The article provides information and suggestions for coordinating a Family Science Day, an informal science event for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. Suggestions include integrating art into STEM experiments to create STEAM projects, securing content experts for the event, and creating a manageable timeline.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Sara McCubbinsBethany ThomasMichael Vetere
In 2007, Carnegie Corporation of New York joined with the Institute for Advanced Study to create a commission, comprised of some of our nation’s most distinguished mathematicians, scientists, educators, scholars, business leaders, and public officials, to assess not only the current state of math and science education in the U.S. but also how to enhance the capacity of our schools and universities to generate innovative strategies across all fields that will increase access to high-quality education for every student in every classroom.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Carnegie Corporation and the Institute for Advanced Study
Schools do not define education, and they are not the only institutions in which learning takes place. After-school programs, music lessons, Scouts, summer camps, on-the-job training, and home activities all offer out-of-school educational experiences. In Learning at Not-School, Julian Sefton-Green explores studies and scholarly research on out-of-school learning, investigating just what it is that is distinctive about the quality of learning in these “not-school” settings. Sefton-Green focuses on those organizations and institutions that have developed parallel to public schooling and have
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TEAM MEMBERS:
The MacArthur FoundationJulian Sefton-Green
Afterschool programs that provide strong STEM learning experiences are making an impact on participating youth not only become excited and engaged in these fields but develop STEM skills and proficiencies, come to value these fields and their contributions to society, and -- significantly -- begin to see themselves as potential contributors to the STEM enterprise. This paper summarizes evaluation data from a selection of strong afterschool STEM programs, providing a snapshot of the types of substantive impacts afterschool programs are having on youth.
Equipping today's youth with the skills necessary to compete in the 21st Century workforce is a top priority of our nation's schools, communities, policy makers and businesses. This issue brief examines how afterschool provides kids with the opportunity to develop skills to help them succeed in an increasingly competitive labor market.
The 21st century's information economy is creating more jobs that require not only a college education but also at least some expertise in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math, collectively known as STEM. In order to stay competitive in the global marketplace and provide our children with the best chance to succeed in life, we must get more students on the STEM path. Combining STEM learning with afterschool programming offers middle school students a fun, challenging, hands-on introduction to the skills they will need in high school, college and the work place. This MetLife
Afterschool programs have long partnered with other youth-serving and community organizations to better meet the needs of their students. As interest and momentum grows around STEM programming in afterschool , partnerships become increasingly important in offering high-quality, hands-on STEM experiences for youth. This issue brief demonstrates several models of how afterschool programs are partnering with STEM-rich institutions like science centers and museums, universities and colleges, business and industry, and government agencies. The brief highlights the strengths of each type of STEM
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Afterschool Alliance
resourceprojectProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
The Coalition for Science After School (CSAS) was established in 2004 in response to the growing need for more STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) learning opportunities in out-of-school time. CSAS sought to build this field by uniting STEM education goals with out-of-school time opportunities and a focus on youth development. Over a decade of work, CSAS Steering Committee members, staff and partners advocated for STEM in out-of-school-time settings, convened leaders, and created resources to support this work. CSAS leadership decided to conclude CSAS operations in 2014, as the STEM in out-of-school time movement had experienced tremendous growth of programming and attention to science-related out-of-school time opportunities on a national level. In its ten-year strategic plan, CSAS took as its vision the full integration of the STEM education and out-of-school time communities to ensure that quality out-of-school time STEM opportunities became prevalent and available to learners nationwide. Key CSAS activities included: (1) Setting and advancing a collective agenda by working with members to identify gaps in the field, organizing others to create solutions that meet the needs, identifying policy needs in the field and supporting advocates to advance them; (2) Developing and linking committed communities by providing opportunities for focused networking and learning through conferences, webinars, and other outreach activities; and (3) Identifying, collecting, capturing, and sharing information and available research and resources in the field. The leadership of the Coalition for Science After School is deeply grateful to the funders, partners, supporters, and constituents that worked together to advance STEM in out-of-school time during the last decade, and that make up today's rich and varied STEM in out-of-school time landscape. We have much to be proud of, but as a movement there is much more work to be done. As this work continues to expand and deepen, it is appropriate for the Coalition for Science After School to step down as the many other organizations that have emerged over the last decade take on leadership for the critical work that remains to be done. A timeline and summary of CSAS activities, products, and accomplishments is available for download on this page. All resources noted in the narrative are also available for download below.
The Coalition for Science After School was launched January 28, 2004 at the Santa Fe Institute, home to the world’s leading researchers on the study of complexity. Against the dazzling backdrop of the New Mexican mesa, 40 educational leaders from diverse but overlapping domains—science, technology, engineering and mathematics education and after-school programs—met to grapple with three emerging, important trends in youth development and science learning in this country: 1. An explosion in the number of U.S. youth attending after-school programs, and increasing links between school and after
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TEAM MEMBERS:
The Coalition for Science After SchoolLeah Reisman
The "Setting the Agenda for Giant Screen Research" workshop was conducted at the 2013 Association of Science-Technology Centers (ASTC) conference held in Albequerque, NM. This document outlines the workshop agenda and background reading. The purpose of this workshop is to create a working document that details key questions and proposals for giant screen research.
In September 2008 the Greater Screen Cinema Association (GSCA) hosted the one-day symposium Connecting Society with Science: the Greater Potential of Giant Screen Experiences. Funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the symposium was held in Jersey City, New Jersey, one day before the GSCA International Conference and Trade Show.