Inquiring about informal education
May 2nd, 2008 by Wendy Pollock
As CAISE gets up and running, we're working with what we call Inquiry Groups to harvest insights about the impact of informal science education (ISE) and lessons we're learning together about good practice.
CAISE Inquiry Groups are composed of people working in and studying the ISE field. They are organizing around issues and questions of recurring and significant interest, which are identified by the CAISE team in conversation with NSF program officers and colleagues from throughout the field. Participants are also selected through this process.
The process they follow varies, but includes review of work funded by NSF's Informal Science Education Program as well as relevant research literature, when it exists. Each Inquiry Group will be producing papers and other documentation geared both to funders and to practitioners, which will be made available through this website, the CAISE newsletter, and other means. The University of Pittsburgh Center for Learning in Out-of-School Environments (UPCLOSE), a CAISE partner, participates in all of the Inquiry Groups, including providing research support.
Now underway are Inquiry Groups on these topics:
Another group is examining the portfolio of projects funded by NSF's Informal Science Education Program over the last 10 years. These groups, and others now in planning (including one focusing on work across formal and informal education), cast a wide net in considering topics of varied and recurring interest in a field devoted to lifelong engagement with science—from access and inclusion to emerging technology.
Inquiry Groups are one of the key mechanisms CAISE will be using to distill and synthesize research and experience from across the broad and varied ISE field and make it more readily available both to practitioners and to those who support our work.
We'll be using this blog to provide updates about Inquiry Group work and welcome your experiences and perspectives and suggestions for future inquiries.
Wendy
Entry Filed under: Inquiry Groups
3 Comments Add your own
1. Joy Kubarek-Sandor | May 21st, 2008 at 2:14 pm
I’m currently the manager of student and teacher programs at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, IL. This organization and the inquiry groups are of particular interest to me. I was intrigued by this first newsletter. Is there any talk of forming an inquiry group about informal science and schools or teacher training?
2. Ellen Bilbrey | May 21st, 2008 at 2:51 pm
We are very interested in informal education for visitors to our State Parks. We need help collecting scientific data and are setting up volunteer groups to help collect data, log and analyze that data. We would be interested in what you are doing in public participation and
research.
Ellen
3. Wendy Pollock | May 27th, 2008 at 8:03 am
Yes, CAISE is working on plans for an Inquiry Group about relationships between formal and informal education, led by Bronwyn Bevan of the Center for Informal Learning and Schools (CILS). We’ll post more about that and other inquiries over the next few weeks. Thanks so much for your interest.
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