2018 - 2023
The research team from the STEM Research Center at Oregon State University is partnering with the Gulf of Maine Research Institute and TERC on a research in service to practice project funded by NSF’s Advancing Informal STEM Learning program. The project is examining the impact of a longstanding, statewide science field trip program called LabVenture.
The LabVenture field trip program brings middle school students and teachers from across the State of Maine to the Gulf of Maine Research Institute (GMRI) in Portland, Maine to become fully immersed in explorations into the complexities of local marine science ecosystems. These intensive field trip experiences are led by informal educators and facilitated entirely within informal contexts at GMRI. Approximately 70% of all fifth and sixth-grade students in Maine participate in the program each year, and more than 120,000 students have attended since the program’s inception in 2005.
Unfortunately, little is known to date on how the program has influenced practice and learning ecosystems within formal, informal, and community contexts. As such, this research in service to practice project is using an innovative research approach to understand and advance knowledge on the short and long-term impacts of the program within different contexts. The research is generating new findings related to connections between formal and informal science learning within a statewide STEM learning ecosystem.
