REVISE Center: A Collaborative Effort to Advance Equity in Informal STEM Education

Project Name
Reimagining Equity and Values in Informal STEM Education (REVISE) Center

Project Description

The National Science Foundation’s (NSF) 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; advance innovative research on and assessment of STEM learning in informal environments; and engage the public of all ages in learning STEM in informal environments. The Center for Advancement of Informal Science Education (CAISE) was an NSF-funded resource center supporting the AISL program. CAISE worked in partnership with NSF Program Directors to plan resources that can help teams develop their proposals. After their grant period ended in 2022, the Reimagining Equity and Values in Informal STEM Education (REVISE) Center continues CAISE's work and is now collecting and sharing new information pertaining to AISL.

The four major themes of REVISE are to:

Promote equitable practices that support the AISL program and disrupt patterns of inequity across the informal science education field
Cultivate a multi-sector, diverse community dedicated to promoting equity in ISE experiences and environments with a focus on individuals with disabilities
Raise the visibility and impact of equity-focused research and practice in the ISE field and its contributions to the overall STEM endeavor
Support AISL PIs, prospective PIs, and partners in enacting their commitments to equity with respect to research and practice

CAST is working as a part of the web infrastructure team (collaborating with the Director of Digital Infrastructure and Virtual Community and the Director of Operations and Communication for the REVISE Center) to advise and consult on creating tools for the AISL Equity Resource Center, specifically, the materials and products created and posted on the REVISE website. This includes digital and non-digital tools for the AISL Equity Resource Center, to support:

The accessibility of all materials, including compliance with current web accessibility guidelines
Leveraging the UDL framework in the design of all materials/products in order to maximize engagement and usability

Timeline

2022 – 2027

Funder

National Science Foundation (NSF)

Partners

TERC
The Detroit Zoological Society
Digital Promise

Project Leadership

Tara Courchaine, CAST, REVISE advisor
Beth Fornauf, CAST, REVISE advisor
Stephen Alkins, TERC, PI
Lisette Torres-Gerald, TERC, CoPI
Diane Miller, Detroit Zoological Society, CoPI
Pati Ruiz, Digital Promise, CoPI

Contact

For more information, contact Mia Gross.