Informal Science
Our goal is to support the informal science community to develop work that addresses the gaps that exist in outcomes measurement, research and evaluation, program scale up, leadership development, policy issues, and pathways or pipeline design.

MAJOR GRANTS

The Exploratorium (San Francisco, CA)

MAPDD (Museums Afterschool: Principles, Data, and Design). MAPPD will work with partnerships of science museum educators and afterschool programs to develop a set of design principles for high quality informal STEM activities in afterschool, program standards, and assessments, and outcome evidence for what such programming can achieve in the afterschool context, all to be shared with the field.

Visit their site: cils.exploratorium.edu

Lawrence Hall of Science (Berkeley, CA)

Support for the Coalition for Science After School, including development of effective approaches and models for providing professional development for science in afterschool, establishment of regional networks for afterschool science, website development, and presentations and workshops at major afterschool conferences.

Visit their site: www.scienceafterschool.org

Massachusetts State Science and Engineering Fair (Cambridge, MA)

The Curious Mind Initiative aims to engage more teachers and students in inquiry-based learning and science fair projects.

Visit their site: www.scifair.com

National 4-H Council (Washington, DC)

Support for the pilot of the Science, Engineering and Technology Initiative, including professional development, curriculum development, program implementation, evaluation and development of marketing and publicity plan.

Visit their site: www.fourhcouncil.edu

New York Hall of Science (Queens, NY)

Dissemination of Science Career Ladder Program, an innovative education, employment and mentoring program that provides work experience to high school and college students as museum floor staff, exhibit explainers and interns.

Visit their site: www.nyhallsci.org

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Science Friday (NPR) and Talking Science (Washington, DC)

Expanding the reach of interesting science programming beyond radio to schools and underserved communities.

Visit their site: www.sciencefriday.com

SRI International (Menlo Park, CA)

Support for a pilot to scale the Build IT program within the Girls Inc. network. Build IT is a technology design program by SRI International for middle school girls originally supported by the National Science Foundation.

Visit their site: ctl.sri.com/

Techbridge (Oakland, CA)

Support for a pilot to scale the Girls Go Techbridge curriculum within the Girl Scouts network in the Bay Area and Austin, Texas. Techbridge, a program of the Chabot Space & Science Center, is a science and engineering program for middle school girls.

Visit their site: www.techbridgegirls.org

The Tech Museum of Innovation (San Jose, CA)

Support to extend the Year-Round Second Classroom beyond the formal sector’s K-12 school sites into the out-of-school sector with a particular focus on afterschool programs serving underserved, low-income, and Title 1 student populations.

Visit their site: www.thetech.org

WGBH Educational Foundation (Boston, MA)

Support for the educational outreach and web components of Design Squad, a contest-format TV program with teams of high school students tackling real engineering challenges designed to increase students’ knowledge of engineering and the design process.

Visit their site: pbskids.org/designsquad/