EAGER -- Journal to catalyze advances in formal and informal STEM education

国家科学教师协会(NSTA)、科学技术中心协会(ASTC)及其研究/评估合作伙伴David Heil and Associates(DHA)将进行前端研究，以开发、试点和评估(以形式和最终方式)同行评议的期刊和相关的多媒体资源，旨在促进正规和非正规科学、技术、工程和数学(STEM)教育界的创新进步和学习。其目标是确定对三个目标受众有帮助和吸引力的内容：非正式教育工作者、正规教育工作者和在校内和校外学习的交汇点进行研究的研究人员。这一非正式的科学教育“期刊”将是一种多媒体资源，有印刷和电子两种形式，可以包括视频或数字互动，并可能提供受众/读者反馈机制，包括通过社交媒体的投入。该项目中提议的出版物有可能部分满足惠康信托研究中确定的一个关键需求，该研究分析了英国科学教育社区：非正式提供者的贡献。研究报告指出，有必要在校内和校外STEM学习的边界上建立一个国际储存库，记录已经和正在从ISE经验中学到的东西--包括研究、计划评估、政策报告和说明性案例研究的综合。拟议的期刊还将提供一种工具，鼓励和制定激励措施，鼓励从业者发表其工作成果。该项目将使用调查、电话采访和焦点小组进行：1)情况评估，确定目标受众已有哪些资源，如何使用，以及缺少什么；2)在发布试点问题之前，对目标受众进行前端研究，评估兴趣、需求和期望，并测试早期主题、交付格式和讨论工具；以及(3)形成性和总结性评估，评估(两期)试点和相关社交媒体工具在促进协同作用和满足已确定目标受众的需求方面的情况。

The National Science Teachers Association (NSTA), the Association of Science-Technology Centers (ASTC) and their research/evaluation partner, David Heil and Associates (DHA), will conduct front-end research to develop, pilot, and evaluate (formatively and summatively) a peer-reviewed journal and associated multi-media resources designed to catalyze innovative advances and learning across formal and informal science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education communities. The goal is to identify content that is useful and appeals to the intersection of three target audiences: informal educators, formal educators and researchers conducting research at the intersection of in-school and out-of-school learning. This informal science education (ISE) "journal" would be a multi-media resource, available in both print and electronic forms, that could include videos or digital interactives and provide the potential for audience/reader feedback mechanisms, including input via social media. The publication proposed in this project has the potential to satisfy in part a key need identified in a Wellcome Trust study, Analysing the UK Science Education Community: The contribution of informal providers. The study report identifies the need to build an international depository of what has been and is being learned in ISE experiences at the boundary of in-school and out-of-school STEM learning - including syntheses of research, program evaluations, policy reports and illustrative cases studies. The proposed journal will also provide a vehicle to encourage and develop incentives for practitioners to publish results of their work. The project will use surveys, phone interviews and focus groups to conduct: 1) a landscape assessment, identifying what resources are already available to target audiences, how they are used, and what is missing; 2) front-end research with target audiences prior to publication of pilot issues, assessing interests, needs, and expectations and testing early topics, delivery formats, and discussion vehicles; and (3) formative and summative evaluation, assessing how well the (two-issue) pilot and associated social media vehicles foster synergy and satisfy the needs of the identified target audiences.