The informal science education (ISE) sector has an important role to play in addressing current societal issues, including changes in environmental conditions, systemic poverty, and societal responses to natural and manmade disasters. These complex social problems require engaging all sectors of society in deep discussions around science, engineering, technology, and mathematics (STEM) and inclusion, diversity, equity, and access (IDEA). To do this, ISE professionals need training in how to bring in diverse perspectives, support inclusive learning, and provide equal access to institutional policymaking, practices and systems. People from different backgrounds within informal science institutions (ISIs) and local communities bring new perspectives, identify new needs, and foster innovation. This broadening of perspectives is critical to address the complex social problems of the 21st century. A key part of the needed transformations in informal science institutions is the preparation of change agents within the ISE sector capable of reimagining what just and equitable informal science institutions might look like. iPAGE 2.0 is an NSF Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) Innovations in Development project conducted by the Science Museum of Minnesota and the Garibay Group in concert with 27 ISIs from across the US. The overarching goal of the project is to support transformative change toward IDEA in the ISE sector. The project is based on an extension service model of knowledge diffusion which seeks to bridge the knowledge-to-action gap by creating intermediaries that can translate research into practical innovations that can be used by practitioners in ISIs. The project brings together teams of strategically placed individuals within ISIs and prepares them to work with their colleagues to enact research-based practices and practical organizational changes toward greater equity and diversity. This project is funded by the AISL program, which seeks to advance new approaches to, and evidence-based understanding of, the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments. This includes providing multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM learning experiences, advancing innovative research on and assessment of STEM learning in informal environments, and developing understandings of deeper learning by participants.
This ISE professional development initiative will work with annual first-year cohorts consisting of leadership teams from 4-6 ISIs. Each new cohort will spend 11 days together in a 5-day institute and three 2-day colloquia either virtually or at the Science Museum of Minnesota. Individuals and teams will adapt, implement, and refine ideas, strategies, and tools from the iPAGE 2.0 framework for use within their specific ISI context and broader professional networks and engage in ongoing communication and consultation with the iPAGE 2.0 community. All individuals on the team will develop skills, such as communication and collaboration expertise, to function as change agents acting to transform their organizations with respect to inclusion, diversity, equity, and access (IDEA) in STEM. Participants from previous cohorts will continue their roles as change agents and enhance learning in the iPAGE 2.0 community by sharing what they have learned at iPAGE 2.0 colloquia. The iPAGE 2.0 framework focuses on developing participants' understanding of 1) how structural inequalities function to reproduce social advantage and disadvantage within ISIs and the ISE sector; 2) the barriers, supports, and transmission vectors that contribute to or inhibit a continued shift in the sector toward IDEA within a network of practitioners, organizations, evaluators and researchers; and 3) how to prepare and support diversity change agents within the network. The project will employ a creative evaluation approach that combines developmental, principles-focused, arts-based, and transformative evaluation and an interactive, mixed-methods research study grounded in culturally responsive methodologies to address central questions concerning individual, organizational, and sector change. The project's primary audience is ISE professionals, and the secondary audience is researchers and evaluators working within the ISE sector. The project will work directly with an estimated 122 individuals from 27 ISIs.
This Innovations in Development award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
At the Ecsite Conference held in Copenhagen, Denmark, in June 2019, a pre-conference workshop was held entitled "Beyond fact-checking: addressing misinformation". This workshop brought together practitioners in science engagement alongside researchers on the topic of misinformation from across Europe and beyond to focus on that topic.
Following this workshop, Ecsite, and The Kavli Foundation who supported it, decided to put together this resource document, for anyone developing or implementing activities or exhibitions working to engage the public in science.
This document has been
Scientists (and engineers) wishing to conduct public engagement do so in the context of established disciplinary norms and complex institutional systems that may support or limit their success. This report seeks to convey the known complexity, unique challenges, and opportunities for universities to better support for scientists in their public engagement work. The report is intended to drive discussion towards deeper exploration and development of actionable next steps.
