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Center for Research on Lifelong STEM Learning

The world is changing; the multiple issues that we face in the 21st Century invariably revolve around STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) related issues. Resolving these issues will require enhanced STEM research, but also a STEM-educated workforce and a STEM knowledgeable citizenry, both which in turn require significant improvements in lifelong STEM education (before college, at college and across the lifespan). Advances in understanding of the what, how, why and when of lifelong STEM learning are fundamental to achieving all of OSU’s strategic goals:

 

  • Sustain and accelerate improvements in student learning and experience through creation of outstanding academic and student engagement programs;
  • Align and strengthen innovative scholarly and research activities to continue discovering new products and technologies that generate economic activity; and
  • Focus even more intently on enhancing OSU's ability to produce strategies and solutions for the most important – and intractable – issues facing Oregon, the nation, and the world.

OSU is a regional, national, and international leader in the arena of lifelong STEM learning research. Dozens of individuals across the OSU community are currently engaged in investigations ranging from STEM-related undergraduate and pre-college education to community-based investigations of STEM learning and public decision-making.

The Center for Research on Lifelong STEM Learning enables coordinated activity across disciplines, curricular levels and research areas. The need for significant advances in lifelong STEM learning research is being recognized by funding agencies who are making resources available at unprecidented levels. While the need for research on how to engage learners of all ages in STEM was once marginalized within the academy, STEM learning research is rapidly emerging as a critical area of scholarship among many STEM disciplines. OSU's Center for Research on Lifelong STEM Learning is leading the way in this rapidly expanding area of inquiry.