iSTEM-like Learning
Outside the K-12 Classroom
Alan J. Friedman
Consultant
Museum Development & Science Communication
STEM learning can happen outside the K-12
classroom: Informal Science Education
 Learning during the 95% of our lives
which we spend outside the formal
education system
 Also called “free choice learning,”
because learners set their own agenda
 Includes aquariums, museums, zoos,
botanic gardens, and visitor centers,
plus television, magazines, books,
libraries, the Internet
 61% of all US adults visit an ISE
institution at least once a year
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How does ISE define STEM and iSTEM?
Largely, ISE does not make use of either term in
describing individual learning programs
ISE is normally and happily multi- or interdisciplinary
ISE activity uses topics or issues as
distinguishing rubrics (e.g., climate change,
visual perception, bridge stability) in place of
STEM or STEM sub-disciplines
There might be some lessons for K-12 iSTEM in
how ISE works and how it is evaluated
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CW from top left:
Vancouver BC, Paris
FR, Duxford UK,
Richmond VA,
Indianapolis, IN
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“Mine Games” -- a broadly interdisciplinary
exhibition from Science World in Vancouver
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“Citizen Science” – typically issue-based
interdisciplinary investigations performed by
members of the public with research scientists
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SENCER – undergraduate courses at 300+
colleges exploring civic issues amenable to
interdisciplinary STEM investigations
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If not STEM disciplines, what rubrics do
these activities use as learning targets?
Six potential strands for impact
Potential indicators of
these impacts:
Awareness, knowledge, or understanding
Engagement or interest
Attitude
Behavior
Skills
Other
Adapted from the National Science Foundation’s Framework for
Evaluating Impact of Informal Science Education Projects, Friedman et.
al., 2008, www.insci.org/docs/Eval_Framework.pdf
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The NRC Study of Informal Learning
produced a similar list of rubrics
Six possible strands for impact
Potential indicators of
these impacts:
Develop interest in STEM
Understand STEM knowledge
Engage in STEM reasoning
Reflect on STEM
Engage in the practice of STEM
Identify with the STEM enterprise
Adapted from the National Research Council’s report, Philip Bell, Bruce
Lewenstein, Andrew W. Shouse, and Michael A. Feder, eds., Learning
Science in Informal Environments: People, Places, and Pursuits, 2009
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Tensions resulting from ISEs’ use of these
categories instead of traditional STEM
disciplines
Mathematics is seriously under-represented
Marketing ISE to schools requires associating
ISE activities with conventional course discipline
identifications, like physics or chemistry
Standards-based and curriculum-centered
assessments tend to emphasize recall and
application of formulae, and do not measure
most ISE outcome priorities (but newer
assessments may ameliorate this issue)
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Questions to answer to decide if an ISE-like
approach might advance iSTEM learning
Does achieving an ISE target like “interest” in
one topic carry over into other topics and
disciplines?
Does achieving an impact with ISE approaches
influence a learner’s performance in K-12
schools, as measured by standards-based
assessments?
Do learners with ISE experiences find iSTEM K12 curricula more comfortable than learners
without ISE experiences?
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Research and evaluation tools emerging in
ISE which might help answer these
questions
•Harvard University’s Gil Noam is seeking to create a
universal instrument for assessing out-of-school learning
•The National Assessment for Educational Progress is
developing new STEM assessments using interactive
computer tasks involving deeper, interdisciplinary skills
•The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation is testing an
instrument based on a new construct, the "activated
science learner"
•John Falk and Lynn Dierking (Oregon State) and
Robert Tai (University of Virginia) are beginning
longitudinal research on broadly diverse factors which might
impact STEM learning and literacy
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Alan J. Friedman
Consultant
29 West 10th Street
New York, NY 10011
www.FriedmanConsults.com
[email protected]
917 882-6671
Alan J. Friedman, Consultant
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