NSF Informal Science Education Solicitation

NSF's Informal Science Education program supports innovation in "anywhere, anytime, lifelong learning," through investments in research, development, infrastructure, and capacity-building for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) learning outside of formal school settings. The NSF ISE program is one of several grant programs in NSF's Division of Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings (DRL). 

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News and Updates

• Informal Commons: A Request for Alpha Site Testers

  The Informal Commons is a CAISE initiative in partnership with Ideum, UPCLOSE and Lawrence Hall of Science.  “The Commons,” a website that features a federated search engine, provides users a single search portal into multiple ISE professional development websites.  Currently, seven sites are searched by “the Commons”: Assessment Tools in Informal Science (ATIS), Center for Advancement of Informal Science Education (CAISE), ExhibitFiles, Informal Science, National Association for Museum Exhibition (NAME), Open Exhibits, and Visitors Studies Association (VSA).  The Informal Commons alpha site displays results from full-text search and includes a limited set of "faceted search" results. With faceted search users can choose to browse related results by criteria such as “authors” or “content type.” Future development for the Commons site will include a more advanced faceted search which deepens relationships between data, improves relevancy of results, and increases opportunities for discovery of related resources. This is a request for alpha site testers to contribute to the further development of this web resource.

  Here’s how you can help: Access the The Informal Commons and take a few minutes to explore by searching the linked resources. Run searches using terms that represent areas of interest in informal science. Try including names of colleagues, institutions, projects, or areas of research and practice (e.g. “accessibility,” “afterschool clubs,” or “engineering”).  Then respond back to Jamie Bell, CAISE Project Director and PI, with responses to the following questions, or other comments about your experience.

  1. General usability and functionality. Was it easy to understand the site's purpose? Did it perform as expected (search results, format/layout, speed/responsiveness)? Were there any areas that could be improved?

  2. Content and purpose. Were you familiar with all of the sites that make up the Commons? Would you use the site in the future? What types of resources (did you) would you search for? Do you think the site is useful for learning more about the field or for research? Are there other sites (or resources) that could/should be included?

• Does Research Help Practice?  You be the Judge!

  There's a growing body of knowledge about teaching and learning in informal learning environments such as museums, after-school programs, and home settings. However most educational research still takes place in classrooms, and much of it is not made easily accessible to informal educators. What can we learn from this research?  How much is relevant to our work?

  Research2Practice is a website that makes recent relevant peer-reviewed studies accessible to informal educators.  This NSF-funded project (DRL-1049817) is a collaboration among researchers affiliated with the Center for Informal Learning and Schools (CILS) and the Learning in Informal and Formal Environments (LIFE) Center. The website, which is currently in a beta test phase, is itself a research project. It asks the question: Can current peer–reviewed educational research be made available, accessible, and useful to informal science educators? Can it be used to inform practice?

  Login to Research2Practice to access summaries of recent studies, download synthesis papers, and browse the searchable content.  After you register, you will have ongoing access to the site, and can choose to receive tweets or email digests as new studies are uploaded during the year.  The project will later send you a short survey asking for your feedback to help redirect the project.

  Contact cils@exploratorium.edu with questions, or for additional information about the website and the current field test.

• New OECD Publication, “Strong Performers and Successful Reformers in Education: Lessons from PISA for the United States”

  President Obama has launched one of the world’s most ambitious education reform agendas. “Race to the Top” encourages states to adopt internationally benchmarked standards and assessments that prepare students for success in college and the workplace. But what does the “top” look like internationally?

  The OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) provides the world’s most extensive and rigorous set of international surveys assessing the knowledge and skills of secondary school students. This volume combines an analysis of PISA with a description of the policies and practices of those education systems that are close to the top or advancing rapidly, and offers insights from their reform trajectories. A PDF version of this publication is available for free download.

• The Art of Science Learning Conferences 2011

  Learn how the arts can strengthen science education and spark creativity in the 21st-Century American workforce at “The Art of Science Learning: Shaping the 21st-Century Workforce” conference, hosted by the California Institute of Telecommunications and Information Technology (Calit2) on the University of California- San Diego (UCSD) campus, June 14-15, 2011.The conference will bring together 200 scientists, educators, teaching artists, business leaders and policymakers from around the country to explore ways in which arts-based learning can enhance STEM skills and strengthen the innovative capacity of the present and future STEM workforce.

  For more information on the San Diego conference and the NSF-funded project, visit artofsciencelearning.org. View the conference agenda. Contact Harvey Seifter or David Green if you have additional questions.

• Gordon Research Conference: Visualization in Science and Education

  If you are interested in current practice and research on visualizations of data, concepts and phenomena and would like to collaborate and connect with like-minded visualization colleagues, attend the Gordon Research Conference on Visualization in Science and Education. While registration is closed, you may contact the conference chairs, Elizabeth Dorland or Ghislain Deslongchamps to see if there is still available space. Conference support is available for all applicants, with priority given to students, post-docs, and individuals from underrepresented sectors.

  The conference will be held at Bryant University, in Smithfield, Rhode Island, July 10-15. This international and highly interdisciplinary biennial conference is one of the premier venues for presentation of new visualization research and applications for the science and education communities. The official program and application info can be found at the GRC website.

  Three FREE pre-conference workshops (July 8-10) are available for registered conference participants. All participant costs, including on-site accommodation and meals from Friday noon until conference check-in Sunday afternoon are included.

• Publications from the National Academies Press

  Beginning June 2, 2011, all PDF versions of books published by the National Academies Press are available for download free of charge. This includes over 4,000 books, plus future policy analyses and research reviews produced by the National Academies Press – publisher for the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, the Institute of Medicine, and the National Research Council. Additional information is available at the National Academies Press website.

• VSA Conference Registration Open

  Online-only Early Bird Registration is open until June 17 for the 24th Annual Visitor Studies Association Conference, "Building Shared Agendas: Conversations on the Public Value of Visitor Studies". The conference will be held from July 24 - 27, 2011, at the historic Palmer House Hotel in downtown Chicago, Illinois. Register for the conference at the Visitor Studies Association website.