The National Science Foundation (NSF) has funded a number of informal STEM programs that provide funding for media producers, including public television (TV) stations, to provide children’s STEM programming in out-of-school-time (OST) settings. These projects typically include a children's TV series (animated or not) aired on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), plus resources such as hands-on activity guides, educator toolkits, and other materials that can be used to support STEM learning in OST settings. This paper explores the lessons learned from seven such programs and their respective
This paper describes initial findings from the Mapping Out-of-School Time Science (MOST-Science) study. The study examines the characteristics of out-of-school time programs and their home organizations, including aspects of program design, structure, funding, staffing, and youth audience. We then discuss how organization types differ in these program aspects and draw out implications for practice.
This article focuses on three approaches to STEM in out-of-school time that would be instructive for any organization seeking to develop STEM opportunities for teen girls. While Techbridge and Queens Community House focused on reaching populations most underrepresented in STEM—girls of color and those from immigrant and low-income families—the strategies they used could be applied to any population of adolescent girls.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Harriet MosatcheSusan Matloff-NievesLinda KekelisElizabeth Lawner
Recognizing that schools can’t boost STEM performance alone, policy makers and educators have called for “all hands on deck” to boost STEM achievement, ignite passions in science, and expose students to STEM career possibilities.
This article provides findings from the TERC-based program Math off the Shelf (MotS). The first phase involved working with library-based informal educators to create interdisciplinary mathematics resources, and the second phase made the resources available to a wider group of library educators.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Marlene KlimanNuria Jaumot-PascualValerie Martin
This article reflects on the author's experience leading the 21st Century Community Learning Center (21st CCLC) program, which aimed to create a "culture of STEM" for both participants and staff. The author describes the experience of the children, the training of staff, and places for improvement.
This article examines youth experience and engagement in a community service afterschool program viewed as a relational experience, with experiences and engagement being a product of activity, advisors and influence of peers.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Jeffrey JonesJoshua BenchBethany WarnaarJohn Stroup
This article examines the literature on best practices in content-specific professional development and then aligns this work with the practices of a citywide afterschool chess program run by After School Activities Partnerships (ASAP) in Philadelphia. This analysis shows that implementing content-specific professional development based on best practices can lead to long-lasting and content-rich OST programming.
This article discusses competing models of afterschool programming. It points out the weaknesses of the additive model and concludes that the contextual model is advantageous in fostering STEM learning environments. It encourages cross-setting approaches in the design, development, and documentation of out-of-school activities.
This article examines afterschool science in light of the National Research Council’s comprehensive synthesis report on promoting science learning in informal environments (NRC, 2009). We present the results of our analysis of qualitative case studies of nine state-funded afterschool sites in California, discussing the strengths of these programs against the background of three key site-based constraints—time available for science, staff’s science backgrounds, and instructional materials—as well as the importance of partnerships with outside organizations to support sites in overcoming these
This article encourages afterschool programs to promote youth identification as community science experts. It uses the case study of the GET City program to frame the discussion of encouraging identity development should be an important outcome of afterschool programming.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Angela Calabrese BartonDaniel BirminghamTakumi SatoEdna TanScott Calabrese Barton
This document describes the Dimensions of Success (DoS), an assessment tool created by researchers at the Program in Education, Afterschool, and Resiliency (PEAR). DoS was created to help out-of-school time programs and researchers monitor and measure quality. It allows observers to collect systemic data along 12 quality indicators to pinpoint the strengths and weaknesses of afterschool science learning experiences.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Anahit PapazianAshima ShahCaitlin Rufo-McCormick