caise

center for advancement of
informal science education

Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL)

A New Program Name for the Informal Science Education

Program at the National Science Foundation

 

The name of the program has changed from Informal Science Education (ISE) to Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL). AISL better emphasizes the priorities of the solicitation and the changes at NSF:

• Advancing - This emphasizes that AISL seeks innovative projects that advance the field and that requests need to go beyond just proposing a new exhibit, program or film.

• Informal - This continues to emphasize that the program is interested in out-of-school learning that makes learning Lifelong, Life Wide (occurring across multiple venues) and Life Deep (occurring at different levels of complexity).

• STEM - This recognizes that the program is not just focused on science, but all of STEM.

• Learning - This term is more appropriate than "education" based on what we know on how people learn. Also, "learning" is more connected with what people do for themselves, compared to "education" which is perceived as something that is done to them.

The AISL program will invest in research and development of innovative and field advancing out of school STEM learning and emerging STEM learning environments.

For more information about AISL and funding opportunities, please see the full AISL program solicitation (NSF12-560).

Resources for Proposers

• Advancing Informal STEM Learning Solicitation: Frequently Asked Questions
• InformalCommons: a website that searches across informal learning websites to provide greater access to informal science education project descriptions, evaluation tools and products, exhibit case studies and reviews, reference materials, instructional materials, and more.
• Informal Science Evidence Wiki:provides easy to read summaries of evidence that characterize the benefits and outcomes of ISE experiences.
• Principal Investigator's Guide to Evaluation: this guide is designed to support the useful integration of evaluation and project design in informal learning environments
• Framework for Evaluating Impacts of Informal Science Education Projects: Originating from a March 12–13, 2007 workshop about informal science education evaluation, this book offers background about NSF’s evolving reporting requirements and advice from evaluators working in the field about how to gather evidence about impacts of projects supported by the ISE program.
• NSF Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide: Included here are the general NSF Grant Proposal Guide (Part I) and the Award and Administration Guide (Part II), which includes documents used to guide, manage, and monitor the award and administration of NSF grants and cooperative agreements .
• NSF Merit Review Process: Read this for a better understanding of the NSF merit review process.
• Prospective New Awardee Guide: This guide will help your organization prepare documents required by NSF to conduct administrative and financial reviews of your organization.
• The 2010 User-Friendly Handbook for Project Evaluation
• Instructions for ISE OPMS Impacts and Indicators Worksheets
• ISE OPMS Impacts and Indicators Worksheets

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No.
DRL-0638981. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are
those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.