ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
*****************************************************************************

I thought everyone would enjoy this article.  I especially like the quote,
"Seventy-five percent of Nobel Prize winners in the sciences report that
their passion for science was first sparked in nonschool environments."  I
haven't yet contacted the authors to find the source of the data for the
quote, but will share that with you when I find out.  If anyone knows the
source of the data, please share with everyone on the listserv -- Dennis

Published: February 22, 2006 in Education Week -- Science by Stealth

How After-School Programs Can Nurture Young Scientists and Boost the
Country's Scientific Literacy 

By Lucy N. Friedman & Jane Quinn 

Seventy-five percent of Nobel Prize winners in the sciences report that
their passion for science was first sparked in nonschool environments.

Science education seems destined this year to have its highest political
profile since the Soviet Union launched Sputnik in 1957. That catalytic
event led to passage the following year of far-reaching federal legislation
designed to boost the nation's scientific literacy and enhance its
production of scientists. Today, a different catalyst-the threat to U.S.
competitiveness in the global economy-has prompted calls for new government
action to stimulate our once-again-faltering pipeline of young scientists. (
<http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2006/01/25/20science.h25.html> "Advocates
Urge Bush to Boost Federal Role in Math and Science," Jan. 25, 2006) and (
<http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2006/02/08/22bush.h25.html> "Bush
Proposes Math and Science Initiatives," Feb. 8, 2006).

Improving science achievement has already been an issue for K-12 educators.
Next year, that subject will join reading and mathematics as an indicator of
success under the federal No Child Left Behind Act. But with the national
dialogue on scientific competitiveness heating up, both educators and
policymakers should consider the role that time spent outside of school
plays in the development of scientific curiosity and achievement.
Seventy-five percent of Nobel Prize winners in the sciences report that
their passion for science was first sparked in nonschool environments. 

After-school programs offer an ideal setting for nurturing the potential
scientist in every student, as well as for reinforcing the science taught
during school hours. Compared to the school day, these programs' smaller
groups, longer time slots, and less-formal settings provide opportunities
for young people to visit museums, study neighborhood environments,
cultivate gardens, perform laboratory experiments, and have their love of
discovery awakened in countless other ways. 

An influential 2004 study, "Confronting the Big Lie: The Need to Reframe
Expectations of Afterschool Programs," by Robert Halpern, says it best:
"Afterschool programs can respond to children's interests and concerns,
giving [them] a measure of control, ... putting children in active roles as
learners. ... Afterschool programs have the flexibility to provide
developmental experiences in a range of domains that schools lack time for,
and that low- and moderate-income families may lack resources to purchase." 

While after-school education is hardly a new concept, the notion that
high-quality, comprehensive enrichment opportunities should be universally
available and publicly supported is a relatively recent aspiration. In the
past, family income determined the level of access to after-school
opportunities. Children from low-income families were typically left to
their own devices, to care for younger siblings or participate in programs
with limited offerings, such as remediation or recreation. Youths from
affluent communities were more likely to spend their after-school time
attending dance, college-prep, or photography classes. 

Recognition of this disparity and its effects on the nation's widening
achievement gaps, combined with the increasing number of families in which
both parents work outside the home, provided impetus for a new movement
advocating publicly funded, high-quality after-school opportunities for all
children. That movement has been spurred by the explosive growth in the
amount of information children are required to master-in schools whose
calendar remains virtually unchanged since the 19th century. Not
surprisingly, educators have become more interested in using after-school
time to deliver, or at least reinforce, elements of the academic curriculum.
Ironically, the time allocated to the sciences, which contributed
significantly to this knowledge explosion, has declined in many schools, in
favor of greater focus on literacy and numeracy. 

As the after-school movement matures, practitioners and funders are paying
more attention to program quality, participation, and access. Several useful
consensus documents have been produced by national and local groups,
including "Moving Towards Success: Framework for After-School Programs,"
funded by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, and the Quality
Self-Assessment Tool, developed by the New York State Afterschool Network.
Resources such as these draw upon a decade of work by leaders in the field,
such as the National Institute on Out-of-School Time, the National
AfterSchool Association, the Afterschool Alliance, and others. 

Research has consistently confirmed the obvious. As the Harvard Family
Research Project reported in 2004, "Higher levels of attendance in
[out-of-school-time] programs have been significantly correlated to
scholastic achievement, higher school attendance, more time spent on
homework and on positive extracurricular activities, enjoyment and effort in
school, and better teacher reports of student behavior." But despite these
findings, many programs have neither expected nor achieved high attendance
rates. The picture is beginning to change, however, as both programs and
policies are being redesigned to encourage more regular attendance. In New
York City, for example, funding for out-of-school-time programs is now tied
to their participation rates. And the programs themselves are employing
strategies shown to increase participation: providing a choice of
activities, ensuring that these are engaging and hands-on, and offering
group projects that help young people feel committed to their peers. 

