The overall goal of the Center for Advancement of Informal Science Education (CAISE) Equity Audit has been to assess CAISE as an organization, and its operations and products through a racial equity lens. In this report, CAISE provides insights on how to better serve our audiences, identify potential resource gaps, and to expand the reach and value of our work to other communities and individuals.
The conference will provide a critical opportunity for enhancing knowledge around innovation in these areas and sharing lessons learned with and advancing collaboration. The focus will be on collective impact, rural empowerment, and successful rural STEM programs.
This Informal Learning Review article briefly recounts the activities of Center for Advancement of Informal Science Education's (CAISE) over three award periods, from 2007 through 2022. It includes links to key CAISE resources and event documentation. CAISE sunsetted its activities in early 2022 and passed the baton of leadership of the National Science Foundation (NSF) Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program resource center to REVISE- the Reimagining Equity and Values in Informal STEM Education center.
Inverness Research and Oregon State University, with support and input from CAISE, conducted an evaluation of the 2021 NSF AISL Awardee Meeting which was held virtually October 19-21, 2021. The evaluation effort included observing the meeting, participating in debriefing the meeting with CAISE co-PIs, the CAISE equity audit committee, and NSF Program Officers; developing and administering a post-event survey; and analyzing data collected through both the survey and Pathable, the virtual platform.
The meeting specifically focused on inviting and including community partners, and on creating
The Center for the Advancement of Informal Science Education (CAISE) is mid-way through year five of a five-year cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation. The NSF funded CAISE in 2007 in order to serve as a resource center to the informal science education (ISE) program, its grantees, and the larger ISE field. Inverness Research has served as the external evaluator for the past five years, documenting the development of CAISE, and the quality and value of its work to key audiences and stakeholders.
This report is a reflection on the progress of CAISE that draws upon our
Through desk-based research and expert interviews, this study set out to investigate how funders and policy makers could drive coordination and improvements in the evaluation of youth engagement with STEM. The study explored the current landscape of evaluating youth engagement with STEM, gaps and challenges and key learnings from the evaluation practice in other sectors and key initiatives. Between February and March 2022, 18 project and programme evaluation reports and papers were reviewed, approximately 40 academic papers were analysed and synthesised, and 14 experts were interviewed.
The COVID-19 pandemic tested many fundamental connections between science and society. A growing field working to strengthen those connections exists within the informal STEM learning (ISL) community which provides diverse learning and engagement environments outside the formal classroom. One of the largest funders of ISL initiatives is the National Science Foundation (NSF) which runs the Advanced Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program in the United States. The AISL program supports initiatives through six categories that include pilots and feasibility studies, research in service to practice
Centering Native Traditional Knowledge within informal STEM education programs is critical for learning for Native youth. In co-created, place-based learning experiences for Native youth, interweaving cultural traditions, arts, language, and community partnerships is vital for authentic, meaningful learning. Standardized STEM curricula and Western-based pedagogies within the mainstream and formal education systems do not reflect the nature of Native STEM knowledge, nor do they make deep connections to it. The absence of this knowledge base can reinforce a deficit-based STEM identity, which can directly impact Native youths’ participation and engagement in STEM. Reframing STEM education for Native youth to prioritize the vitality of community and sustainability requires active consideration of what counts as science learning and who serves as holders and conduits of STEM knowledge. As highly regarded holders of traditional and western STEM knowledge, Native educators and cultural practitioners are critical for facilitating Native youths’ curiosity and engagement with STEM. This Innovations in Development project is Native-led and centers Native knowledge, voice, and contributions in STEM through a culturally based, dual-learning approach that emphasizes traditional and western STEM knowledge. Through this lens, a network of over a dozen tribal nations across 20 U.S. states will be established to support and facilitate the learning of Traditional and Western STEM knowledge in a culturally sustaining manner. The network will build on existing programs and develop a set of unique, interconnected, and synchronized placed-based informal STEM programs for Native youth reflecting the distinctive cultural aspects of Native American and Alaska Native Tribes. The network will also involve a Natives-In-STEM Role Models innovation, in which Native STEM professionals will provide inspiration to Native youth through conversations about their journeys in STEM within cultural contexts. In addition, the network will cultivate a professional network of STEM educators, practitioners, and tribal leaders. Network efforts and the formative evaluation will culminate in the development and dissemination of a community-based, co-created Framework for Informal STEM Education with Native Communities.
