Identifying and Supporting Productive STEM Programs in Out-of-School Settings (2015) / Chapter Skim
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Criteria for Identifying Productive STEM Programs in Out-of-School Settings
Criteria for Identifying Productive STEM Programs in Out-of-School Settings
Pages 15-30
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From page 15... ...
• They actively broker additional STEM learning opportunities. Our review of the research suggests that productive out-of-school STEM programs demonstrate a dynamic and interwoven relationship among these three sets of criteria.30 For example, productive STEM out-of-school programs that intentionally leverage young people's interests help make explicit the connections between STEM experiences across multiple settings31 and help them see the relevance of those experiences to their daily lives and future careers, which can deepen their intellectual, social, and emotional engagement with STEM.32 15
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From page 16... ...
For example, they can provide young people the opportunity to develop and pursue STEM questions or ideas that have personal meaning over time (whether hours, days, or weeks) in ways that can encompass the full range of STEM practices -- from problem to solution or from question to explanation.35 Because learning involves intellectual, social, and emotional engagement, it is best supported in social environments that inspire young people to participate, that offer opportunities to con tribute to a shared endeavor, and that provide the necessary social supports that allow young people to stretch themselves intellectually, socially and emotionally.36 The key attributes of supportive out-of-school programs that lead to young people's meaningful participation and development include37 • physical and psychological safety; • opportunities for belonging; • support for efficacy and mattering (meaningful involvement)
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From page 17... ...
One example of a program that provides first-hand experiences with materials and phenomena is the California Tinkering Afterschool Network, a collaboration among five STEM-rich organizations working in partnership with after-school programs in urban and rural California communities.39 At one partner site, the Community Science Workshop (CSW) in Watsonville, young people drop by to use the workshop tools and materials to build objects of their own choosing motivated by needs from home (such as a fountain for a garden)
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From page 18... ...
The after-school and summer programs engage girls in real-world applications of sci ence, engineering, and mathematics; support career exploration with role models; and promote leadership. Participants engage with STEM practices on a regular basis as they work on projects over sev eral weeks that involve posing problems, designing solutions to problems as they arise, testing designs while conducting inves tigations, revising designs based on their findings, and communi cating their findings.
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From page 19... ...
Supportive Learning Communities In productive STEM learning environments, young people are encouraged to develop their own questions, to devise ways of investigating and addressing those questions, and to share the results of their inquiries, which will often be tentative. This type of experience is a fundamental part of doing science and being scientific.43 Young people who feel supported to explore the unknown are more likely to attempt explanatory modeling and to persist after experiencing a moment of failure, which can lead to a moment of new insight.44 Research shows that socially supportive contexts are linked to such outcomes as increased pro-social behavior and school achievement.45 Thus, thoughtfully designed supportive learning communities may be key to young people's STEM learning in out-of-school programs, and they may be particularly important for broadening participation in STEM for young people from historically underrepresented communities.
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From page 20... ...
This combination of sensi tivity to children's moods and accommodation of their interests in the context of STEM activities corresponds to goals to motivate children and promote their interest in STEM.47 Respond to Young People's Interests, Experiences, and Cultural Practices Many young people experience STEM as an abstraction that appears to have little connection with their daily lives.48 Commonly, young people's ideas about STEM reflect cultural models that include images of obsessive genius scientists working lonely late night hours in their laboratories.49 Young people are less likely to understand STEM as a collaborative and team-based activity, they seldom picture STEM practices as involving artistic and detailed representations of the natural world, and they consistently associate being good at STEM with natural ability rather than hard work.50 Such cultural models make STEM less appealing to many young people who envision their future life's work as addressing significant issues in their communities. A major goal of STEM edu cation therefore is to help young people to understand the relevance of STEM to the worlds they know, so they can understand the utility and value of STEM and how it is situated in meaningful social contexts.51 There is a relationship among prior experiences, beliefs, relevance, and engagement in education.52 When young people recognize a question, problem, or strategy as meaningful, they are more likely to become interested in it.53 When they are interested in the idea or topic, they are more likely to pursue it.54 When they believe that a skill will be of value to them in their immediate context, however they define it, they are more likely to persist in learning it.55 Young people who are sup ported to persist and succeed and to reflect on their tenacity, are more likely to apply themselves and, indeed, to succeed.56 Understanding how to make out-of-school STEM responsive to young 20
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From page 21... ...
. Out-of-school STEM programs that situate STEM in relevant settings and contexts treat young people as knowledgeable and capable, thus supporting them intellectually, socially, and emotionally to fully participate, contribute, and develop as members of the STEM learning community.63 Native Science Field Centers, a program developed by Hopa Mountain and Blackfeet Community College, serves as an example of how STEM learning experiences can be designed to be socially meaningful and culturally relevant.
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From page 22... ...
