This report discusses the legacy and impact of YouthALIVE! (Youth Achievement through Learning, Involvement, Volunteering, and Employment), an initiative in the 1990s of the Association of Science-Technology Centers with support from the DeWitt-Wallace Reader’s Digest Fund to enable museums and science centers to establish programs for youth from underserved populations. YouthALIVE! programs are characterized by intensive, multi-year engagement in the life of the institution, including a wide variety of opportunities for science teaching, learning, and mentoring, and conducting scientific
The Learning and Youth Research and Evaluation Center (LYREC) is a collaboration of the Exploratorium, Harvard University, Kings College London, SRI International and UC Santa Cruz. LYREC provides technical assistance to NSF AYS projects, collects and synthesizes their impact data, and oversees dissemination of progress and results. This center builds on the Center for Informal Learning in Schools (CILS) that has developed a theoretical approach that takes into account the particular strengths and affordances of both Out of School Teaching (OST) and school environments. This foundation will permit strengthening the potential of the NSF AYS projects to develop strong local models that can generate valid and reliable data that can guide future investment, design and research aimed at creating coherence across OST and school settings. The overarching questions for the work are: 1. How can OST programs support K-8 engagement and learning in science, and in particular how can they contribute to student engagement with K-8 school science and beyond? 2. What is the range of science learning outcomes OST programs can promote, particularly when in collaboration with schools, IHE's, businesses, and other community partners? 3. How can classroom teachers and schools build on children's OST experiences to strengthen children's participation and achievement in K-12 school science Additionally, the data analysis will reveal: 1. How OST programs may be positioned to support, in particular, high-poverty, female and/or minority children traditionally excluded from STEM academic and career paths; and 2. The structural/organizational challenges and constraints that exist to complicate or confound efforts to provide OST experiences that support school science engagement, and conversely, the new possibilities which are created by collaboration across organizational fields. Data will be gathered from surveys, interviews, focus groups, evaluation reports, and classroom and school data.
In spring 2009, the Denver Museum of Nature & Science (Museum) contracted with JVA Consulting, LLC (JVA) to conduct a comprehensive process and outcome evaluation of the Passport to Health (P2H) program. The Museum designed P2H, originally a three-year program funded by the Colorado Health Foundation (the Foundation), to improve health outcomes for fifth-grade students as well as their families and teachers throughout the Denver metro area. Passport to Health has seven components, designed to complement each other and help the Museum achieve its stated program goals. The seven components
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TEAM MEMBERS:
JVA Consulting, LLCDenver Museum of Nature & Science
In Spring 2009, the Denver Museum of Nature & Science (Museum) contracted with JVA Consulting, LLC (JVA) to conduct a comprehensive process and outcome evaluation of the Passport to Health Program (P2H). The Museum designed P2H, a three-year program funded by the Colorado Health Foundation, to improve health outcomes for fifth-grade students as well as their families and teachers throughout the Denver metro area. This evaluation report offers the findings of the baseline process evaluation and climate assessment, which will serve as a foundation for future evaluation efforts. Using various
DATE:
TEAM MEMBERS:
JVA Consulting, LLCDenver Museum of Nature & Science
A June 2010 report from the Exploratorium's Learning and Youth Research and Evaluation Center (LYREC) highlights trends, questions, and findings related to out-of-school-time science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (OST STEM). Based on an October 2009 meeting, the report aims "to inform the work of OST educators, researchers, and funders." The report notes that "out-of-school-time programs such as summer camps,afterschool programs and Saturday classes provide students with important opportunities to: (1) spark, sustain, and deepen their interest in science, technology, engineering
This article describes the mission, approach and success of the New Jersey Academy of Aquatic Sciences' Community and Urban Science Enrichment Program (CAUSE). Through the CAUSE program, local high school students receive training in marine science and biology, and work as mentors for younger students and as educators. This article also points out that an enrichment program to increase visitorship from underrepresented youth is not enough; science centers must utilize Positive Youth Development (PYD) strategies to "lay the foundation" toward individual learning. Key findings from project