For the NSF Science Learning+ program, Twin Cities Public Television (tpt) received funding for “Affinity Spaces for Informal Science Learning: Developing a Research Agenda.” With collaborators in the US and the UK, the project is developing a set of concepts, issues and questions that will guide future investigations into how participation in online affinity spaces can promote and enable new approaches to informal science learning. The project is an innovative, pioneering exploration of a neglected but urgently needed arena of informal science learning research.Particularly with the ability of affinity spaces to connect millions of learners, developing a research agenda to learn how these spaces can involve both adults and youth in experiences across the entire spectrum of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) promises to reveal new ways to enhance and enrich the entire ecosystem of informal science learning.
The project builds on a wealth of research into the educational potential of “affinity spaces” (Gee, 2004). Affinity spaces can also support the evolving model of the informal science learning ecosystem (Falk, 2013) with a digital ecosystem, a web of online interconnections between existing organizations and programs, which can promote the interrelations among the diverse communities of practice (Jenkins, et al. 2006). Capitalizing on the explosive growth in online social media, the project promises to explore new ways to engage youth and adults in the social media space in STEM discourse, and, by learning more about the potential for connections between online and real-world spaces, leverage the potential of online discourse to increase the impact of all informal science education institutions.
Richard C Hudson 