Project LIFTOFF works with local, regional, and national partners to engineer statewide systems for Informal Science Education that inspire: YOUTH to pursue STEM education and careers through increased opportunities for quality, hands-on STEM learning. AFTERSCHOOL STAFF to facilitate STEM learning experiences that contribute to the overall STEM education and aspirations of youth in their programs. PROGRAM ADMINISTRATORS to encourage and support staff in the integration of STEM enrichment into the daily programming. STATE LEADERS to sustain and expand afterschool learning opportunities so that all students have access to engaging STEM experiences outside of the regular school day. Project LIFTOFF is dedicated to the development of the following essential elements of statewide systems for informal science education:
Access to appropriate STEM Curriculum for youth of all ages, abilities, and socio-cultural backgrounds that meets the needs and interests of individual community programs
Systematic STEM Professional Development that matches individual skills in positive youth development with abilities to facilitate discovery and science learning
A diverse Cadres of Trainers who will deliver the professional development, technical assistance and curriculum dissemination in their local communities
Authentic Evaluation of informal science efforts that determine the impacts on youth aspirations and the capacity of youth programs to provide quality STEM experiences
Local STEM education leadership to identify the ways in which collaborative education efforts can advance the development of 21st Century Skills and the preparedness for STEM workforce and higher education
Partnerships in support of youth development and informal science education that convene local, regional, and statewide organizations and stakeholders
To advance national initiatives and states' sySTEM engineering efforts, LIFTOFF coordinates an annual convening, the Midwest Afterschool Science Academy, that brings together national informal science experts, system leaders and youth development professionals to elevate the levels of science after school. The 5th MASA will be in the spring of 2014 in Kansas City, MO
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Missouri AfterSchool NetworkJeff Buehler
The project includes a simulation based Family Learning Program to be administered through the International Challenger Learning Center (CLC) network. The goal is to develop families' skills in learning as a team through science, math and technology (SMT) in an environment where parents and children are co-travelers in a world of ideas. PACCT is disseminated through ten of the Challenger Learning Centers reaching 22,000 families nationwide. Many of these activities are completed in the home at no cost to the anticipated 12,500 participating families. Through this network of centers, all types of communities are served in many states. The activities include Sim-U-Voyages, where family teams work at home; Sim-U-Challenges, where families create a physical model responding to a challenge; Sim-U-Visits, where families hear from scientists and work as scientists in a team solving a problem; and Sim-U-Ventures, which result in flying a mission. Cost sharing is 8%.
The project includes a simulation based Family Learning Program to be administered through the International Challenger Learning Center (CLC) network. The goal is to develop families' skills in learning as a team through science, math and technology (SMT) in an environment where parents and children are co-travelers in a world of ideas. PACCT is disseminated through ten of the Challenger Learning Centers reaching 22,000 families nationwide. Many of these activities are completed in the home at no cost to the anticipated 12,500 participating families. Through this network of centers, all types of communities are served in many states. The activities include Sim-U-Voyages, where family teams work at home; Sim-U-Challenges, where families create a physical model responding to a challenge; Sim-U-Visits, where families hear from scientists and work as scientists in a team solving a problem; and Sim-U-Ventures, which result in flying a mission. Cost sharing is 8%.
WGBH Educational Foundation is requesting funds to produce 20 new shows and new outreach and Web activities for "ZOOM," which will be renamed "Hot Seat." "Hot Seat" is a daily half-hour PBS television series targeted to kids ages 8 to 11. Uniquely by and for kids, the program gives its viewers a chance to explore, to experiment and to share their creativity. The series, along with its far-reaching outreach, offers its audience an innovative curriculum that promotes the acquisition of basic math and science knowledge and the development of problem solving skills called "Habits of Mind." The intended impacts are to: (1) establish a project that uniquely integrates television, the Web and outreach as a model for how media can teach science and math; (2) engage kids and teach them science and math content and process skills; (3) provide curriculum and professional development to organizational partners. Innovation includes developing three new content areas for the series -- Invention, Space Science and Earth Science -- and evolving the project design by incorporating new production techniques that enhance the "reality factor" of the science programming. Outreach for the project will include printed materials for kids, families and educators. A new collaborative partnership is being developed with the American Library Association to help distribute the new afterschool curricula to librarians across the country. "Hot Seat" will support the existing network of "ZOOM" outreach partners and convert the museum "ZOOMzones" to "Hot Seat Spots." "ZOOM" currently is carried by 269 public broadcasting stations and is viewed by 4 million children each week.
The excitement of astrophysical research and discovery is brought into the high school science and mathematics classes through a flexible set of student activities and projects on variable stars. The project includes a computerized database, of 400,000 measurements of brightness of 150 variable stars in five constellations over 25 years, from which students can deduce properties, processes, and evolution of these stars. Students can make additional measurements and discoveries from carefully selected time sequences of 125 35mm slides or from actual measurements from the night sky. A comprehensive student manual and instructional videos make the materials self-contained and easy to use. The teacher manual enables the instructor to adapt the materials to skills, objectives and local curricula. The material can be used in a variety of contexts: traditional mathematics and science classes at both the high school and college level, independent projects, summer institutes, and community science clubs. The material will be field tested in classes and refined through workshops with teachers. A newsletter and a video about amateur astronomers is planned.