Conference: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Imagination in Informal STEM Environments

作为加强非正式环境中学习的总体战略的一部分，推进非正式STEM学习（AISL）计划旨在推进非正式环境中STEM学习的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，扩大STEM学习经验的获取和参与，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度学习的理解。该项目将考虑如何将想象力思维的研究以及想象力在STEM实践和STEM教育中的作用的观点系统地应用于支持博物馆背景下的STEM学习。科学缺乏想象力的普遍观念一直存在，但跨学科的学术研究表明，无论是在STEM的实践中，还是在塑造学习者对自己作为STEM的一部分的看法方面，想象力都发挥着关键作用。此外，来自神经科学、心理学、儿童发展和教育领域的证据表明，想象力可以被培养和改善，这些理解可以应用于博物馆体验的设计，以改善STEM成果。该项目的活动由波士顿科学博物馆牵头，以博物馆专业人员可操作的方式，在想象力、STEM和教育实践的交叉点上合成和产生知识。活动包括：文献综述、文件综述和ISE专业人员调查；面对面召集STEM专业人员（研究人员、从业人员、教育工作者和其他人）；并对产品的开发和传播进行设计，为今后项目的发展提供信息。该项目的目标是：1)促进非正式科学教育（ISE）领域以及ISE与其他领域之间关于想象力思维的对话；2)确定研究和开发的优先领域，这些领域可以在想象力、STEM和学习的交叉点上推进该领域的理解；3)促进未来能够推动该领域发展的研究和开发工作。其目的是在博物馆的研究和开发工作中整合想象力、STEM和学习方面的奖学金，从而导致项目描述、测试和完善理论框架和具体策略，通过展览、项目和其他设计体验来支持公众观众的想象力思维。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

As part of its overall strategy to enhance learning in informal environments, the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program 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 project will consider how research on imaginative thinking, and perspectives on the role of imagination in STEM practice and STEM education, can be systematically applied to support STEM learning in museum contexts. Common conceptions of science as non-imaginative are persistent, but scholarship across disciplines suggests critical roles for imagination, both in the practice of STEM and in shaping learners' perceptions of themselves as part of STEM. Further, evidence from the fields of neuroscience, psychology, child development and education suggests ways that imagination can be fostered and improved, and that these understandings could be applied to the design of museum experiences in order to improve STEM outcomes. The activities of this project, led by the Museum of Science, Boston, both synthesize and generate knowledge at the intersections of imagination, STEM, and education practice in ways that are actionable for museum professionals. Activities include: a literature review, a document review, and a survey of ISE professionals; an in-person convening of STEM professionals (researchers, practitioners, educators and others); and the development and dissemination of products designed to inform future project development. The goals of the project are to: 1) prompt conversations about imaginative thinking across the Informal Science Education (ISE) field, and between ISE and other fields; 2) identify priority areas for research and development that can advance the field's understandings at the intersections of imagination, STEM, and learning; and 3) catalyze future research and development efforts that can advance the field. The intent is for the integration scholarship on imagination, STEM, and learning within museums' research and development efforts to lead to projects that describe, test, and refine theoretical frameworks and concrete strategies for supporting imaginative thinking among public audiences through exhibitions, programs, and other designed experiences.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.