2024 Summer Check-In
Welcome to Insights & Opportunities: A Hub for Informal STEM Education! Insights & Opportunities is a twice-monthly newsletter for educators, administrators, legislators, and advocates who recognize the importance of informal STEM learning.
This newsletter is brought to you by me, Sarah Dunifon, and my team at Improved Insights. I’m a long-time STEM educator, researcher, and equity advocate. Along with my team, I now work on cutting-edge informal STEM learning research and evaluation.
Each edition of this newsletter offers exciting insights, resources, and opportunities for informal STEM learning professionals, including funding, jobs, professional development, informal STEM learning research, evaluation tips and resources, and so much more! We hope you find it valuable. Now, let’s get started.
2024 Summer Check-In
We are taking a break this week from our regular Insights blog posts to check in with you - our audience!
In mid-2023, the Improved Insights team began a review of our newsletter and blog. Our goal during the reassessment was to better align our content with what you like, find most valuable, and with what inspires you. Now, six months into the relaunch, we wanted to take the pulse and see where we are succeeding and where we still need to look toward improvement. We’re evaluators - we can’t help it!
Please take a moment to complete the polls below. Your feedback will help us to craft content for the next half of the year, and ensure that we keep your priorities in mind for each newsletter and blog post.
Thanks for taking the time to engage with us. We really appreciate your feedback and look forward to incorporating your perspectives!
Our Updates
We are delighted to announce the newly confirmed Dr. Sarah Dunifon! Our Founder and Principal Evaluator successfully defended her dissertation, An Examination of Evaluation Policies and Funding Priorities in Informal STEM Education, on June 11, 2024, to obtain her Doctor of Education in Learning Sciences and Policy with an emphasis on out-of-school learning. We will have more details about her work for you in the coming weeks, but we wanted to take this opportunity to congratulate Dr. Dunifon and celebrate this amazing milestone!
60-Second Suggestions
Here are a few of my favorite things this month, usually pertaining to informal STEM education and evaluation, but occasionally some fun personal stuff, too.
June marks the start of Pride Month. This article by Mikail Khan thoughtfully explores the challenges within outwardly progressive spaces (specifically the nonprofit sector) that often co-opt supportive language without fundamentally transforming historically inequitable power structures. Mikail’s frank commentary, based in part on their personal experience within nonprofit sectors for the past six years, provides a call to action for organizations to look beyond their PR and fundraising strategies, and outlines three recommended action items to help organizations align with their expressed values.
The Association for Women in Science will be offering a free screening the film Dream Big: Engineering our World June 27-30, 2024. The film explores the quiet excitement and creativity of engineering, and highlights surprising stories from “stereotype-bursting” engineers in the field.
Check out the Girl Scouts’ New STEM Playbook! This document offers a collection of resources and tools that engage young people with critical STEM skills, from coding to conservation. This is a great resource for formal and informal educators looking for interactive ways to engage learners in a variety of STEM subjects that promote problem-solving and a STEM mindset.
Opportunities
Check out these new opportunities for the informal STEM learning community.
Funding:
Career Pathways Grants, PGE Foundation. Nonprofits are invited to apply for grants to support initiatives that facilitate career pathways and increase avenues to family wage jobs, entrepreneurship, and small business ownership. Priority will be given to organizations that center access to careers in STEM, jobs in trades, and green sectors. Applications are due July 5, 2024.
Community Grants Program, Western Digital, $7,500-$20,000. Nonprofit organizations and schools providing opportunities for underrepresented and/or underserved K-12 youth in STEM education are invited to apply for grants. Western Digital currently funds projects in the Greater Bay Area, CA; Orange County, CA; Boulder County, CO; El Paso County, CO; and Olmsted County, MN. Applications are due July 15, 2024.
Energize the Environment Grant Program, Quadratec, $3,500. Groups and individuals are encouraged to apply for funding for initiatives that benefit the environment, including community environmental education programs and youth educational engagement events. Submissions are due June 30, 2024.
Global E-STEM Awards, Pratt & Whitney in collaboration with the North American Association for Environmental Education, up to $50,000. Nonprofit organizations that engage students aged 11 to 22 in STEM topics are invited to apply for awards. The E-STEM Awards are designed to support programs that engage students in real-world environmental problem-solving. Applications are open through July 8, 2024.
Jobs and Fellowships:
Director of Evaluation and Research in Learning, Science Museum of Minnesota (St. Paul, MN), $102,000. The Director of Evaluation and Research in Learning is responsible for the overall leadership, strategic planning, coordination, and execution of the evaluation and research about learning within the organization. They will also build and maintain systems for identifying and conducting studies and will share findings within and beyond the organization.
Executive Director, Montana Natural History Center (Missoula, MT), $80,000. The Executive Director will serve as the organization's chief executive officer and will work with a dedicated staff to meet the strategic, programmatic, operational, and fundraising goals. Applications are due June 20, 2024.
Exhibit Project Manager, Pacific Science Center (Seattle, WA), $74,000. The Exhibit Project Manager will manage new exhibit projects and provide guidance during the exhibit development process, ensuring alignment with the science center's mission to spark curiosity for all learners.
Regional Education Manager, Mass Audubon (Topsfield, MA), $66,500. The Regional Education Manager will oversee the design, implementation, and evaluation of all onsite and community-based education programs and activities. They will build and manage a regional education team to collaboratively implement and sustain a program portfolio that aligns with the goals and objectives of Mass Audubon and meets the needs of the community.
Vice President of Educational Programs, Science Museum Oklahoma (Oklahoma City, OK), $95,000. The Vice President of Educational Programs will oversee educational programming, visitor experience, and development of the museum’s strategic goals. They will provide program leadership, manage and oversee a staff of 80 full and part-time members, and manage part of the museum budget.
Professional Development:
ANCA Summit 2024: Natural Spaces Urban Places, Association of Nature Center Administrators (ANCA), September 9-13, 2024 (Memphis, TN). The ANCA annual summit provides a professional development opportunity for leaders of nature centers, outdoor schools, and related organizations to focus on leadership practices and explore knowledge, strategies, and resources related to their work. The conference will take place in Memphis, TN, September 9-13, 2024, and registration is open through August 30, 2024.
Call for Proposals, 2024 Future of Museums Summit, American Alliance of Museums, October 29-30, 2024 (Virtual). The virtual 2024 Future of Museums Summit, taking place October 29-30, 2024, is now accepting session proposals. The Summit will feature 1-hour presentations on the following topics: Culture Wars 2.0, AI Adolescence, Decarbonizing the Future, and Combating the Loneliness Crisis. Proposals are due July 12, 2024.
Polar Educators, Polar STEAM, 2025-2026 (Virtual, Arctic, and Antarctic Deployments). Polar STEAM is recruiting educators for 2025/26 collaborations with polar researchers in creating educational resources about polar regions and science. Applications are open for Arctic and Antarctic deployments as well as virtual collaborations in both regions. This opportunity is open to community college and minority-serving institution faculty, middle and high school educators, and informal educators. Applications are due August 4, 2024.
Summer Institute for Climate Change Education, Climate Generation and NOAA, July 15-19, 2024 (Virtual). The Summer Institute for Climate Change Education invites both formal and informal educators to join for a three-day climate change education conference during the week of July 15-19, 2024. The Institute will explore the themes of Understanding and Observing Climate Change, Building Connection, and Education for Justice.
Thanks for tuning in to this edition of Insights and Opportunities. While you’re waiting for the next edition, tell your friends! We appreciate you sending along a blog post you enjoyed, a job opportunity you think a friend should apply for, and resources you found valuable. Sharing this newsletter is the best way to support this work. Until next time - thanks!