This is a report from Workshop III: Academic Institutions, part of the Support Systems for Scientists' Communication and
These are slides from Shupei Yuan, John Besley and Anthony Dudo's presentation at the Support Systems for Scientists' Communication and Engagement: Workshop II held February 28-March 1, 2018 at HHMI. The workshop was intended to explore how scientific societies can advance a sustainable system that supports scientists’ communication and engagement efforts. Yuan, Besley, and Dudo provide an overview of their project aiming to help reveal how societies view the concept of “public engagement” and to provide an empirical understanding of the availability and prevalence of tools that societies
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Shupei YuanAnthony DudoJohn BesleyBrooke Smith
resourceresearchProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
From February 28-March 1, 2018, the Kavli, Moore, Packard, and Rita Allen Foundations hosted a workshop at HHMI for leaders from scientific societies, associations
and professional organizations, researchers who study communication and learning, funders and other experts to explore how scientific societies can advance a sustainable system that supports scientists’ communication and engagement efforts. This outline summary aims to capture the ideas, notes and content discussed at the meeting.
This is a list of participants who attended the Support Systems for Scientists' Communication and Engagement Workshop II: Associations, Societies & Other Professional Organizations. This workshop was held February 28 - March 1, 2018 at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
This is a report from Workshop II: Overview of Organizational Support for Public Engagement among Scientific Societies, part of the Support Systems for Scientists' Communication and Engagement workshop series. Workshop II was held Feb. 28 - Mar. 1, 2018 at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Chevy Chase, MD. The report provides an overview of a project aiming to help reveal how societies view the concept of “public engagement” and to provide an empirical understanding of the availability and prevalence of tools that societies currently use to support engagement efforts.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Shupei YuanAnthony DudoJohn BesleyBrooke Smith
resourceprojectWebsites, Mobile Apps, and Online Media
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is creating, implementing and evaluating a forum for the NSF INCLUDES broadening participation community of practice and for engaging the NSF INCLUDES awardees and science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) researchers across the nation to expand the NSF INCLUDES broadening participation network. The NSF INCLUDES program is a comprehensive national initiative designed to enhance U.S. leadership in STEM discoveries and innovations focused on NSF's commitment to diversity, inclusion, and broadening participation in these fields.
The NSF INCLUDES Open Forum will use the AAAS Trellis networking platform and the organization's experience engaging communities of practice focused on broadening participation, STEM education and STEM research. The project builds on the success of a prior NSF INCLUDES Conference award (HRD-1650509) that was addressing goals to define networking needs of the first round of NSF INCLUDES Design and Development Launch Pilots (DDLP); to develop design specifications for NSF INCLUDES networking, curating of resources, and supporting communities of practice; and to propose tools, techniques, capacities and functionalities for an NSF INCLUDES national network.
