In informal STEM education, thinking about engagement has evolved from a focus on innovative ways of attracting the initial attention of science center/museum visitors or media consumers to strategies for designing environments and activities that foster deeper experiences such as experimentation, skill development, and contemplation in a variety of settings. In the science communication field, engagement increasingly refers to “two-way” approaches to designing and facilitating interactions between STEM professionals and diverse “publics” that take into account the knowledge and prior
The landmark 2009 National Research Council consensus report Learning Science in Informal Environments, posited that learners in informal environments “experience excitement, interest, and motivation to learn about phenomena in the natural and physical world” as one of six strands of informal science learning. In 2016, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Center for Public Engagement with Science and Technology identified “increased interest and motivation” around STEM topics as a short-term, measurable outcome of science engagement activities. For many professionals
In everyday language, one might define “identity” as the way that people answer questions such as: “Who do I think I am, or who can I be, where do I belong, and how do I think other people see me?” The concept of identity has become an increasingly important factor in the study of informal science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education and science communication. And a growing number of designers name an enhanced science or STEM identity as an intended outcome for participants in their activities and programs.
In 2017, the CAISE Evaluation and Measurement Task Force asked a
This poster was presented at the 2019 AISL PI Meeting, and describes the the ongoing research questions and goals of the Ute STEM Project, which explores the integration of the traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) of the Ute Indians of Colorado and Utah and Western science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).
This guide describes what took place during NYSCI’s Big Data for Little Kids workshop series, Museum Makers: Designing With Data. In addition to detailed outlines of the activities implemented during the program, this guide includes a glossary of recurrent terms and resources used throughout the workshops.
In 2017, as part of a National Science Foundation funded project, the New York Hall of Science (NYSCI) set out to teach Big Data concepts to children ages 4 – 8 years old. NYSCI developed and piloted an after-school program for families to utilize the data cycle as a method of informed
The is the poster presented at the 2019 AISL PI Meeting about a project that explored ways to create conversations between scientists and publics that both groups value and learn from. The content focus was the emerging field of synthetic biology and two methods were developed. Hands-on activities like those developed and distributed by the Nanoscale Informal Science Education Network were developed but with the twist that each activity was designed to stimulate a conversation about societal implications of various applications of synthetic biology. Scientists and science students were trained
This poster was presented at the 2019 AISL PI Meeting in Washington, DC. It provides an overview of a project designed to broaden participation of blind students in engineering fields through the development of spatial ability skills and the showcasing of nonvisually accessible teaching methods and techniques.
By using widely-available technologies, this project brings fully online instructional coaching in STEM to out-of-school educators who live too remotely to attend ongoing in-person workshops.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Sue AllenPerrin ChickScott ByrdAlexandria BrasiliLiv DetrickLynn FarrinHannah Lakin
The 60 million people who live in rural settings are often overlooked as a significantly underrepresented STEM audience. In Sept 2018, a small invited conference brought together innovators and experts in rural STEM learning outside of school, to share lessons learned and plan next steps.
Many informal learning institutions are experimenting with STEAM approaches to engage diverse learners. However, what STEAM means, including how to design and enact STEAM experiences, is undertheorized. We are offering a PD series for informal educators that centers around a set of core STEAM practices that support identity work among learners. The series involves in-person sessions, online training, and team coaching during the design phase.
This poster was presented at the 2019 NSF AISL Principal Investigators Meeting.
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