For example, if one person's data skills and another person's facility with engaging older adults help a team successfully interview community residents to investigate and later communicate health conditions in an urban neighborhood, a program may have positioned both young people to develop productive STEM learning identities.71 Project based learning may be an especially productive strategy for learners to develop and evolve in their roles in communities of practice, providing young people the opportunity, over time, to take on new roles as the project progresses.72 Because of the time-dependent and often site-specific nature of project-based learning, it may be well suited to out-of-school settings that can allow for extended investigations. gA community of practice is a group of people who learn from each other and has an opportunity to develop themselves personally and professionally by sharing information and experiences with each other.
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From page 23... ...
Position Staff Members as Co-Investigators and Learners with Youths To create productive STEM out-of-school programs that reflect the criteria described above, skilled and caring adult support is essential.74 Supportive relationships involve adults who come to know and to recognize the strengths and interests of program participants and empower them to identify and pursue their own meaningful questions.75 These relationships can develop when staff members work alongside young people as co-investigators, asking "what-if" questions and recasting "failure" as a fundamental part of learning and scientific endeavors. Supporting youths to take ownership of their learning may be especially important in out-of-school settings, where young people are developing new interests and deepening existing ones that can be further pursued in other settings including school.
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An evaluation of the program found that participants learned STEM concepts, developed more positive attitudes toward STEM, and acquired technical skills related to computer programing.77 Connect STEM Learning in Out-of-School, School, Home, and Other Settings Researchers have begun to develop strategies for understanding and documenting how learning develops, fluctuates, and deepens across settings and over time.78 A growing number of studies demonstrate how young people bring STEM understanding and practices developed in one setting to another, including between home and school,79 between school and out-of-school activities,80 between home and out-of-school activities,81 and across out-of-school settings.82 Productive out-of-school STEM programs can help young people understand how their out-of school experiences build on, connect with, and support continued learning and activity in other iFor more information, see https://youthradio.org [May 2015]
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From page 25... ...
nizations have the potential to facilitate explicit connections between school and out-of-school programs,84 monitor youth development across a wide array of settings,85 and build networks of opportunities that are brokered to advance young people's engagement with STEM.86 Although all young people would likely benefit from more brokering of learning opportunities, young people from economically marginalized communities, rural communities, or immigrant communities whose parents may not have access to or awareness of possible pathways and opportunities, may need more active brokering.87 Connecting Learning Experiences Across Settings Historically, designers of STEM out-of-school programs have struggled with how to be or not to be "school-like." The unproductive dichotomy of school or not school has led to dilemmas about how active a role adults should play in supporting young people's learning, how sequential and coherent program activities should be over time, and when and how to introduce academic and disciplinary language and terms.88 Too often the result is a belief that out-of-school learning should get adults "out of the way," prioritize individual moments of engagement over a coherent sequence of experiences, and keep academic or advanced language "out of the picture." When taken to the extreme, these approaches can shortchange possibilities for student learning and development. For example, it is well established that individuals learn best when supported by caring others.
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Leveraging Community Resources and Partnerships As ecosystem perspectives of learning continue to gain traction, more community organizations are seeking to build partnerships that can support and even track young people's STEM learning across settings.93 This systemic view of learning includes multiple parties in a community who col lectively seek to expand opportunities for STEM learning. A number of studies have investigated the relationship between partnership structures and out comes94 and provide useful insights on how best to choose partners, establish clear lines of work and communication, and avoid pitfalls.
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From page 27... ...
Synergies' staff and its partners work to ensure that each of the STEM learning opportunities in Parkrose interconnect, and that every STEM education provider knows what other Parkrose educational providers are doing, as well as what the youth in their programs are doing and what interests them.96 An example of the connected learning experiences facilitated by SYNERGIES is the partnership between the Parkrose Middle School science program, the Portland Port Authority (which includes the airport) , and a major after-school program (Schools Uniting Neighborhoods program)
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From page 28... ...
Brokering can also be facilitated by community-level maps of STEM learning assets. The Maine Mathematics and Science Alliance, in partnership with Maine 4-H and local organi zations, has created STEM Guides, people who broker STEM opportunities for young people.
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From page 29... ...
Effective professional development for out-of-school STEM facilitators and instructors needs to cover many areas: presenting ideas and concepts with a clear rationale for their importance, demonstrating new practices, taking advantage of staff experience and expertise, offering opportunities for practice and feedback, providing ongoing support and follow-up training, linking staff members with mentors, using planning time to cultivate collaboration among staff, and augmenting training time with resources and materials.106 In addition, effective professional development provides educators with opportunities to learn about STEM disciplinary content and practices, as well as theories of child and youth development, in order to develop positive relationships with and empower youths, to decrease risk factors and maintain safe learning environments, and to implement ageappropriate activities. Professional development also prepares frontline staff to value cultural and ethnic diversity, to interact with families, schools, and communities, and to serve as professional role models, while integrating staff interests and input into all activities.107 4-H is one out-of-school STEM provider that has focused on improving the capacity of its staff members to facilitate productive learning experiences.
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Included in the materials are resources for building an understanding of quality STEM programs and for implementing professional development. The resources designed for building an understanding of program quality focus on what educators need to know about inquiry-based learning and further develop their understanding of the STEM concepts and positive youth development practices that frame 4-H STEM programming.
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