AGENDA

8/23 STEeX Agenda (PDF 108KB)

ABOUT THE PANELS

Please joins us to learn about preliminary findings from the IMLS-funded STEMeX initiative—four research projects exploring how museums and libraries can leverage local STEM experts and practitioners from their communities  to enhance delivery of STEM programming to children and their families from diverse economic, social, and cultural backgrounds.  

During the presentations and interactive panel session that will follow, researchers from the IMLS-funded STEMeX initiative will reflect on the findings that have emerged during their projects. We will discuss how these findings may inform and strengthen the field’s ability to use STEM experts and practitioners  to deliver inclusive STEM programming to children and their families from diverse economic, social, and cultural backgrounds through expert oral narratives and object-based inquiry in museum environments.

These four research projects are premised on the idea that STEM experts are invaluable community resources for conveying the processes of scientific inquiry as well as the practices of STEM which provide an essential foundation for science literacy. At the same time, libraries and museums are eager to support increased scientific literacy by featuring "faces of science" in their programs.

STEMeX museum professionals and researchers will share how using connected learning, object-based learning, problem-based learning, making and tinkering, and sociocultural learning can be strengthened through storytelling and other forms of narratives from STEM experts and practitioners. In particular, the panel will explore how the use of such narratives impacts children's interest and understanding of STEM as evidenced through object manipulation, performance of STEM activities, children’s talk, and families’ responses.