Grant Details

The Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program seeks to advance new approaches to and evidence-based understanding of the design and development of STEM learning opportunities for the public in informal environments; provide multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM learning experiences; and advance innovative research on and assessment of STEM learning in informal environments.

The contexts of AISL investments may include everyday activities, such as cooking (chemistry) or tracking personal health and screen time data (data visualization); or self-directed experiences such as stargazing (astronomy), creating mini games (computer science), or birdwatching (ornithology). Informal STEM learning can also happen in intentionally designed experiences and environments, such as, but not limited to:

• exhibitions and programs in museums, zoos, aquaria, botanic gardens/arboreta, planetariums, nature centers, parks, libraries, homes, community centers, and other environments;
• science communication;
• traditional or intergenerational knowledge sharing, such as Story Circles;
• community and participatory science; radio, television, film, media programs or series, or podcasts;
• Do-It-Yourself (DIY) or maker initiatives;
• opportunities for the public to engage in research, including crowdsourcing and Public Participation in Scientific Research (PPSR); and
• online and other digital experiences (e.g., games, simulations, social media).

The FY 2023 program goals include:

1. Learning STEM in Informal Experiences and Environments (required of all proposals)
2. Advancing the Knowledge Base of Informal STEM Learning (required of all proposals) 
3. Equity, Belonging and Broadening Participation (required of all proposals)
4. Intentional Community/Practitioner Driven 
5. Professional Capacity Building & Informal STEM Infrastructure
6. Support Learners' Participation in and Understanding of STEM practices

PIs are encouraged to address these goals within the five project types supported by the AISL program:

• Synthesis-  Various types of syntheses will be supported, such as systematic literature reviews, meta-syntheses, meta-analyses, and other approaches to understanding questions, issues, or topics of central or emerging importance to the informal STEM learning field that align with AISL goals for proposals.
• Conferences- Supports capacity building for informal STEM learning professionals.
• Partnership Development and Planning- Proposals submitted under this category are intended to foster strong partnerships among practitioners, researchers, learners or members of their community and support effective integration of their varied epistemologies, lived experiences, perspectives, requirements, goals, and expectations. Activities within the scope include, but are not limited to, multidisciplinary workshops, stakeholder meetings, project planning and explorations regarding the positioning and capacity of the team to work together to advance informal STEM learning
• Integrating Research and Practice- This project type fosters research-practice integration by addressing questions from practice through research to advance the field. Research-practice integration may include studying research findings applied to practice or innovations of informal STEM learning experiences and environments
• Research in Support of Wide Reaching Public Engagement in STEM- This project type seeks proposals that reach upwards of hundreds of thousands of informal STEM learners. It supports genuine partnerships between researchers and practitioners. Examples of this project type may include large-scale public engagement proposals, such as broadcast/streaming video, giant screen films, and exhibitions.

Content may focus on any areas of STEM that NSF supports, including interdisciplinary learning and learning that positions STEM within meaningful personal, cultural or societal frameworks. The proposals should discuss the STEM content area(s) in sufficient depth to provide a clear understanding of concepts, topics, processes, and associated skills that are conveyed to the target audience. Topics should be relevant to the age levels of the proposed target audience(s).