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The CILS research portfolio consists of studies that are funded through CILS, either through direct commissions, postdoctoral fellow research, or the study and dissertations of doctoral students. See CILS Research Framework for elucidation of CILS approaches to the questions and practices under study.
As in most efforts to make and support changes in practice and outcomes, CILS operates on several different levels at once, from the micro to the macro. Therefore, CILS studies can look quite different from one another. Some of the studies may involve very close discourse analysis of conversations between individuals in out-of-school settings. Some of the studies may be large-scale, multiple-choice surveys to determine the scope, scale, and focus of activities linking schools with informal science institutions throughout the country. Some of the studies may examine classroom effects of work between schools and informal science institutions. Some may examine effects on learning of exhibit design or labels in zoos or aquaria.
The CILS research portfolio has its roots in a variety of disciplines and institutional affiliations, including developmental psychology, science education, mathematics education, organizational change, the natural sciences, and museum education.
The strength and potential of CILS is that it combines a wide variety of expertise and knowledge, and creates multiple opportunities for people representing the various areas to come together to discuss and plan research and program activities. In particular, graduate and postdoctoral fellows experience a number of structured experiences where these varied viewpoints are present. Through such experiences, individuals will gain a knowledge and expertise that will raise their own competence and capabilities and the potential to contribute to the field in the future.
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