Broad Implementation: Phase 2 of the STAR Library Education Network

该项目将通过当地公共图书馆将STEM教育带到农村社区。以“发现地球”、“发现科技”和“发现太空”为主题的博物馆级展览将在全国各地的一系列地点进行为期3个月的展出。大型展览将选择24个中型图书馆，小型展览将选择40个小型图书馆。该项目的目的是在每个州提供展览，并尽可能多地接触到代表性不足的个人。这个项目的意义在于，这个国家的农村地区在STEM教育方面服务不足，由于这个社会的一部分由5000万至6000万居民代表，因此向他们伸出援手非常重要。美国有很大一部分人口（5000万至6000万）没有得到博物馆和科学中心等校外学习场所的服务。早期的第一阶段项目在18个地点展示了农村图书馆和图书馆员可以通过这些动手展览向从成人到儿童的各个年龄段的社区成员提供STEM教育。每个展品（地球、空间或技术）都包含有关主题和技术支持模型的信息，以提供有趣的发现机制。他们使用普通的外行人友好的语言，突出每个领域的最新发现。每个展品将在选定的图书馆放置3个月，在此期间图书馆将组织活动，宣传STEM学习机会。该项目的另一个特点是确定图书馆环境下的学习模式，并根据人口统计数据确定学习模式。该项目的合作伙伴包括美国图书馆协会、课外联盟、农村和小型图书馆协会、科罗拉多大学博物馆、Datum顾问有限责任公司、评估和研究协会、月球和行星研究所、美国地球物理联合会和空间科学研究所。

This project will bring STEM education to rural communities through local public libraries. Museum quality exhibits labelled as "Discover Earth", "Discover Technology", and "Discover Space" will spend 3 months at a series of locations around the Nation. Twenty four medium sized libraries will be chosen for the large exhibits and forty small libraries will be chosen for scaled down versions. The project's intent is to provide exhibits in every state and to reach as many under-represented individuals as possible. The significance of this project is that rural areas of this country are underserved regarding STEM education and since this segment of society is represented by 50-60 million residents, it is important to reach out to them.There is a significant segment of the Nation's population (50-60 million) that is underserved by out-of-school learning venues such as museums and science centers. An earlier phase 1 project demonstrated at 18 sites that rural libraries and librarians could provide STEM education to community members ranging in age from adults to children using these hands-on exhibits. Each exhibit (earth, space or technology) includes information about the topic and technologically enabled models to provide interesting and fun discovery mechanisms. They use common layman friendly language that highlights the most recent discoveries in each area. Each exhibit will be placed in the selected library for 3 months during which the library will organize events to feature and advertise the STEM learning opportunities. Another feature of this project will be to determine the models of learning in library settings and as a function of the demographics. The partners in this project that bring the necessary expertise are the American Library Association, the Afterschool Alliance, the Association of Rural and Small Libraries, the University of Colorado Museum, Datum Advisors, LLC, Evaluation and Research Associates, the Lunar and Planetary Institute, the American Geophysical Union, and the Space Science Institute.