Presenting the Capacity Building for Youth Civic Leadership for Issues in Science and Society (CYCLIST) toolkit! Here on the CYCLIST leadership team, it is our hope that this toolkit will help educators incorporate civic engagement into their programming.
CYCLIST’S leadership organizations include the New England Aquarium, The Wild Center, and Action for the Climate Emergency (ACE). Partner organizations include the Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium, the Audubon Nature Institute, the Saint Louis Zoo, and the Woodland Park Zoo. This diverse group of organizations collaborated to provide
The Bronzeville Children's Museum will design and open a new exhibition, "African-Americans in STEM." The exhibit will support learning about science, technology, engineering, and math for children ages 3 to 9 through an exhibit design featuring bold colors and the use of green screen interactive animation programs. It will focus on the value and importance of these critical subjects, how they impact everyday lives, and will feature African Americans who are successful role models in STEM fields. Hands-on learning experiences will engage young minds while teaching valuable skills to spark excitement. The museum will survey its staff, docents, and volunteers for their assessment of the learning impact of the STEM exhibition on the children who visit. In addition, the museum will also survey community organizations and the Chicago Public Schools for feedback on the exhibition.
The Chicago Botanic Garden will launch the Healing Environments Ambassadors Learning Through Horticulture (HEALTH) project to help low-income Latina/o (Latinx) individuals and communities understand and create connections between nature and human health and well-being, as well as foster an interest in STEAM education and career paths. In partnership with Instituto del Progreso Latino, the garden will develop and implement annually a year-round curriculum for 16-20 teens and young adults from two charter schools. Through multi-sensory learning, project-based discovery, and incentives, teens will proactively and creatively begin to address challenges related to plants, nature, and sustainability in their local environments. HEALTH will engage family and community members in environmental education and stewardship activities through a partnership with Forest Preserves of Cook County and visits to the garden. Students will have opportunities to create and present films on community environmental topics and their personal experiences with the project, bringing awareness of the program model and its outcomes to a broad audience.
The Brookfield Zoo will launch the Zoo Explorers Club to provide underserved middle school students with free informal STEM education in public libraries and community centers in majority African American and Latino neighborhoods in Chicago, Cicero, and Melrose Park, Illinois. The program will consist of two four-week units per year, themed around STEM topics of interest to sixth-eighth graders. Students will participate in informal sessions that include hands-on science experiments, outdoor observations, craft projects, or animal experiences designed with the varied learning styles of middle school students in mind. Students will also participate in a free field trip to a zoo, nature center, museum, or other destination related to the unit topic. The curriculum will be designed to facilitate science learning through inquiry for up to 180 students per year, and empower young people to see themselves as agents of conservation solutions.
Hanohano o Oahu: The Geology and Moolelo of Kona to Ewa project will provide learning opportunities for 500 fourth grade students and their teachers from ten public schools located in central and leeward Oahu, Hawaii. A geology unit will be developed that includes a 90-minute class presentation, hands-on classroom activities, a Discovery Box to extend learning opportunities, and a full-day (5-hour) field trip experience. The multi-stop bus tour will be centered on the moku (district) of Kona and Ewa and highlight significant Oahu cultural sites, their moolelo (stories, history) and geology. A culture-based student activity booklet, hands-on activities, and other education materials will also be developed for the unit. The project will target rural communities with underserved families, large Hawaiian homestead neighborhoods, and little access to museum services. Participation in the programming will provide students and teachers with a better understanding of the connection between scientific information and Hawaiian knowledge.
The Lewis H. Latimer House Museum will develop a more cohesive education program that reflects both the museum's resources and the needs of local schools. The museum's deputy director and Tinkering Lab educator will work together to design a curriculum that meets current New York State and city standards, enabling the museum to more effectively serve schools in the community with object-based learning experiences. Packets of educational materials will be developed and made available for school teachers to download and use in their classrooms prior to and following visits to the museum. Target schools will be actively involved in the process of testing and utilizing the products. Project results will be shared with internal and external stakeholders to sustain long-term improvement and enhance institutional capacity.
