Across our three collaborating organizations, we are proud to bring together an array of expertise in practice, research, and evaluation. Aligned with our project’s aim of building the future of the field’s workforce, each project leader is paired with a mentor who served on the original project’s leadership team. To connect with us, please reach …
This Informal STEM Learning Professional Competency Framework is grounded in research, evaluation, and knowledge of both effective and emerging practices. It was originally developed in 2018 through two years of studying the tasks, activities, and skills of practicing professionals across a range of science centers and other STEM-rich institutions. Three major observations prompted the framework’s …
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What is a “Competency Framework” Anyway? A “competency framework” is a compilation of skills, knowledge, and capabilities necessary to be successful in a particular area of work. Competency frameworks are one way of decentralizing professional growth by encouraging self-directed processes to pursue academic programs, internships, on-the-job training, and more to further lifelong professional learning. There …
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This domain describes how people interact with their work and work environment. Often called ‘soft skills’, professionals can continually develop the ways they understand and interact with their social and professional environment. A note about competency levels: There is no prescribed, or “right”, level a person should achieve to be effective in a specific position. …
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This domain describes competencies specific to a person’s area of practice, or the activities, routines, tasks, and other work professionals do each day to produce products, programs, or services. Effective practice and efficient practice are interdependent, and one should not be achieved at the expense of the other. As outlined in the chart below, professionals …
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This domain describes competencies related to an institution’s impact. Professionals can progress from understanding the intended and achieved impact of an institution’s programs and products to influencing and contributing to the articulation, implementation, and study of the ways institutions interact with and contribute to society. A note about competency levels: There is no prescribed, or …
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This domain focuses on the ways institutions and organizations operate, often referred to as the internal environment or infrastructure, which supports public activities. Professionals can progress from understanding how their institution operates to managing or leading organizations across the field. A note about competency levels: There is no prescribed, or “right”, level a person should …
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With a new grant from the National Science Foundation, the Association of Science and Technology Centers (ASTC) is collaborating with the COSI Center for Research and Evaluation and Oregon State University’s STEM Research Center to build on the original 2018 framework and develop new professional learning and development tools. These tools will support those who work in the …
Science and technology centers and museums, natural history museums, children’s museums, zoos, aquariums, nature centers, botanical gardens, planetariums, and other types of museums and cultural organizations play a vital role in stimulating public interest and engagement in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). However, this often-difficult work is largely dependent on the abilities of those …
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Core Resources A Guide to the Informal STEM Learning Professional Learning Framework (2020): Full description of the dimensions and competencies, as well as sample competency indicators. You can also download a one-pager with just the competency tables here. Building an Informal STEM Learning Professional Competency Framework (2021): Describes the full research and development process for …
Professional learning is a lifelong, dynamic, and continuous process influenced by emerging research, society’s changing needs and interests, and changes in personal interests or opportunities. This Framework can help an individual or institution be strategic in this learning based on unique circumstances, preferences, and opportunities. Creating a Learning Path: The Fundamentals Professional learning is the …
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