STAR Library Education Network: A Hands-on Learning Program for Libraries and Their Communities

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The project will support STEM learning through local libraries via science kiosks that are compatible with the library setting, and associated materials and programmatic activities. The traveling kiosks will be readily assembled, disassembled, and crated, making them particularly amenable to travel. The subject matter will center on earth science, space science and technology. The American Library Association will manage the tour of these exhibits.This project goes to the question of how the informal science education field supports STEM learning of children and adults who live in rural and in some cases impoverished localities. A particular focus of this project is upper elementary through middle-school aged youth and their families. The team assembled for this project has worked together before and has piloted this project. In addition supporting STEM learning for the public in rural communities, there will be an educational element dealing with educating the library staff prior to the kiosks arriving. This will be done via face-to-face and online discussions. Over time, the initial staff participants and others will create a Community of Practice that will not only involve the project library staff, but also participants from other informal learning venues such as science centers and museums. The evaluation effort includes measurement of knowledge enhancement by library staff, and a comparison study of the STEM learning in rural library venues versus science center venues.The major collaborators in this effort are: the Space Science Institute, the American Library Association, the Lunar and Planetary Institute, Oregon State University, the University of Colorado, and the National Girls Collaborative Project.