Understanding and Catalyzing Equity-Oriented Change in Museums and Science Centers

该项目由推进非正式STEM学习（AISL）计划资助，该计划旨在推进非正式环境中STEM学习设计和开发的新方法和基于证据的理解。这包括提供多种途径，以扩大获得和参与STEM学习经验，推进非正式环境中STEM学习的创新研究和评估，以及发展参与者对深入学习的理解。 这项研究将有助于这些目标提供经验证据，科学博物馆，科学中心和其他设计的设置，为非正式科学教育（伊势）如何以及在什么情况下可以改变，使他们将达到更多样化的观众与他们的教育活动的全方位。这项研究将加深对伊势组织的公平规范和实践的理解，以及塑造它们的内部和背景因素。该项目建立在广泛知名和广受好评的展览“种族：我们如此不同吗？“在参观了数十个博物馆和科学中心，并被超过300万人参观后，RACE将回到它创建的明尼苏达科学博物馆（SMM）。本研究的第一条将研究SMM组织变革的基本过程，因为它试图使用RACE来利用组织范围的变革。在Strand 2中，项目团队将比较全国各地举办RACE的伊势组织的经验，重点关注影响反思并导致（或防止）持久影响的条件。这两项研究将为Strand 3的设计提供信息：在伊势设计的环境中，对公平规范和做法以及与公平相关的变化的潜力进行全国调查。四个研究问题指导所有的项目活动：1）这样的非正式科学教育组织如何利用一个不寻常的事件，如巡回展览，催化和维持其公平相关的规范和做法的变化？2)改变根深蒂固的规范和实践所需的深刻反思如何以及何时在试图改变其公平规范和实践的伊势组织中表现出来？3)哪些背景因素支持或反对实现和维持全组织范围的公平规范和做法的变化？4)在博物馆和科学中心的制度领域，这些支持和反对的条件有多普遍？与公平有关的不同规范和做法有多普遍？

This 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 learning experiences, advancing innovative research on and assessment of STEM learning in informal environments, and developing understandings of deeper learning by participants. This study will contribute to these goals by providing empirical evidence about how and under what circumstances science museums, science centers, and other designed settings for informal science education (ISE) can change so that they will reach more diverse audiences with the full range of their educational activities. This study will deepen understanding of equity norms and practices at ISE organizations, as well as the internal and contextual factors that shape them.The project builds on a unique opportunity provided by the widely known and critically acclaimed exhibition "RACE: Are We So Different?" After traveling to dozens of museums and science centers, and being seen by over three million people, RACE is returning home to the Science Museum of Minnesota (SMM) where it was created. Strand 1 of this study will examine the processes underlying organizational change at SMM as it attempts to use RACE to leverage organization-wide change. In Strand 2, the project team will compare the experiences of ISE organizations around the country that hosted RACE, focusing on the conditions that influence reflection and lead to (or prevent) lasting impact. These two studies will inform the design of Strand 3: a national survey on equity norms and practices, and the potential for equity-related change, in designed settings for ISE. Four research questions guide all project activities: 1)How can such Informal Science Education organizations leverage an unusual event, such as a traveling exhibition, to catalyze and sustain change in their equity-related norms and practices? 2) How and when does the deep reflection required to change entrenched norms and practices manifest itself in ISE organizations that attempt to change their equity norms and practices? 3) What contextual factors support or oppose the achievement and maintenance of organization-wide changes in equity norms and practices? 4) How common are these supportive and opposing conditions in the institutional field of museums and science centers, and how prevalent are different norms and practices related to equity?