways of using poetry, discussion and interpretation of poetry to create bridges for intercultural understanding. The symposium and pre-symposium events also served as a springboard to explore the potential for a broader, potentially national, program. This
Understanding the Tree of Life was a 36-month-long conference project that brought together evolutionary biologists, museum educators (including natural history museums, science centers, zoos, aquaria and botanical gardens), and STEM-education/cognitive psychology researchers with the goal of improving both the research agenda and practice of the use of phylogenetic "tree of life" visual representations in museum exhibits on evolution. The project was multi-faceted, incorporating pilot research studies, a planning meeting and a major conference, and evaluation of the conference and impact on professionals. Participants represented several museums and university-based researchers across the country and one in Israel. Four research groups, twenty planning meeting participants, sixty-two conference attendees from thirty institutions, and twelve advisors were involved.
The Exploratorium will develop an exhibit "Memory: A Biological Cognitive and Cultural Exploration" along with various complementary components. The primary objective of this project is to increase the public's awareness of the extent, importance, and nature of their everyday rememberings. Exploratorium staff will use an approach to memory, and cognition in general, that considers culture and cultural differences as essential to people's thinking and behavior. The exhibit area will be about 2000 sq ft in size and will consist of ten to twelve new activities and six revised interactive, interdisciplinary exhibits. Here visitors will have the opportunity to interact with the exhibits, researchers, scientists, artists, and other visitors, to explore the nature of memory and its effect on their lives. The exhibits will give visitors direct, experiential insight into the workings of their memories. Other major components of the project include multimedia presentations, printed materials, demonstrations, film programs and a symposium. A publication Memory and Perception will be a supplemental guide that can be used by teachers and students at the secondary level. It will address appropriate themes in the Science Framework for California Public Schools. Museum professionals, researchers, teachers, and evaluators will be invited to participate in a one- week symposium on Cognition in Science Centers. The purpose of the symposium is to develop a conceptual and practical model of what presenting cognition in an informal education setting means. A report will be published and broadly disseminated by professional museum organizations. It is estimated that the project will reach approximately 629,000 visitors annually which includes 69,000 students and 550 teachers.