Addressing Broader Impacts through Research Center - Science Museum Partnerships

摘要

Education outreach partnerships between science and engineering research organizations and informal science education institutions (ISIs), such as science museums, can help research organizations to fulfill their "broader impacts" criteria as well as to advance their institutional interests in forging meaningful connections through the community. For the ISIs, such partnerships can help them serve their mission to public and school constituencies, providing more robust opportunities for increased engagement with current research. Because of the greater latitude for experimentation in ISI environments than typically found in formal education environments, these collaborative efforts can often produce innovative science education products and experiences that can also nourish and inform K-12 teaching practice and professional development. The NSF Nanoscale Informal Science Education Network is pursuing a strategy of fostering community-based partnerships between materials and nanoscale science and engineering research centers and ISIs in order encourage widespread collaborative development of effective science and engineering educational experiences for public and school audiences on an ongoing basis.