Changing for the Better? A Cross-Sectional Study of Organizational Learning and the RACE Exhibition

• In Event: 44.085 - Poster Session 9
  In Poster Session: 44.085-9 - Access, Equity, and Identity Development in Informal STEM Education

Abstract

Although the challenge of equity is widely acknowledged in informal science education, an expanding body of evidence suggests that progress on equity is difficult to sustain. This project takes up the longstanding, field-wide challenge of organizational change where it intersects with the urgent social imperative of educational equity. In this paper, we report early results from a cross-organizational study examining the adaptation and lasting impact of an award-winning exhibition (RACE: Are We So Different?) that traveled to over 40 ISE organizations around the country. Drawing on the theories from sociological institutionalism and organizational change research, we explore trends and patterns in how ISE organizations used the RACE exhibition to advance equity-related goals.

Authors

• Noah Weeth Feinstein, University of Wisconsin - Madison

• Esther HsuBorger, University of Wisconsin - Madison

• Karin Spader, University of Wisconsin - Madison