STAR Library Education Network: A Hands-on Learning Program for Libraries and Their Communities

该项目将通过与图书馆环境兼容的科学亭以及相关材料和方案活动，支持通过当地图书馆进行STEM学习。旅行亭将很容易组装，拆卸和装箱，使他们特别适合旅行。主题将集中在地球科学，空间科学和技术。美国图书馆协会将负责这些展览的参观。该项目探讨了非正式科学教育领域如何支持生活在农村和某些贫困地区的儿童和成人的STEM学习。该项目的一个特别重点是小学高年级到中学年龄的青年及其家庭。为这个项目组建的团队以前曾一起工作过，并对这个项目进行了试点。除了支持农村社区公众的STEM学习外，还将在信息亭到达之前对图书馆工作人员进行教育。这将通过面对面和在线讨论来完成。随着时间的推移，最初的工作人员参与者和其他人将创建一个实践社区，不仅涉及项目图书馆的工作人员，还包括来自其他非正式学习场所的参与者，如科学中心和博物馆。评估工作包括测量图书馆工作人员的知识提升，以及对农村图书馆场地与科学中心场地的STEM学习进行比较研究。这项工作的主要合作者是：空间科学研究所，美国图书馆协会，月球和行星研究所，俄勒冈州州立大学，科罗拉多大学和国家女孩合作项目。

The project will support STEM learning through local libraries via science kiosks that are compatible with the library setting, and associated materials and programmatic activities. The traveling kiosks will be readily assembled, disassembled, and crated, making them particularly amenable to travel. The subject matter will center on earth science, space science and technology. The American Library Association will manage the tour of these exhibits.This project goes to the question of how the informal science education field supports STEM learning of children and adults who live in rural and in some cases impoverished localities. A particular focus of this project is upper elementary through middle-school aged youth and their families. The team assembled for this project has worked together before and has piloted this project. In addition supporting STEM learning for the public in rural communities, there will be an educational element dealing with educating the library staff prior to the kiosks arriving. This will be done via face-to-face and online discussions. Over time, the initial staff participants and others will create a Community of Practice that will not only involve the project library staff, but also participants from other informal learning venues such as science centers and museums. The evaluation effort includes measurement of knowledge enhancement by library staff, and a comparison study of the STEM learning in rural library venues versus science center venues.The major collaborators in this effort are: the Space Science Institute, the American Library Association, the Lunar and Planetary Institute, Oregon State University, the University of Colorado, and the National Girls Collaborative Project.