The NSF INCLUDES Open Forum project includes advisory board members with expertise in networking platforms and others with broadening participation knowledge and experience. A yearly conference for NSF INCLUDES awardees will offer participants an opportunity to learn about how Trellis platform upgrades, functionality and technology options (e.g., a smartphone application) can be used in new ways to engage a broader community of partners interested in broadening participation in STEM research and education contexts. An external evaluator will assess the activities and outcomes of the NSF INCLUDES Open Forum both during implementation and at project end. The PIs will also communicate the outcomes of the project to broader audiences, both academic and non-academic, and encourage a dialogue within the NSF INCLUDES community about the use of technology for organization and communication within a network.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Shirley MalcomJosh Freeman
resourceprojectProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
Project SYSTEMIC (A Systems Thinking Approach to STEM Ecosystem Development in Chicago) will apply systems thinking to a community-level STEM ecosystem development effort in one of Chicago's largest and most distressed neighborhoods. The project aims to broaden participation of African American and low-income Chicago Public School students (preK-12) in STEM learning opportunities. The proposed model of collaborative change for this project builds on the work of two coordinated collective impact initiatives--the Chicago STEM Pathways Cooperative and Austin Coming Together, a network of local organizations committed to improving educational and economic outcomes for the community. A key feature of this project is that it adds innovative, interactive, visual problem structuring and solving strategies to highlight and uncover the systemic interdependencies that contribute to the BP challenge for African American youth. The project will convene a series of workshops to engage community stakeholders in the mapping of the STEM ecosystem. A broad and representative cross-section of community stakeholders will design and develop evidence-based STEM ecosystem organizing and implementation strategies. Key outcomes anticipated from this project are the development of a shared understanding, agenda, activities, and commitment to collectively address the underlying challenges of STEM access and participation for African American youth. The goal of this community-driven project is to develop a viable system model that elevates neighborhood voices, historically excluded from the problem-solving table and decision-making processes, to leverage existing assets, build local capacity, increase messaging and awareness of the value of STEM, identify needed new programs, and develop coordination/resource sharing mechanisms across partners to support implementation. The evaluation of this project will be grounded in systems thinking and culturally-responsive approaches that seek to understand the diverse perspectives of stakeholders while measuring progress toward project goals. Evaluation data will be used to assess the problem structuring process, to evaluate the organizational strategy designed to address the structured problem, and to support adaptive learning among stakeholders.
The National Alliance for Partnerships in Equity Education Foundation (NAPE) will partner with a diverse group of organizations from six states (CO, ID, NM, NV, UT, and WY) to form the Intermountain STEM (IM STEM) project, an NSF INCLUDES Design and Development Launch Pilot project focused on the goal of increasing the participation and closing achievement gaps in STEM education, including career and technical education. These organizations whose programs impact the formal STEM education system include: Departments of Education; Higher Education agencies; governor supported STEM Action Centers; universities; secondary school districts; community colleges; Department of Energy National Labs; businesses, non-profits and others. The partners in this effort will identify effective practices focused on the common set of objectives and create a model to bring them to scale by employing a collective impact approach. Through the project, the participating organizations will create a common agenda, identify shared metrics, implement mutually reinforcing activities, and maintain continuous communication. This effort addresses directly the lack of diversity of the STEM workforce; a societal challenge of significant magnitude because of its impact on innovation, national security, environmental safety, and income inequality in the US. The IM STEM?s mission to increase the diversity of students who are successful in STEM education will create a more STEM literate society, ensure the contributions of a diverse STEM workforce, and level the playing field for entrance into high wage STEM careers.
The capacity of IM STEM to bring large well-resourced organizations to bear on the broadening participation challenges in STEM will advance the knowledge of how creative social innovations, like collective impact, can create transformative institutional and cultural change. The collection, evaluation and scaling of effective research-based solutions to close equity gaps in STEM will advance inclusion in STEM. Initially, the IM STEM project will pilot the scaling of NAPE's professional development (PD) programs - Program Improvement Process for Equity and Micromessaging to Reach and Teach Every Student - that have proven to impact equity gaps in STEM and career and technical education (CTE). The six participating states are interested in scaling their current small scale implementation of NAPE's PD programs and will also incorporate selected emerging practices. This design and development launch pilot will provide the vehicle for identifying support mechanisms for scaling of the PD and the identification of additional scaling opportunities with other effective practices of the participating partners. These efforts have the potential to develop a model for expansion to other states wanting to scale effective practices.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Mimi LufkinAlexander CarterAngela HemingwayAnne JakleSusan Thackeray
resourceresearchProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
Each year, the National Alliance for Broader Impacts (NABI) seeks to understand the current state of broader impacts (BI) in the national context. In 2017, NABI convened two forums to identify needs and solicit recommendations. The first event was a 90-minute town hall session with 120 participants facilitated by Jamie Bell at the April 2017 BI Summit. The second event was a two-day convening facilitated by Goose Creek Consulting at NSF headquarters in May 2017 of stakeholder groups including university administrators (e.g., provosts, associate provosts, vice-presidents of research)