Together with Elders and other contributors of each community, local leads within the STEM for Youth in Native Communities (SYNC) Network team will identify and guide the STEM content topics, as well as co-create and implement the program within their sovereign lands with their youth. The content, practitioners, and programming in each community will be distinct, but the community-based, dual learning contextual framework will be consistent. Each community includes several partner organizations poised to contribute to the programming efforts, including tribal government departments, tribal and public K-12 schools, tribal colleges, museums and cultural centers, non-profits, local non-tribal government support agencies, colleges and universities, and various grassroots organizations. Programmatic designs will vary and may include field excursions, summer and after school STEM experiences, and workshops. In addition, the Natives-In-STEM innovation will be implemented across the programs, providing youth with access to Native STEM professionals and career pathways across the country. To understand the impacts of SYNC’s efforts, an external evaluator will explore a broad range of questions through formative and summative evaluations. The evaluation questions seek to explore: (a) the extent to which the culturally based, dual learning methods implemented in SYNC informal STEM programs affect Native youths’ self-efficacy in STEM and (b) how the components of SYNC’s overall theoretical context and network (e.g., partnerships, community contributors such as Elders, STEM practitioners and professionals) impact community attitudes and behaviors regarding youth STEM learning. Data and knowledge gained from these programs will inform the primary deliverable, a Framework for Native Informal STEM Education, which aims to support the informal STEM education community as it expands and deepens its service to Native youth and communities. Future enhanced professional development opportunities for teachers and educators to learn more about the findings and practices highlighted in the Framework are envisioned to maximize its strategic impact.
DATE:
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Juan ChavezDaniella ScaliceWendy Todd
resourceprojectProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
The National Girls Collaborative Project and Education Development Center are convening “Advancing the Conversation on Scaling National Informal STEM Programs,” a two-and-a-half day knowledge-building conference that brings together key stakeholders in informal STEM education (ISE) to examine what scale looks like across informal learning settings. Currently, there is not a common definition or set of dimensions related to what it means to scale programs in informal learning settings. Approaches to scale in ISE too often center on the perspectives and needs of people who are developing and spreading programs while less consideration is given to the realities of those responsible for operationalizing programs in hyper-local contexts. This conference approaches the question of scale from the perspective of the program implementers, who are the beneficiaries of capacity building and serve as facilitators of these scaled programs. The conference also gives voice to program developers, researchers, evaluators, and funders of national informal STEM programs who study and support scale in education. The aim of the conference is to develop a new framework for scale in ISE that centers partnership and capacity building of informal educators. Such an approach to scale addresses issues of local access and diversity, equity, and inclusion, and promotes sustainability of ISE in high-need communities.
Conference discussions challenge three common misperceptions of scale across ISE: (1) simple spread and replication of turnkey programs lead to effective scale in ISE; (2) definitions of scale derived from formal learning settings should be used to scale across ISE; and (3) scale across ISE should be defined by program developers and those that seek to study it. Participants with a wide range of perspectives and who represent a diversity of organizational types will attend the conference and work together to articulate scaling success factors, barriers, diversity, equity, and inclusion strategies, and intended outcomes, distilling themes, questions, and concerns about current approaches to evaluating and researching scale in ISE. Together, conference participants will co-create a framework for scale in ISE which will define new and expanded dimensions of scale that center on capacity building and diversity, equity, and inclusion, as well as a Program Developer’s Guide for scaling ISE programs through the lens of the framework. These products will increase the knowledge and capacity of informal learning organizations involved in nationally scaled initiatives, STEM-rich institutions wanting to scale their own locally developed programs, informal STEM researchers and evaluators, and the broader field of ISE including program funders. Conference findings will be broadly disseminated through publications, conferences, and a national webinar co-hosted by the National Girls Collaborative Project and Education Development Center.