Chicago's DuSable Museum of African American History will develop and present the "Exploration of African American Physicians and Surgeons" project with an overall goal to expose young people in the community to the opportunities and benefits of STEM education. Project components will include educational programming, lectures, and an historical exhibition revolving around African American contributions and achievements within the world of medicine. The exhibition will focus on work of Dr. Daniel Hale Williams, the founder of Chicago's Provident Hospital, the first non-segregated hospital in the United States. Dr. Williams was the first general surgeon to perform a documented and successful pericardium surgical procedure to repair a wound. The project's educational programming will explore the ways in which other African American doctors broke down racial barriers within the field of medicine.
The Hands On Children's Museum will build on two of its most distinctive features-an Outdoor Discovery Center and a Young Makers program-to create a Nature Makers program. The interdisciplinary project will link nature-based learning with maker activities that use natural materials. Partnerships with Native American tribes, scientists, maker groups, and others will enrich the staff-led offerings. Nature Makers addresses two of the most significant needs in early learning-inspiring early STEM education and connecting children with the outdoors. Nature Makers will increase children's exposure to outdoor tinkering to build the foundation for STEM success in school; educate parents, caregivers, and teachers about the important role outdoor exploration plays in STEM achievement; and stimulate children's curiosity about the natural world and increase the time they spend outside. Evaluation findings will be shared internally to inform continuous improvement of program offerings, and externally to serve as a model for outdoor making activities.
The STEAM Para Todos project will transform a prominent exhibit in the Marbles Kids Museum into a vibrant space that fosters culturally relevant STEAM learning and exploration for all museum visitors, particularly the growing Hispanic, dual-language learner population in Wake County, N.C. The three-year project will involve research, testing, design, installation, and evaluation. The museum will work with the school system, STEM partners, the local arts community, and organizations engaged with the Hispanic community to develop the exhibit. Guiding the project will be a community of practice, comprised of museum professionals; researchers with expertise in STEAM education, dual language learners, and culturally responsive informal learning; partners from STEM businesses; creative arts organizations; the Wake County Public School System; and stakeholders from the exhibit's intended audience. Project partners include Wake County Public School System, Que Pasa, US2020, Visual Arts Exchange, North Carolina Society of Hispanic Professionals, and Google Fiber.
The Children's Museum at La Habra's Lil' Innovators Early Childhood STEM project will increase STEM skill and engagement among early childhood preschool teachers, disadvantaged preschoolers, and their parents. Delivered in partnership with three of La Habra's Head Start and California State Preschool program schools, the project will provide 224 preschoolers and 20 teachers with a year-long program offering increased developmental skills in STEM for underserved, low-income Hispanic students who are primarily English Language Learners. Teacher outcomes will include improved strategies for teaching STEM and increased teaching quality of STEM subjects. Parent outcomes include increased belief in the importance of STEM and increased ability to support their child's STEM learning. The standards-based education project will improve the museum's ability to serve its public by creating a community of practice consisting of a network of administrators, educators, and evaluators who will work together to improve the quality of STEM education for the youngest learners in this academically-challenged community.
The Science Museum of Minnesota will create a 450-square-foot version of its award-winning "RACE: Are We So Different?" exhibition for distribution to rural areas and communities in Minnesota, and adjacent regions in Iowa, eastern North and South Dakota, and northern Wisconsin. The museum will produce four replicas of the exhibition for museums and partner organizations, and collaborate with community groups to develop supporting programming specific to identified community needs. Programs will include facilitated reflective dialogues for groups of adults and students; a leadership institute with representatives from each host community; an educator guide for secondary school teachers; and a variety of workshops and arts presentations to extend conversations about race and racism. Like the original RACE exhibition, these condensed exhibitions will encourage visitors to explore the science, history, and everyday effects of race and racism through a combination of artifacts, historic and contemporary photography, multimedia components, and interactive activities.