Cultivating Interest and Competencies in Computing Authentic Experiences and Design Factors (2021) / Chapter Skim
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5 Learning Spaces Outside of School Time
5 Learning Spaces Outside of School Time
Pages 71-98
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From page 71... ...
Given the substantial breadth and variability of these activities, this chapter focuses primarily on community-based organi zations, museums, and public libraries, which are considered "educatordesigned settings" of informal learning environments (National Research Council [NRC]
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. Through educational programs, curricula, and exhibition topics, museums work to reach diverse communities, whether by eography, race and ethnicity, and/or socioeconomic level.3 Museums offerg ings are varied, including a combination of any of the following: collections and galleries, exhibits, school field trips, family workshops, teacher professional development, volunteer programs, summer camps, online content, etc.
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. The type of computing programs include topics such as robotics, gaming, m aking, learning specific coding languages, and app development, as well as other unplugged programs that are integrated into existing programs such as story times and reading programs.
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What follows is a review of the ways in which issues related to access, equity, and cultural norms may facilitate or hinder the participation of learners in authentic experiences for computing and the ways in which OST institutions can potentially attend to these issues. Distribution and Quality of Opportunities Previous work has suggested that families from high socio-economic backgrounds spend nearly seven times more money on OST enrichment
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For example, Sirinides, Fink, and DuBois (2016) show that some public libraries' hours of operations provide access challenges to families that work during the day and cannot get to the library until night -- this is despite approximately 311 million people living with a public library service area (LSA)
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clearly states: Only one dedicated federal funding stream, the 21st Century Community Learning Centers Program, is available for afterschool programs. Although 24 percent of the children in afterschool programs live in communities with concentrated poverty, federal funds cover only 11 percent of program costs.
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A potential common strategy employed by libraries is to partner with organizations that BOX 5-1 World's Slowest Computer at the Seattle Public Library Inspired by game designers Kaho Abe and Ramsey Nasser's creation of the Slowest Computer on Earth, Seattle Public Library (SPL) created World's Slowest Computer program.
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In some cases, OST programs may uphold cultural norms and values that are exclusionary, especially given the often private nature compared to the public nature of schools.8 However, in other instances as observed in the Clubhouse Network (originally known as the Intel Computer Clubhouse Network) , these environments can "provide a creative, safe, and free OST learning environment where young people from underserved communities work with adult mentors to explore their own ideas, develop new skills, and build confidence in themselves through the use of technology."9 As with any learning community, the members and actors of the clubhouse help to set the values, norms, and culture (Michalchik et al., 2008)
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. SOURCE: Committee generated based on Bequette et al.
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learning experience called TechTales, developed in partnership with learning scientists, Seattle Public Library staff, informal science education staff, and staff from Native American community organizations. TechTales involved more than 65 families across 13 iterations of the program, implemented in the Seattle Public Library, telling a range of culturally relevant stories that are deeply rooted in the place, identity, lives, and desires of these participating families.
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. The programs offered by community-based organizations, museums, and libraries can occur in various formats -- such as in the form of summer or spring break camps, weekend programs, weekly programs that extend the whole year, season, or several weeks, and special one-time programs (see Box 5-5 for an example)
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SMASH Academy focuses on computing, b emphasizing professional authenticity to develop its participants' skills, knowledge, and interest in these areas, and has found that 83 percent of its alumni intend to major in STEM, compared with a national average of 45 percent. Findings of a study focused on the SMASH Academy program found that women of color had significantly lower interest and engagement in computing at the beginning of, as well as 1 year into, the program.
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Most students have no or minimal coding experience and are recruited through an after-school program arranged by the Providence Afterschool Alliance at local schools in Providence. Participation in the program offers a pathway to college and computing, particularly for students who have limited to no access to the Internet/computers at home and/or have access via mobile phone with restricted data service.
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. Some libraries have dedicated teens/children sections, while some have learning labs, computer labs, makerspaces, and 11 It is worth noting that much of this discussion predates COVID-19.
