Celebrating 5 Years of Improved Insights
Welcome to the December 2023 edition of the Improved Insights Newsletter: a newsletter for folks in informal STEM learning spaces who want to learn more about how to measure and communicate the impacts of their work.
I’m Sarah M. Dunifon - a long-time STEM educator, evaluator, and equity advocate. After spending time working in museums, nonprofits, and higher education, I now work on cutting-edge informal STEM learning research and evaluation with my team at Improved Insights. We specialize in informal STEM learning and youth programs.
We’re sending this month’s newsletter out early, alongside our informal STEM learning opportunities newsletter - it’s a double feature! Stay tuned for our relaunch of the newsletters in January. We’ve been collecting feedback, considering alternate formats and features, and are excited to share what we’ve developed.
This monthly newsletter includes tips, resources, and news on informal STEM learning evaluation. We hope you find it valuable! Now, let’s get started —
Celebrating 5 Years of Improved Insights
We can’t believe it - Improved Insights is 5 years old! To celebrate our anniversary and to close out 2023, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on what we are grateful for this year, and what exciting things are around the corner in 2024. Not to spoil the post - but YOU, audience, are a huge part of what made us tick in 2023, and we so appreciate this wonderful community. We’re looking forward to continuing our work towards the betterment of STEM learning and equity, together in 2024!
To read the full article, check it out in our Insights. In the meantime, here’s a taste:
In honor of our fifth anniversary, I’d like to close out 2023 by reflecting on the year behind us with 5 things we’re grateful for at Improved Insights, and thinking ahead to the future with 5 things we’re excited about for 2024.
Gratitude List for 2023
We’re grateful for many things in the past year. Among them:
Working with many dynamic clients this year, all of whom are dedicated to significant and impactful work in the world of STEM learning. Improved Insights was privileged to work on projects relating to the evaluation of outcomes for many environmental and wildlife conservation programs; capacity building and instrument design for nearly a dozen cultural heritage and environmental stewardship organizations; evaluating the landscape of STEM learning in the state of Ohio; conducting a landscape analysis on Great Lakes environmental education resources across several states; and evaluating teacher professional development in place-based STEM education programming. One highlight of this work was collaborating with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to evaluate environmental education organizations and resources in the Great Lakes region and produce this Facilitator’s Guide to MWEE (Meaningful Watershed Educational Experiences) Training for the Great Lakes region.
Dozens of conversations with friends and colleagues on topics like the development of artificial intelligence technologies, the ins and outs of small business ownership, and promoting equity within informal STEM learning and evaluation. One of my favorite things about the informal STEM learning and evaluation fields is how collaborative and supportive everyone is, seeking together to create positive change in our spaces and helping each other along the way.
60-Second Suggestions
Here are a few things that caught our eye this month, usually pertaining to informal STEM education and evaluation, but occasionally some fun personal stuff, too.
Making Connections: Transformative Pathways to STEM, an article by the Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences, UCI, discusses ongoing research by UCI’s Connected Learning Lab and STEM Next into identifying strategies that promote STEM connections for middle school girls, primarily through afterschool and summer programs.
Investing in Out-of-School Time STEM is an Investment in a Robust, Diverse STEM Workforce, a report co-produced by the STEM Next Opportunity Fund and Jobs for the Future, highlights the urgent need to invest in and nurture a robust, diverse STEM workforce. The report shines a light on three unique and innovative grant programs designed and administered by state afterschool networks.
Recently, I played around with the Coloring Book Hero extension of ChatGPT to produce some coloring book-style illustrations for my niece in various settings (with art, with science stuff, in nature, with unicorns - all things she loves). It's a fun way to connect with the young people in your life (or adults who like coloring!).
Thank you for your continued support of Improved Insights. We look forward to continuing to connect with you here in our newsletter, and to working with many of you in new and exciting ways in the coming year. Have a happy and safe holiday season, and we will see you all in January!
Until next time - thanks!