Conference, Symposia, and Workshop: Engaging the Science Center Community in Defining and Utilizing Impact Metrics

越来越多的研究表明，许多类型的机构和经验有助于公众学习科学和技术。这些包括正规教育系统，图书馆，科学中心，公民科学，课后计划，电视节目，电影和视频，报纸，广播，书籍和杂志，互联网，社区和健康组织，环境组织以及与朋友和家人的对话。同样重要的是，关于谁从这些机构和经验中学习以及如何学习的研究，必须由社区本身提供信息，并在社区内部进行讨论。该项目特别关注互动科学中心的STEM学习。它邀请来自全国各地的科学中心专业人士为一项正在进行的研究做出贡献并分享研究结果，该研究旨在更好地了解互动科学中心对青少年和成人对科学的长期理解、兴趣和参与的影响和技术。由这笔赠款支持的两个研讨会将吸引科学中心管理人员，教育工作者，展览和项目设计师，评估人员和研究人员参加两组任务。第一次研讨会在更大的研究项目开始之前举行，将审查和关注研究的总体目标，并帮助制定一系列具体的研究问题。虽然没有研究可以回答所有重要的问题，研讨会的目标是确保计划的调查试图解决的问题和结果被认为是最重要的更广泛的科学中心社区。第二次研讨会将在完成所有数据收集和初步数据分析之后举行。它将让科学中心社区的广泛代表参与讨论研究结果、头脑风暴的影响和使用，并制定传播战略，以确保研究结果能够传播到更广泛的科学中心和政策社区。这些研讨会的目标是利用来自全国各地的数十名活跃专业人士的集体智慧，制定一套战略，将研究成果纳入实践，并将重要的研究成果带给更广泛的全国受众。

A growing body of research suggests that many types of institutions and experiences contribute to science and technology learning by the public. These include the formal education system, libraries, science centers, citizen science, after school programs, television programs, film and video, newspapers, radio, books and magazines, the internet, community and health organizations, environmental organizations, and conversations with friends and family. It is also important that research about who learns and how they learn from these institutions and experiences is informed by and discussed within the communities themselves. This project focuses specifically on STEM learning in interactive science centers. It invites science center professionals from around the country to contribute to and share findings from an on-going research study designed to better understand the influence that interactive science centers have on youth and adult's long-term understanding, interest and engagement with science and technology. The pair of workshops supported by this grant will engage science center administrators, educators, exhibition and program designers, evaluators and researchers in two sets of tasks. The first workshop, held prior to the start of the larger research project, will examine and focus the research's overall goals and help frame a set of specific research questions. Although no research study can answer all important issues, the goal of the workshop is to ensure that the planned investigation attempts to address the issues and outcomes considered most critical to the broader science center community. The second workshop will occur after completion of all data collection and initial data analysis. It will engage a broad cross-section of the science center community in discussing findings, brainstormind implications and usage, and developing dissemination strategies to insure that the findings of the research reach the broader science center and policy communities. The goal of these workshops is to use the collective wisdom of dozens of active professionals from across the country to develop a suite of strategies for grounding research in practice, incorporating research results into practice as well as bringing important research findings to a broader national audience.