Advancing the Conversation on Scaling National Informal STEM Programs

全国女童合作项目和教育发展中心正在召开为期两天半的知识建设会议“推进扩大国家非正式STEM项目的对话”，该会议汇集了非正式STEM教育（ISE）的主要利益攸关方，探讨在非正式学习环境中如何扩大规模。目前，对于在非正式学习环境中扩展项目的意义，还没有一个共同的定义或一套维度。在ISE中，扩大规模的方法往往集中在开发和传播项目的人的观点和需求上，而很少考虑那些负责在超本地环境中实施项目的人的现实。本次会议从项目实施者的角度探讨规模问题，项目实施者是能力建设的受益者，也是这些规模项目的推动者。会议还为研究和支持教育规模的国家非正式STEM项目的项目开发者、研究人员、评估人员和资助者提供了发言权。会议的目的是为ISE的规模制定一个新的框架，以非正式教育工作者的伙伴关系和能力建设为中心。这种规模方法解决了本地访问和多样性、公平和包容的问题，并促进了高需求社区ISE的可持续性。会议讨论挑战了对ISE规模的三种常见误解：(1)交钥匙项目的简单传播和复制导致ISE的有效规模；(2)来自正式学习环境的规模定义应用于整个ISE的规模；(3)整个ISE的规模应该由程序开发人员和那些寻求研究它的人来定义。具有广泛观点和代表组织类型多样性的参与者将参加会议，并共同努力阐明缩放成功因素，障碍，多样性，公平和包容战略，以及预期结果，提炼主题，问题和关注当前评估和研究ISE规模的方法。会议参与者将共同创建一个ISE的规模框架，该框架将定义以能力建设和多样性、公平和包容性为中心的新的和扩展的规模维度，以及通过该框架的视角扩展ISE项目的项目开发者指南。这些产品将增加参与国家规模计划的非正式学习组织的知识和能力，希望扩大自己的本地开发项目的STEM丰富机构，非正式STEM研究人员和评估人员，以及包括项目资助者在内的更广泛的ISE领域。会议结果将通过出版物、会议和由国家女童合作项目和教育发展中心共同主办的全国网络研讨会广泛传播。本次会议由推进非正式STEM学习（AISL）计划资助，该计划旨在(a)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；(b)提供多种途径，以扩大获得和参与STEM学习经验的机会；(c)推进非正式环境中STEM学习的创新研究和评估；(d)让所有年龄段的公众在非正式环境中学习STEM。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。

The National Girls Collaborative Project and Education Development Center are convening “Advancing the Conversation on Scaling National Informal STEM Programs,” a two-and-a-half day knowledge-building conference that brings together key stakeholders in informal STEM education (ISE) to examine what scale looks like across informal learning settings. Currently, there is not a common definition or set of dimensions related to what it means to scale programs in informal learning settings. Approaches to scale in ISE too often center on the perspectives and needs of people who are developing and spreading programs while less consideration is given to the realities of those responsible for operationalizing programs in hyper-local contexts. This conference approaches the question of scale from the perspective of the program implementers, who are the beneficiaries of capacity building and serve as facilitators of these scaled programs. The conference also gives voice to program developers, researchers, evaluators, and funders of national informal STEM programs who study and support scale in education. The aim of the conference is to develop a new framework for scale in ISE that centers partnership and capacity building of informal educators. Such an approach to scale addresses issues of local access and diversity, equity, and inclusion, and promotes sustainability of ISE in high-need communities.Conference discussions challenge three common misperceptions of scale across ISE: (1) simple spread and replication of turnkey programs lead to effective scale in ISE; (2) definitions of scale derived from formal learning settings should be used to scale across ISE; and (3) scale across ISE should be defined by program developers and those that seek to study it. Participants with a wide range of perspectives and who represent a diversity of organizational types will attend the conference and work together to articulate scaling success factors, barriers, diversity, equity, and inclusion strategies, and intended outcomes, distilling themes, questions, and concerns about current approaches to evaluating and researching scale in ISE. Together, conference participants will co-create a framework for scale in ISE which will define new and expanded dimensions of scale that center on capacity building and diversity, equity, and inclusion, as well as a Program Developer’s Guide for scaling ISE programs through the lens of the framework. These products will increase the knowledge and capacity of informal learning organizations involved in nationally scaled initiatives, STEM-rich institutions wanting to scale their own locally developed programs, informal STEM researchers and evaluators, and the broader field of ISE including program funders. Conference findings will be broadly disseminated through publications, conferences, and a national webinar co-hosted by the National Girls Collaborative Project and Education Development Center.This conference is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which seeks to (a) advance new approaches to and evidence-based understanding of the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments; (b) provide multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM learning experiences; (c) advance innovative research on and assessment of STEM learning in informal environments; and (d) engage the public of all ages in learning STEM in informal environments.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.