Opportunities

Building on NSF's early investments in Making, the purpose of this Dear Colleague Letter (DCL) is to encourage EAGER proposals to conduct exploratory work in its early stages on untested, but potentially transformative, research ideas or approaches that advance the frontier of knowledge with respect to STEM learning and design thinking. Specifically, NSF challenges and encourages the community to submit innovative proposals for fundamental research or the integration of research and education that:

• Elucidate the processes and potential benefits of learning, e.g. design thinking, in the Maker context;
• Leverage Making to develop and test its role in improving the effectiveness of formal and informal learning pathways for increasing retention and broadening participation in STEM for students and faculty;
• Explore new ideas and models of formal and informal STEM learning by leveraging existing knowledge in Making;
• Investigate and test effectiveness of new approaches to design and innovation enabled by Maker spaces and practices;
• Enable new tools and knowledge for design and prototyping across all disciplines that can significantly increase Making capabilities; and
• Further the understanding of innovation processes from prototypes through their transition to products that have greater societal and economic impact through enhanced marketability and large-scale market adoption.

Deadline to submit is December 17, 2015.