Our Learning Ecosystems research investigates how learning occurs within a learner's (STEM) ecosystem, not only in school or out of school, but in a complex network of institutions, families, environments, and events.

The Center's current Learning Ecosystems research projects are listed below. You can also read about our completed Learning Ecosystems projects.

The Virtual Field: A Mitigation Strategy for the COVID-19 Pandemic

 

The COVID-19 pandemic is causing massive disruptions in higher education. Faculty across disciplines are struggling to quickly transition to virtual classrooms. Nowhere has this been more difficult than in the field sciences, where first-hand experience with the complexity of the natural world is essential for applying classroom learning to authentic settings, developing deep content knowledge and skills, and fostering identity as a field scientist.

SYNERGIES: Customizing Interventions to Sustain Youth STEM Interest and Participation Pathways (2015-2021)

 

The Circuit: A Platform for Increasing Access to, Deepening and Researching Patterns of Family and Adult Participation in Informal Science (2019-2023)

 

CAISE Evaluation (2016-2021)

The Center for Advancement of Informal Science Education (CAISE) is a resource center funded through a cooperative agreement with the NSF Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) Program.

Gulf of Maine Research Institute LabVenture (2018-2023)

The research team from the STEM Research Center at Oregon State University (Martin Storksdieck, Kelly Riedinger, Kimberley Preston and Brianna Keys), in collaboration with researchers from TERC, will partner with the Gulf of Maine Research Institute on research in service to practice project funded by NSF’s Advancing Informal STEM Lear

Explorer at Large Pilot Implementation (2017-2020)

In this study led by Drs. Kelly Riedinger and Martin Storksdieck with assistance from Kim Preston and Victoria Bonebrake, the STEM Research Center is a research and evaluation partner with Little Yud Ventures and the PAST Foundation on the Explorer at Large (XAL) pilot program in Ohio.