Addressing Broader Impacts through Research Center - Science Museum Partnerships
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Addressing Broader Impacts through Research Center - Science Museum Partnerships Carol Lynn Alpert1,2 1 Director, Strategic Projects, Museum of Science, Science Park, Boston, MA, 02114-1099 2 Co-P.I., Nanoscale Informal Science Education Network, Museum of Science, Science Park, Boston, MA, 02114-1099 ABSTRACT 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. INTRODUCTION The National Science Foundation requires investigators to address the “broader impacts” of research on science, education, and society. NSF considers significant contributions in this area to include education and outreach activities designed to enhance scientific and technological understanding and to foster connections between research and service to society. Yet, organizations optimized for research and teaching often lack the expertise, tools, and resources for carrying out these activities, and lack connections to community-serving organizations and audiences intended for these kinds of engagements. It is for this reason that NSF offers the suggestion of partnering “with museums, nature centers, science centers, and similar institutions to develop exhibits in science, math, and engineering,” to “involve the public…in research and education activities,” and to provide “science and engineering presentations to the broader community.” [1] This sensible-sounding advice nonetheless offers little guidance to materials science and engineering researchers in the actual planning, design, implementation, and evaluation of effective educational outreach partnerships with informal science education institutions such as science museums. NSF and other granting organizations have begun to support new efforts to provide guidance in this area; these include the NSF-funded Portal to the Public project, headquartered at the Pacific Science Center, the IMLS-funded Volunteers Try Science project headquart
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