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Project Descriptions

Chemistry in Afterschool - Partnership with CaSTL and the Boys and Girls Club

September 1, 2012 - July 31, 2014 | Public Programs

The goal of this outreach program was for Chemistry at the Space-Time (CaSTL) limit to partner with the Boys and Girls Club (BGC) of Santa Ana, CA to increase their participants' interest, enthusiasm and learning outcomes in Science Technology Engineering and Math (STEM) fields, through the development of science and chemistry hands-on lessons. The Boys and Girls Club of Santa Ana serves nearly 2,700 participants each day at six sites. Ninety percent of their participants identify as Hispanic/Latino and 93% are on free or reduced lunch. Although the Boys and Girls Club offers limited STEM activities, they agreed to partner with CaSTL, a UC-Irvine NSF-funded Center for Chemical Innovation, to expand their STEM ISE activities. CaSTL, in close collaboration with both the California Science Project of Irvine (CSPI), developed 24 science lesson plans that engage participants in high-level, hands-on, and interactive lessons that expose program participants to the visualization of chemistry and physics, based on CaSTL's mission. All lessons align with the California Science Standards, are highly interactive, and do not mimic the school day. These lessons compliment the state standards, but go much further in providing the participants experimental, hands-on activities that they often do not receive in their schools, due to budget, space and time restrictions. CaSTL faculty and graduate students ensured that the lens through which CaSTL research occurs was clearly represented in the lessons. CaSTL graduate students developed one of the lessons and kit and taught the spectroscopy lesson at the club.

Funders

NSF
Award Number: #CHE-0802913
Funding Amount: 150000

TEAM MEMBERS

  • 2014 06 17 shea l 112x150
    Evaluator
    University of California, Irvine
  • Elizabeth Cruz
    Contributor
    Boys and Girls Club of Santa Ana
  • Discipline: Chemistry | General STEM | Physics
    Audience: Elementary School Children (6-10) | Middle School Children (11-13) | Museum/ISE Professionals | Undergraduate/Graduate Students
    Environment Type: Public Programs | Afterschool Programs | Summer and Extended Camps
    Access and Inclusion: Ethnic/Racial | Hispanic/Latinx Communities | Low Socioeconomic Status

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