How is SMILE supporting/promoting diversity?
With the help of experts in the field, SMILE has developed a cataloging system that allows individual activities to be tagged as being developed for various underserved audiences. We have refined our vocabulary to allow catalogers to specify how an activity might be associated with an underserved group. For example, instead of simply associating an activity with “Native Americans,” the cataloger would choose from a variety of specific tags, from “Addresses bias against this group” to “Identifies role models or mentors in STEM field from this group.” SMILE is also able to specify if and how an activity has been developed for students with barriers to learning, whether those barriers are in the form of vision or hearing impairment, limited English proficiency, or other accessibility issues. In addition, the New York Hall of Science (a founding partner of SMILE) is the project’s diversity liaison, charged with creating a network of partners that will contribute cultural and ability sensit
