The Researching Invention Education white paper compiles contributions from a community of individuals and organizations working in Invention Education (IvE) in the United States. IvE is a term that refers to the practice of teaching students how to problem-solve and think like inventors in order to become positive change-makers in the world. The paper was written by researchers interested in IvE who attended the 2018 InventEd convening hosted by The Lemelson Foundation. The group worked together for a year to publish their findings that were then uncovered at the 2019 InventEd convening in
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Audra SkukauskaiteStephanie CouchLeslie Flynn
In informal science contexts, the word tinkering describes a learning process that combines art, science, and technology through hands-on inquiry. With the growth in popularity of the making and tinkering movements nationwide, these practices are increasingly making their way into early childhood environments where they have great promise to positively impact the early STEM learning experiences of young children. This 2-day conference hosted at the Exploratorium in San Francisco will bring together stakeholders exploring applications of tinkering in informal early childhood environments. The conference will provide opportunities to explore the role, value, and challenges associated with implementing meaningful tinkering interventions in learning environments serving young children. The project seeks to 1) Convene stakeholders from the tinkering and early childhood programs; and 2) further the exploration and evolution of practitioner and researcher knowledge about tinkering in early childhood contexts. The long-term goal is to support more young children being introduced to STEM learning through tinkering's adaptable approaches to STEM-learning that align with the developmental needs of this young population.
This project will collaboratively analyze and document the state of the field of STEM-rich tinkering in informal early childhood contexts. Additionally, the project will deepen relationships across the early childhood tinkering ecosystem. Additional outcomes include an effort to provide tangible resources to the field highlighting current promising practices and future opportunities for development. The conference will also provide an understanding of how tinkering interventions may contribute to the development of STEM interest, identity and learning amongst early childhood audiences. Finally, the conference will bring together research and practitioners to explore how tinkering in early childhood settings can be used effectively to meet the needs of diverse learners including learners from underserved and underrepresented communities. The project will recruit a total of 75 participants with backgrounds in the field of tinkering and STEM learning, early childhood research, and professional development practices representing a diverse set of institutions and organizations. Research questions for the conference will focus on: 1) What types of supports and professional development do early childhood educators need to facilitate early STEM learning through tinkering? 2) What types of built environment and hands-on materials best support young children's ability to learn STEM content and practices through tinkering? 3) What types of strategies best support caregiver involvement in young children's learning? 4) What is the role of early childhood tinkering in young children?s STEM learning, interest, and identity development? 5) How can culturally and linguistically sustaining pedagogies be used to ensure equity across a diversity of young learners and their families? To answer these research questions the project will use qualitative methods before, during and post-conference. Research methods will include a landscape analysis identifying needs of participants, surveys, observations and informal interviews with participants.
This Conference award is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (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.
This 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.
The COMPASS conference will bring together 80 participants for two days in September 2018 at the Exploratorium in San Francisco, CA. The first dissemination will take place in a presentation at the ASTC conference the following month in October 2018. A webinar sharing insights from COMPASS and inviting others to engage will be held in March 2019 hosted by ASTC and accessible by ASTC members and non-members alike. A companion COMPASS e-publication will be released for free download, also in March 2019, with summaries of conference proceedings, key issues identified, case histories of ILAM in
This evaluation reports on the Mission: Solar System project, a 2-year project funded by NASA. The goal of the Mission: Solar System was to create a collection of resources that integrates digital media with hands-on science and engineering activities to support kids’ exploration in formal and informal education settings. Our goal in creating the resources were: For youth: (1) Provide opportunities to use science, technology, engineering, and math to solve challenges related to exploring our solar system, (2) Build and hone critical thinking, problem-solving, and design process skills, (3)
This is a handout from the session "Making Space for Innovation: Sampling of Making and Tinkering" at the 2014 ASTC Conference held in Raleigh, NC. The session provided an overview of different makerspaces and tinkering programs, including the goals, opportunities, and challenges of the making movement.
This is a handout from the session "Dream, Design, Fab! Engaging Youth With Digital Fabrication" at the 2014 ASTC Conference held in Raleigh, NC. The session described the Fab Lab program at the Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago.
This is a handout from the session "What If There Wasn't a Building? Pecha Kucha" at the 2014 ASTC Conference held in Raleigh, NC. The handout links to a recording of the session.
As part of its overall strategy to enhance learning in informal environments, the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program funds innovative resources for use in a variety of settings. This project, "STEM Learning in Libraries: A National Conference on Needs, Opportunities, and Future Directions," brings together libraries, informal educators and STEM education and research organizations to discuss the role of libraries in STEM out-of-school time (OST) education, share existing programs, define library needs, and develop a research and evaluation agenda. To date, there has not been systematic exploration of the ways that STEM programming occurs in libraries nor of their effectiveness when they do happen. This will be the first conference of its kind and stands to have a high degree of visibility and the potential for broad impact. Principal Investigator Paul Dusenbery, Director of the National Center for Interactive Learning (NCIL) and Executive Director of Space Science Institute, will lead an experienced project team that includes Co-PI Keliann LaConte, Lunar Planetary Institute; Susan Brandehoff, Public Programs Office, American Library Association; and Anne Holland, NCIL. The conference sessions will be organized around four strands: (1) showcasing successful STEM programs and reviewing research and evaluation results on informal STEM learning in public libraries; (2) examining the current needs, barriers, and opportunities of public libraries; (3) elucidating the possible future roles of public libraries in the 21st Century; and (4) identifying promising practices and strategies. Beginning with core members comprised of the project team and organizing committees, the project will create a Leadership Forum for library directors, library science educators, and policy makers, as well as STEM professionals and educators. Conference results will be disseminated through a wide variety of organizational websites: NCIL, ALA, LPI, the conference website, the STAR_Net online community, and CAISE. In 2010, there were nearly 1.6 billion visits to 17,000 public libraries. Library audiences are true reflections of the nation's population - they serve all races, ages, economic backgrounds, and regions of the country. The STEM Learning in Libraries conference will give public libraries, STEM organizations, informal educators, and funders an opportunity to begin a dialogue with implications for profoundly impacting the attitudes of millions of Americans toward STEM topics.
"Hybrid spaces for science learning" refers to the merging of real and virtual worlds to produce new environments and visualizations where physical and digital objects co-exist and interact in real time. Learning science within hybrid spaces can be a fun, engaging, and reflective experience. Further, hybrid spaces are inherently social, facilitating dialogue and social exchange, as well as the construction of knowledge, paralleling the nature of contemporary science. This symposium brings together several research programs that address learning "across contexts" that span classroom activities
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Ole SmordalJim SlottaTom MoherMichelle LuiAlfredo Jornet
Museums and galleries collect more visitor data today than ever before. But how much of it gives us real insight into visitors motivations, behaviour, experiences and responses? And how much of it simply ticks a box on a funding form? Commissioned by some of the UK’s leading institutions, including Tate, The British Museum, V&A and the Imperial War Museum North, Morris Hargreaves McIntyre has tackled this insight deficit head on. In doing so, we have helped these organisations to move beyond the data routinely collected to get to the knowledge they actually need.
The Coalition for Science After School was launched January 28, 2004 at the Santa Fe Institute, home to the world’s leading researchers on the study of complexity. Against the dazzling backdrop of the New Mexican mesa, 40 educational leaders from diverse but overlapping domains—science, technology, engineering and mathematics education and after-school programs—met to grapple with three emerging, important trends in youth development and science learning in this country: 1. An explosion in the number of U.S. youth attending after-school programs, and increasing links between school and after
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TEAM MEMBERS:
The Coalition for Science After SchoolLeah Reisman