Conference: Science Museum Futures

进入STEM学习领域后，科学博物馆的公共利用和影响力显著增长。然而，自世纪之交以来，游客数量的减少、基础设施的老化和教学方法，使该行业的许多人质疑，这些机构如何才能最好地发展，以在不断变化的世界中保持相关性。尽管有很多关于重新思考实践的讨论，甚至有一些实现这种修辞的运动，但总的来说，大多数机构在很大程度上继续照常营业。与此同时，2019冠状病毒病大流行带来了额外的挑战，并为科学博物馆创造了一个重要的转折点，在这个时刻，所有人都可以也应该认真考虑，不仅是近期的未来，而且是未来十年乃至更长时间的长期未来。这次会议将通过将50-60名不同的（专业知识和角色，背景，人口统计，地理）有思想的STEM学习专业人士聚集在一起，共同重新构想科学博物馆社区的未来，特别是特别脆弱的中小型科学博物馆部门。参与者将被要求从战略上（而不仅仅是战术上）思考未来十年科学博物馆如何在真正满足社区各阶层需求的同时完成其STEM学习任务；尤其是那些历史上被低估的人。该项目将让参与者参与一个8步的过程，包括会前阅读、在线讨论、大型和小型小组会议、书面和在线传播工作；有机会让地方和国家全程投入。“科学博物馆未来”项目为科学博物馆界提供了一个机会，让他们认真地、集体地探讨其未来；不仅是短期的未来，而且是未来十年甚至更长时间的长期未来。为了保持STEM学习景观的重要组成部分，未来要求科学博物馆重新思考他们如何在四个关键领域履行STEM教育角色：1)理解-促进STEM学习，使所有用户能够更清楚地理解科学和技术的理解如何支持更健康和更丰富的生活；2)未来行动-支持以证据为基础的解决方案，以应对每个社区目前面临的挑战；3)社会凝聚力——使社会各界都能体验到STEM学习，将其作为家庭、团体和社区遗产和生活经验的自然组成部分；4)物理安全-确保所有用户都有机会在安全、健康、无焦虑和恢复性的环境中聚集（物理或虚拟）、互动、探索和学习STEM。展望未来，科学博物馆需要重新设想如何解决这四个领域的问题，不仅仅是单独的，而是作为相互依存的核心目标共同解决。为了确保广泛的适用性和包容性，将通过一系列在线焦点小组和与科学博物馆社区成员以及寻求服务的更广泛的公共科学博物馆成员的对话，在整个过程中整合不同的社区声音和反应。科学博物馆未来项目将创建一个初步的科学博物馆未来行动计划，该计划将为科学博物馆从业者提供新的方法、流程和工具，旨在加强他们支持STEM学习的方式。所有材料都将在项目合作伙伴的帮助下通过在线网络研讨会、焦点小组、LinkedIn和Facebook等社交媒体上的博客文章、会议演示和组织通讯进行审查和传播。该项目旨在帮助发起一项持续的努力，以支持科学博物馆，使他们能够重新思考和重塑他们的STEM学习产品，以确保他们与社区所有成员的生活越来越相关和核心。该项目由推进非正式STEM学习（AISL）计划资助，该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。AISL的五个优先目标之一是投资于寻求在该领域建立基础设施和/或能力的项目，包括支持非正式STEM教育部门内部和跨部门的合作、联系和专业网络。该项目还得到了教育和人力资源理事会“加速教育发现”的支持，旨在研究解决STEM内容学习和教学中持续存在的问题的基础课题，以及展望未来STEM学习环境的前沿课题，推动技术在学习中的应用，并研究学习将如何因技术进步和未来产业的发展而改变。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。

Upon entering the STEM learning landscape, science museums enjoyed marked growth in public utilization and impact. However, since the turn of the century, reductions in visitor numbers, aging infrastructures and pedagogical approaches have made many in the sector question how these institutions might best evolve to stay relevant in a changing world. Although there have been numerous discussions around re-thinking practices and even some movement towards actualizing much of this rhetoric, overall, most institutions have largely continued business as usual. Meanwhile, the COVID-19 pandemic introduced additional challenges and created an important inflection point for science museums, a moment when all can and should seriously address not just the immediate future, but also the longer-term future of the next decade and beyond. This convening will meet this opportunity by virtually bringing together 50-60 diverse (expertise and role, background, demographics, geography) thoughtful STEM learning professionals to collaboratively re-imagine the future of the science museum community, in particular the particularly vulnerable small to medium size science museum sector. Participants will be asked to think strategically (rather than just tactically) about how science museums in the coming decade(s) can fulfill their STEM learning missions while truly serving the needs of all segments of their communities; particularly those who have been historically under-represented. The project will involve participants in an 8-step process involving pre-meeting readings, online discussions, large and small-group meetings, written and online dissemination efforts; with opportunities for local and national input throughout. The Science Museum Futures project represents an opportunity for the science museum community to seriously and collectively address its future; not just the very short-term future, but the longer-term future of the next decade and beyond. To remain an important part of the STEM learning landscape, the future demands that science museums re-think how they fulfill their STEM education roles in four key areas: 1) Understanding – facilitating STEM learning so all users can more clearly understand how an understanding of science and technology supports both a healthier and richer life; 2) Future Actions – supporting evidence-based solutions to challenges that currently face every community; 3) Social Cohesion – making it possible for all sectors of society to experience STEM learning as a natural an integral part of their family, group and community’s heritage and life experience; and 4) Physical Security – ensuring that all users have opportunities to gather (physically or virtually), interact, explore and learn STEM within a safe, healthy, anxiety-free and restorative environment. Going forward, science museums will need to re-envision how all four of areas can be addressed, not just individually, but collectively as core, interdependent goals. To ensure broad applicability and inclusion, diverse community voices and responses will be integrated throughout the process through a series of online focus groups and conversations with both members of the science museum community and the wider public science museums seek to serve. The Science Museum Futures project will create an initial Science Museums Futures Action Plan that will provide science museum practitioner’s with new approaches, processes and tools designed to enhance the ways they support STEM learning. All materials will be both vetted and disseminated with the aid of project partners through on-line webinars, focus groups, blog posts on social media such as LinkedIn and Facebook, conference presentations and organizational newsletters. This project seeks to help initiate an on-going effort to support science museums, allowing them to rethink and reshape their STEM learning offerings in ways that ensure that they are increasingly relevant and central to the lives of ALL members of their communities. This project 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. One of AISL’s five priority goals is to invest in projects that seek to build infrastructure and/or capacity in the field, including efforts supporting collaborations, connections, and professional networks within and across sectors of informal STEM education. This project is also supported by the Education and Human Resources directorate's Accelerating Discovery in Education efforts to enable research in fundamental topics addressing persistent issues in the learning and teaching of STEM content as well as frontier topics that envision STEM learning environments of the future, push the boundaries of the use of technology in learning, and examine how learning will change because of advances in technology and developments in Industries of the Future.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.