Although there is a growing body of research on mathematics in informal learning environments (Pattison, Rubin, & Wright, 2016; Rubin, Garibay, & Pattison, 2016), less has been done to understand how math can be integrated into other informal STEM education settings or topics, and how this integration might engage those who do not already have positive attitudes about math. Over the last decade there has been a proliferation of out-of-school environments that foster building, making, tinkering, and design activities (Bevan, Gutwill, Petrich, & Wilkinson, 2015; Vossoughi, Escudé, Kong, & Hooper
Citizen Science 2015 was the inaugural conference of the Citizen Science Association (CSA). The conference planned for two days of building connections and exchanging ideas across a wide spectrum of disciplines and experiences and was held February 11th and 12th in San Jose, California, as a pre-conference of the American Association for the Advancement of Science's Annual Meeting.
In addition to the other strands, a specific strand dedicated to education was held to identify opportunities and strategies to support the integration of citizen science into the Science, Technology
In this brief article, VSA President Ridgeley Williams reflects on the past VSA conference in Raleigh, North Carolina and discusses planning for the next conference in Minnesota.
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Ridgeley Williams
resourceprojectProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
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).
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Cynthia Kelly
resourceprojectProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
This conference brings together 60 people in May/June 2013 to discuss opportunities and limitations in the use of the latest in Human Computer Interactions (HCI) in museum settings, such as experiences using Kinect, Wii, multi-touch computer-based systems and voice recognition interfaces. Given that HCI is increasingly being used in museum settings, the conference will examine some of the exemplar exhibits that now exist and explore some design challenges regarding the use of HCI in museum settings. Participants at the conference include an interdisciplinary set of experts (science exhibition development experts, learning science researchers, ISE evaluators and multi-media experts) that will take a critical look at the future needs and appropriate application of HCI in museum environments. The conference will explore both the advantages and limitations of HCI use in museum environments, and will concern itself with both the nature of the hardware and the learning that can occur. A final report will be disseminated via a multi-user blog that will encourage participation/discussion and the conference leaders will encourage the development of a Community of Practice regarding the use of HCI in museum settings that builds from the existing Open Exhibits web site and Open Exhibits membership (http://openexhibits.org/).
This is a handout from the session "How We Learned from Exhibits That SUCK!" at the 2014 ASTC Conference held in Raleigh, NC. The slides describe what aspects of an exhibit make it successful or make it suck.
This is a handout from the session "Evaluation Capacity Building: Current initiatives and future directions" at the 2014 ASTC Conference held in Raleigh, NC. The handout provides a brief overview of five different projects that enhance evaluation capacity for the field.
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.
This presentation was shared at the 2014 Association of Science-Technology Centers (ASTC) annual conference. It describes 4 websites designed for informal science education (ISE) professionals, including: InformalScience.org, Relating Research to Practice (RR2P), the Building Informal Science Education (BISE) project, and CitizenScience.org. The presentation ended with questions to the audience asking what might project leaders of these sessions do next with regards to building out online infrastructure.
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
The publication of the National Academies of Science consensus study, Learning Science in Informal Environments (2009), was an important marker in the history of informal STEM learning (ISL). With five years hindsight, we pause to reflect how far ISL has come as a field, what we have achieved, and what the future might hold. The impetus to do so came via our participation on a panel at a symposium at the 2014 NARST Meeting in Pittsburgh, PA. Our session was framed by overarching questions about the kind of research currently being conducted in ISL--and for what purpose. Some of the specific
This document was produced by Beck Tench for the Center for Advancement of Informal Science Education (CAISE). It provides visual documentation of the 2014 AISL PI Meeting that was held in Washington, DC.
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Beck TenchCenter for Advancement of Informal Science Education