Center for Advancement of Informal STEM Education

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This Informal STEM Learning Resource Center, referred to as the Center for Advancement of Informal Science Education (CAISE), will be led by a team of principal investigators and staff from the Association of Science-Technology Centers, the University of Pittsburgh, the University of Washington, and Oregon State University. Other key collaborators are the American Association for the Advancement of Science Center for Public Engagement with Science, the new National Informal STEM Education Network, and Arizona State University. CAISE will continue the work it began in 2007, which includes serving professional audiences in informal STEM learning and, in this award, professionals in science communications. The resource center's goals are to advance and better integrate the professional fields of informal STEM learning and science communication by (1) broadening participation in these fields, (2) deepening links between research and practice, and (3) building capacity in evaluation and measurement. CAISE's main activities will be undertaken by cross-sector task forces of field leaders and emerging leaders who will be responsible for conducting field-level analyses, engaging stakeholders, and creating roadmaps for future efforts. CAISE will also build on existing communication channels for dissemination to the larger field, through a variety of convenings and forums and via their designed website, www.informalscience.org. An External Review Board and Inverness Research will provide oversight of CAISE's program activities and evaluation of the center. This work 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.