Broader Impacts

On December 12, 2005, The Science House and the Proposal Development Unit of the Office of Research and Graduate Studies at North Carolina State University hosted a faculty workshop on Broader Impacts in research and education. About 25 NC State faculty and staff attended the 2.5 hour workshop. Below is information about the workshop and references for researchers seeking to improve the Broader Impacts components of their proposals and projects. This website will be amended and expanded as new references become available.

The Science House is a resource to NC State faculty in designing, proposing and carrying out K-12 science and mathematics education projects. For help with your program or for more information about the workshop contact david_haase@ncsu.edu.

• Announcement of Broader Impacts Workshop at The Science House
• References about Broader Impacts
• References about Scientists and K-12 Education

Announcement of Broader Impacts Workshop at The Science House, December 12, 2005

Federal funders, especially NSF, NIH and NASA, now emphasize that the results of research must reach beyond the scientific community. This emphasis is reflected in the Criteria Two or Broader Impacts statement that is required for NSF proposals.

The purpose of this workshop is to help researchers understand Broader Impacts that pertain to education and outreach, in particular K-12 education. We will address the questions:

• Why are the funders concerned about education or education outreach? What are their objectives?
• What are the appropriate roles that scientists can take in working with K-12?
• The concept of "partnership" in education.
• What are examples of successful science education outreach programs?
• How do you design an appropriate education program that fits with you and your own research agenda?
• How does one plan, conduct and evaluate such a program?

This workshop will be interactive and guide faculty to resources useful for future planning, proposing and carrying out K-12 programs. We will also discuss how K-12 education links to undergraduate and graduate education programs.

The Science House is a statewide K-12 science and mathematics education outreach program of NC State. Much of the material for this workshop comes from five Conferences on K-12 Outreach from University Science Departments hosted by The Science House. The Conference Proceedings are downloadable from www.science-house.org/conf. We also acknowledge the productive experiences gained from collaboration with the NSF Center for Environmentally Responsible Solvents and Processes and the NSF Rice Blast Laboratory.

This workshop is co-sponsored by The Science House and the Proposal Development Unit, Office of Research and Graduate Studies.

References about Broader Impacts from the National Science Foundation and elsewhere

NSF issued Important Notice 127 entitled 'Implementation of new Grant Proposal Guide Requirements Related to the Broader Impacts Criterion".
http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2002/iin127/

An NSF document defining Broader Impacts titled "Merit Review Broader Impacts Criterion: Representative Activities"
www.nsf.gov/pubs/2003/nsf032/bicexamples.pdf

The NSF Office of Polar Programs has a similar overview of representative examples
http://www.nsf.gov/od/opp/opp_advisory/oaccrit2.jsp

The CIRES website has references to other NSF documents about Broader Impacts
cires.colorado.edu/education/k12/rescipe/collection/impacts/

American Chemical Society Fall, 2005 Broader Impact Showcase
http://chemistry.clemson.edu/NSF-broaderimpactsposters

The University of Nebraska hosted in May, 2005, a workshop on developing a Broader Impacts Toolkit. The Toolkit is apparently not complete, but the workshop is described at
http://physics.unl.edu/~diandra/DLP_Group_Website/BIT/BIT.php

The slides from a presentation at an FIE conference titled "Interactive Session - The NSF Broader Impacts Criterion-Why And How," Sue C Kemnitzer, Roger K. Seals and Krishna Vedula" are at http://fie.engrng.pitt.edu/fie2004/papers/

References about Scientists and K-12 Education

The RISE (Resources for Involving Scientists in Education) project of the National Academy of Sciences is a very good primer about how a scientist can contribute to improving K-12.
http://www.nas.edu/rise/

The Conferences on K-12 Outreach from University Science Departments (2000-2004) Sponsored by the Burroughs Wellcome Fund. These cover many detailed examples of scientists working with schools, teachers and students.
http://www.science-house.org/conf

"The Role of Scientists in the Professional Development of Science Teachers" (book)
http://www.nap.edu/readingroom/books/role/

K-12 Outreach from the NSF Center for Environmentally Responsible Solvents and Processes
http://www.science-house.org/CO2/index.html

K-12 Outreach from the NSF Rice Blast Laboratory
http://www.science-house.org/fungal/index.html

A website at Carleton College has a large set of references related to education at
http://serc.carleton.edu/research_education/linkage.htm