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Date: 09/01/2020
Resource Category: Project Descriptions
The goal of the National Science Foundation?s Research Coordination Network (RCN) program is to advance a field or create new directions in research or education by supporting groups of investigators to communicate and coordinate their research, training and educational activities across disciplinary, organizational, geographic and international ... »
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Date: 01/01/2020
Resource Category: Edited Chapter
But many young people face signifcant economic, cultural, historical, and/or social obstacles that distance them from STEM as a meaningful or viable option— these range from under-resourced schools, race- and gender-based discrimination, to the dominant cultural norms of STEM professions or the historical uses of STEM to oppress or disadvantage ... »
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Date: 09/01/2019
Resource Category: Project Descriptions
Consideration of the needs of individuals with a wide range of disabilities is not always considered in the early design stages of an informal STEM learning (ISL) activity or program. The primary access approach for people with disabilities becomes the provision of accommodations once the ISL product or environment is created. In contrast, the ... »
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Date: 09/01/2018
Resource Category: Project Descriptions
This Innovations in Development project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which seeks to advance new approaches to, and evidence-based understanding of, the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments. This includes providing multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM ... »
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Date: 06/26/2017
Resource Category: Report
This report introduces a framework to support learning in library and museum makerspaces. The framework demonstrates how we can create the conditions for ambitious learning experiences to unfold within the making experience. ... »
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Date: 05/29/2017
Resource Category: Peer-reviewed article
Out-of-school settings promise to broaden participation in science to groups that are often left out of school-based opportunities. Increasing such involvement is premised on the notion that science is intricately tied to “the social, material, and personal well-being” of individuals, groups, and nations—indicators and aspirations that are deeply ... »
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Date: 06/01/2016
Resource Category: Peer-reviewed article
In this essay, Shirin Vossoughi, Paula Hooper, and Meg Escude advance a critique of branded, culturally normative definitions of making and caution against their uncritical adoption into the educational sphere. The authors argue that the ways making and equity are conceptualized can either restrict or expand the possibility that the growing maker ... »
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Date: 05/20/2016
Resource Category: Edited Chapter
Born from individual basement tinkerers and garage-mechanic hobbyists, the Maker Movement has evolved to support a strong community among makers. Makers increasingly gather together in makerspaces, hackerspaces, tech shops, and fab labs, where groups composed of diverse ages, genders and backgrounds are motivated to learn with and from one another ... »
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Date: 03/28/2016
Resource Category: Reference Materials
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 ... »
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Date: 03/28/2016
Resource Category: Reference Materials
Making, tinkering, and other informal design and engineering experiences offer rich opportunities to engage children and adults in mathematics and build mathematical skills, knowledge, and interests. But how can educators successfully integrate mathematics into these experiences? One approach to answering this question is to better understand how ... »