Dr. Sarah Dunifon reviews the definitions and contexts of informal STEM education -based on her dissertation, An Examination of Evaluation Policies and Funding Priorities in Informal STEM Education.

Dr. Sarah Dunifon reviews funders of informal STEM education -based on her dissertation, An Examination of Evaluation Policies and Funding Priorities in Informal STEM Education.

Dr. Sarah Dunifon discusses evaluation policies -based on her dissertation, An Examination of Evaluation Policies and Funding Priorities in Informal STEM Education.

Dr. Sarah Dunifon shares reflections and experiences from her recent sabbatical.

This feature, we pass the mic to Holly Miller, PhD who discusses how out-of-school time as a remedy to dropping scores in math and science.

For this feature, we examine a few evaluator competency frameworks and discuss their importance to the evaluation field.

Check out our new tool for those in the Informal STEM Education community - our Informal STEM Education Fellowship Directory!

This edition, we talk about the Citizen Science Association’s (CSA) name change to the Association for Advancing Participatory Sciences (AAPS), the reason for the change, and what it means for informal science educators.

This edition, we explore the rich resources for informal STEM educators found on informalscience.org

This month we examine the differences in formal vs. informal evaluation practices.

This month we imagine the future of Informal STEM Education, including technology and its potential impacts.

This post talks about four trends we’ll see in ISE in 2023.

This post talks about A.I. and its coming intersection with informal STEM education.

This blog post discusses the learning loss phenomenon and proposes informal learning as a way to build up students’ STEM interests and abilities.

We’re chatting about citizen science and evaluation.

We’re chatting about evaluation approaches for informal STEM learning.

We’re chatting with STEM practitioners around the country to understand how they are engaging with data literacy in their spaces. For this interview, I’m sitting down with Rozina Kanchwala, Founder and Executive Director at Eco.Logic, an education, arts, and community building non-profit that inspires people to take tangible action to address climate change.

We’re chatting about informal STEM learning outcomes.

We’re chatting about informal learning and measurement in STEM.

This article is about the economic benefits of informal STEM learning, and why we should continue to support the work even when the purse strings are tight.

"We know that informal learning can positively impact students' knowledge, skills, attitudes, values, and even behaviors."

"All these outcomes of informal STEM programs have economic ramifications. [...] Better educational attainment leads to higher earnings and attainment that people value on their own. Even improved interpersonal skills can lead to better productivity and maybe even improved home lives, both of which have economic value."

"Knowing the benefits that informal learning provides, nonprofit leaders and policy makers should be sure to support and advocate for informal learning opportunities and access, both during the current pandemic and in the future."