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More information on the Try It Truck program is available at https:// bayareadiscoverymuseum.org/school-community-programs/visits-to-your-school/ try-it-truck. recording studios; these spaces vary tremendously as potential learning environments that support authentic experiences (see Box 5-7 on Chicago YOUMedia)
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From page 86... ...
focused on supporting a community of learners engaged in collaborative, hands-on, interest-driven learning across many types of media, all based in the principles of connected learning. The physical spaces that were created are representative of the thinking and repurposing that a lot of museums and libraries do anyway -- renovations of meeting rooms, corners of bike shops and makerspaces, old computer labs developed into places for teen communities.
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A summary report of an evaluation of its National BEST (Building Exemplary Systems for Training Youth Workers) Initiative, which created a citywide network and professional development systems to support youth workers, was releaased.
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.16 An interagency, cross-sector collaboration between IMLS and the Department of Education, which began in 2014 and expanded in 2019, supports science and children's museums to provide curriculum, training, and resources to 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC) across the country.17 Public Libraries As highlighted earlier in this chapter, public libraries are venues whose potential for offering authentic experiences for computing could be fur 14 The study was commissioned by the administration of Mayor Bill de Blasio.
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The Re-envisioning the MLS report called for "facilitating learning in libraries through making, STEAM, coding, and a range of other activities. This not only promotes information organizations as essential to learning and education, but also enhances youth learning" (Bertot, Sarin, and Percell, 2015, p.
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When it comes to providing authentic experiences to learners in STEM or computing, librarians play a central role. In a nationwide interview and focus group study with 92 public library staff serving youth, Subramaniam and colleagues (2018)
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. The body of research and evaluation on STEM outcomes is continuing to grow, as community-based organizations and the national networks that connect them (e.g., Afterschool Alliance, National Institute for Out-Of-School Time, National Afterschool Association, among others)
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1) Clarified definitions and outcomes, reports and guidance, curriculum and activities, professional development and coaching, and funding are being developed by researchers, OST staff, and professional organizations to support the design, implementation, and evaluation of such efforts, ulti ately m ensuring computing experiences are readily available, accessible, and of high quality.20 Museums and libraries take different approaches to establishing and measuring learning outcomes.
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The Capturing Connected Learning in Libraries team has developed some sample case studies of evaluation of connected learning programs with large public library systems and with small and rural library branches, and have created tools such as observations, talk-back boards, and staff surveys (Allen et al., 2020; Penuel, Chang-Order, and Michalchik, 2018)
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What follows is a brief review of online gaming and creative communities and STEM competitions. Online Gaming and Creative Communities Even as engineering, coding, and computer science have made inroads into the K–12 curriculum and after-school and summer programming, children's exposure to technology is dominated by their recreational experiences playing computer games and engaging in digital platforms such as YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat.22 Studies have documented how youth have developed coding and digital creation skills and interests in authentic communities of practice by tinkering MySpace profiles (Perkel, 2010)
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The concept of "competition" is not uniform, even among contest organizers; the lack of consensus and the differences in conceptual framing and terminology have implications for equitable access, inclusivity, and uthentic experience. Psychologists, sociologists, and educational heorists -- a t among others -- have long explored whether and how competition may foster or hinder learning and other positive youth development outcomes, with findings that support various suppositions based at least in part on the nature and setting of a given competition (Dillenbourg, 1999; Johnson and ohnson, 2009; Kochanek et al., 2019; Torres and Hager, 2007)
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Exam les p include Games for Change Student Challenge, Emoti-Con run by The Hive NYC Learning Network, hackathons run by Black Girls Code, S.T.E.A.M. 23 For more information by Education Development Center on Taking Science Fairs to the Test, see https://www.edc.org/putting-science-fairs-test.
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. SUMMARY Exposure to authentic experiences for computing occurs in a variety of settings, including youth development programs, museums, libraries, STEM competitions, and home-based and online communities.
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Some of these activities occur in settings such as online gaming and creative communities as well as STEM competitions. Unfortunately, across all of the settings discussed throughout this chapter, problems remain with reaching learners who have been excluded based on gender, race, ethnicity, or perceived ability.
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