RISES (Re-energize and Invigorate Student Engagement through Science) is a coordinated suite of resources including 42 interactive English and Spanish STEM videos produced by Children's Museum Houston in coordination with the science curriculum department at Houston ISD. The videos are aligned to the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills standards, and each come with a bilingual Activity Guide and Parent Prompt sheet, which includes guiding questions and other extension activities.
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resourceprojectProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
Arizona State University, in partnership with the National Informal STEM Education Network, will build fieldwide capacity for sustainability by empowering professionals, engaging public audiences, and leveraging museum and community assets to help build a sustainable future for people and the planet. The project will engage 90 museum professionals in a six-month professional development program, who along with other staff at their organizations will receive support in planning, developing, and/or implementing a sustainability-related project that aligns with their museum’s mission and their community’s priorities. A community of practice will promote ongoing learning and sharing of experiences among program participants. Additional professionals across the museum field will benefit from an online workshop series and other resources produced by the project.
The Springfield Science Museum will increase participation in informal science learning by making its educational programs and learning spaces more accessible and inclusive. Museum staff will undergo Disability Inclusion and Universal Design training to redesign and enhance a core multi-use learning space and principle STEM program that can remove physical, cognitive, and social barriers to learning. External evaluators will measure access needs and learning outcomes before and after project upgrades in order to track progress and develop a scalable model of inclusive practice for all the museum’s science programming. The result will be an improved educational experience for visitors of all ages, abilities, and backgrounds.
ECHO will enhance its capacity to deliver impactful STEM learning experiences for its visitors through the implementation of a re-energized volunteer program. The museum will research innovative practices from the field and build upon best practices from across institutions to overhaul its volunteer training and management systems. Project activities will include building a blended training curriculum, in which volunteers participate in asynchronous and in-person interpretive content, and diversity and inclusion trainings. The museum will also improve its volunteer tracking systems, strengthen staff supervisor training, and revitalize its volunteer recognition and engagement activities. A community of practice will engage three other science centers to inform project activities and assist with the dissemination of a set of training tools adaptable across institutions.
Diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion (DEAI) have become central concerns for museums. Across the field, leaders are asking—with increasing urgency—how museums can diversify their visitors, staff, and boards; create welcoming and inclusive environments and workplaces; and ensure that museum offerings reflect a broad range of interests, experiences, and needs.
Museums have approached DEAI efforts in different ways and at different levels, from developing special exhibits and events for specific audiences to offering staff diversity training to board development. Despite more than
The Implementation Manual is a practical guide for organizations planning to implement Portal to the Public. It represents the experiences of Portal to the Public sites and is supported by research and evaluation results. The seven chapters in the manual are designed around the main components of the Portal to the Public guiding framework. The chapters guide you through the process of developing successful conversation-based public programs featuring scientists.
Chapter 1: The Guiding Framework
Chapter 2: Conceptual Planning
Chapter 3: Partnership and Relationship Building
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Transforming Communities provides an overview of the agency mission, vision, goals, and objectives, and includes highlights of IMLS initiatives and projects.
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Institute of Museum and Library Services
"Strengthening Networks, Sparking Change: Museums and Libraries as Community Catalysts" combines findings from a literature scan and input from the library, museum and community revitalization fields with case studies about the experiences and vision of museums and libraries working to spur change in their communities. It describes the complementary conceptual frameworks of social wellbeing and collective impact and explains how libraries and museums can use these concepts to partner with community-based organizations, government agencies and other cultural or educational organizations. It
The Amistad Research Center will hire a project archivist to process 15 archival collections highlighting the accomplishments of African Americans in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) professions. An inventory of the collections will be created and selected materials emphasizing multigenerational African American achievement in STEM professions will be digitized to improve public access. Highlights of the collection will be shared through social media and Amistad’s blog. The project supports the Amistad Research Center’s role as a repository of collections documenting African Americans in STEM professions while providing an emerging archivist valuable experience in the evaluation, organization, preservation, and description of complex archival collections.
This University of Wisconsin System will conduct research to understand how the Madison Public Library (MPL) is building a production-oriented approach to literacy and learning through their maker-focused program, the Bubbler. On a national level, this project speaks to educational research communities, professionals, members of informal learning institutions, and organizers of designed makerspaces. At the local level, it addresses underserved populations in the Madison area and MPL in evaluating and developing the Bubbler. Findings will be shared through conference presentations, journal articles, and networks of library professionals.
An IMLS (Institute of Museum and Library Services) National Leadership project with University of California Museum of Paleontology (lead), Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History, Museum of the Earth and University of Kansas Natural History Museum to create a tree portal website with learning research, curriculum material and guides on how to effectively use and teach about the tree of life for teachers and museum professionals.
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University of California-BerkeleyTeresa MacDonaldRoy CaldwellAnna ThanukosLisa WhiteDavid HeiserRobert Ross
Researchers at Michigan State University, University of Washington, Science Museum of Minnesota, and Museum of Life and Science found that there are clear indicators of learning in Science Buzz (www.sciencebuzz.org), the online museum environment studied as part of the Take 2 project. People who participate in conversations through the Buzz blog demonstrate an interest in science, and they leverage their own experiences and identities in order to share science knowledge with others. Researchers utilized indicators of learning as identified in the National Academies report on Learning Science in Informal Environments. Aspects of learning that were particularly important for an online environment like Science Buzz were interest in science, participating in science through the use of language, and identifying as someone who knows about or uses science. Researchers found that Science Buzz participants had a strong interest in scientific issues, utilized argumentation strategies--an important scientific practice--and identified with the importance of science in their lives. In particular: (1) Interest in scientific issues, caring about scientific issues, identifying personally with scientific issues were commonly evident in Science Buzz; (2) There is widespread use of argumentation in relation to scientific issues, an important scientific practice, although the quality of the scientific reasoning associated with these argumentation practices varies; (3) The co-construction of identity between online participants and the host museum is a potentially powerful outcome, as it suggests that online learning environments can facilitate longer-term relationships; (4) The analytical tools developed by this project advance our ability to understand learning in online environments; (5) While some indicators of learning are present, others, such as reflecting on science or co-constructing science knowledge with others, are not present. For museums, encouraging museum staff to engage digital tools and online participants is relatively easy. However, measuring online activity with regard to complex outcomes like learning is extremely difficult. Perhaps the most useful outcome of the Take 2 project, therefore, is a tool that will enable museums to make sense of online activity in relation to powerful outcomes like learning.