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| Image above: This is the front cover of the Explorer Institutes postcard. Credit: NASA
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The Informal Education Division has initiated a new national level program called
the NASA Explorer Institutes. NEI will provide
engaging experiences, opportunities, materials and information to members of
the informal education community including, but not limited to, representatives
of science centers, museums, planetariums, libraries, parks, aquaria, nature centers,
botanical gardens, youth groups and community-based organizations.
The goal of the NASA Explorer Institutes program is to encourage and support
projects that:
- Improve the public's understanding and appreciation of science, technology,
engineering and mathematics (also known as STEM) disciplines to enhance their scientific
and technological literacy, mathematical competence, problem-solving skills
and the desire to learn.
- Establish linkages that promote new relationships between providers of informal
and formal education resulting in improved and creative STEM education in
all learning environments.
- Excite youth, particularly those who are underrepresented and underserved,
about STEM disciplines.
- Expand STEM informal education programs and activities to communities/locations
that have been traditionally underserved by such opportunities.
- Stimulate parents and others to support their children's learning endeavors
in formal and informal settings and to become informed proponents for high-quality,
universally available STEM education in the home and elsewhere.
- Encourage and implement innovative strategies that support the development
of a socially responsible and informed public who can make responsible decisions
about STEM policy issues affecting their everyday lives.
NASA Explorer Institutes program objectives will enhance the capabilities
of the informal education community to inspire the next generation of explorers
by providing access to NASA staff, research, technology, information and/or
facilities and by:
- Engaging the informal education community in discussions about how to involve
the public in shaping and experiencing NASA-related missions.
- Identifying NASA-related instructional content, resources and information,
in collaboration with the informal education community, that will enhance
informal education program goals and objectives.
- Providing NASA-related professional development opportunities for members
of the informal education community across the nation.
- Facilitating the formation of collaborative partnerships between informal
and formal education communities.
In its first year, NASA Explorer Institutes funded 17 pilot projects. Six NEI Professional Development Workshops were hosted at NASA facilities between September and December 2004. Eleven NEI Focus Groups were hosted by members of the informal education community in January and February 2005. Project leaders from these 17 groups convened with NASA officials in March 2005 to share results and best practices and to advise NASA on the needs of the informal education community. The final report of the first year of NASA Explorer Institutes is available here.
For the next phase of NASA Explorer Institutes, NASA invited its field center and mission staff to propose projects in partnership with the members of the informal education community. Four categories of NEI projects were considered for funding in FY05: Professional Development Workshop Opportunities, STEM Teaching Tools and Products, Infrastructure Development Projects and Partnerships for Sustainability. Ten NASA Explorer Institutes were selected for funding.
For more information about the 2005 Explorer Institutes:
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