Both practitioners and policymakers are also working to ensure that
low-income and minority youths are able to find high-quality, culturally
relevant programming in their neighborhoods. Cities nationwide are
addressing access issues by mapping the availability of existing programs
and targeting resources to underserved areas. 

People who have been part of after-school education's maturation-from
researchers and practitioners, to funders and policymakers-have come to
recognize the great potential that the nonschool hours hold for promoting
young people's love of and commitment to learning. In after-school and
summer programs, the narrow conception of academic achievement as something
measured only by standardized tests can be expanded to include young
people's experiences, perceptions, and aspirations. The uses as well as the
nature of knowledge can be explored, and a lifelong commitment to
self-directed learning can be forged. 

After-school programs are ideal environments for young people to engage in
scientific inquiry, critical thinking, team-building, and problem-solving,
and to participate in project-based and experiential learning. Science
learning meets the need for balance in after-school programs by integrating
math and reading and making real-world connections between the theoretical
and the observed. And after-school time is particularly appropriate for
teaching scientific methods. Here are other reasons science learning is a
perfect fit for out-of-school time: 

* It offers opportunities for stealth learning. In New York City, The
After-School Corporation, or TASC, has found that science activities are
some of the most popular among students. At one program in the Bronx,
students have taken regular trips to Edgar Allan Poe Park to study wildlife.
This project-based learning experience gives participants the chance to get
fresh air, exercise, think about the community they live in, keep journals,
and discover wildlife they might not normally encounter or notice. 

* Experimentation provides an opportunity to learn the skills crucial to the
new century: teamwork and problem-solving. At another New York City program,
4th and 5th graders grow lima beans. In one cup, they plant beans and add
water. In another, they may try growing the beans in common household
products, such as soap, bleach, or cleaning solvent. The students then
compare the plants' growth, watching the control group flourish while the
experimental group withers. This process leads participants on to questions
about how plants come to life, the effects of sunlight, water, and regular
care, and how they themselves could be better stewards of their environment.


* Science learning in after-school and summer programs can give older youths
the opportunity to mentor younger children. During a TASC summertime
partnership with the American Museum of Natural History-a program that grew
out of a collaboration between the museum and the National Aeronautics and
Space Administration-high school students were trained to deliver a
curriculum featuring lessons on New York City bird life to elementary school
students. In the Science Mentoring Project, a collaboration among
Educational Equity Concepts, the New York City River Project, and a school
on Manhattan's Lower East Side, high school mentors led 5th graders in the
school's after-school program on an urban ecology project. In both cases,
each group of participants (older and younger) benefited from these
mentoring relationships, while also learning science. 

* Science learning prepares students for competition in the global economy
and helps meet the needs of American businesses. The United States has a
shortage of trained scientists, and invites thousands of workers from other
countries to fill these lucrative jobs. At the same time, scientists and
other leaders are expressing concern about the underrepresentation of people
of color within the scientific fields. After-school programs that serve
communities of color may help close this gap within the science workforce. 

The following strategies seem to be working well and can be adapted widely: 

* Use well-developed science-enrichment curricula. The Children's Aid
Society in New York City has identified content-rich, engaging, and
age-appropriate science-enrichment curricula and incorporated them into
out-of-school-time programs. These are offered once or twice a week during
the school year and also during the summer. The curricula include: Operation
SMART (for Science, Math, and Relevant Technology), from Girls Incorporated;
Dragonfly Quest, from Boys & Girls Clubs of America; and A World in Motion,
from the Society of Automotive Engineers International. 

* Integrate science into other program areas. Both of our organizations-the
Children's Aid Society and The After-School Corporation-actively seek to
integrate science and math into ongoing programs, such as cooking classes,
sports, and community service. Examples of how this works are numerous:
integrating measurement and fractions into cooking; using physics and
numerical calculation in sports; calculating averages from
community-resident surveys; making plant science a part of community
gardening projects; and highlighting environmental science in summer-camp
programs. 

* Partner with community science resources. Both of our groups actively
partner with the American Museum of Natural History. It serves as a site for
field trips, and is both a provider of staff development and a venue for
student internships. The Children's Aid Society also has joined with Bette
Midler's New York Restoration Project, which is redeveloping park space and
community gardens around the city. These programs allow urban youths to
learn about physical environments and apply science concepts while also
contributing to community revitalization. 

The potential for the after-school and science fields to flourish together
can be enhanced by strategic alliances. Groups such as the Coalition for
Science After School, which includes leaders in both science education and
after-school programming, are meeting regularly to develop ways to make
science a more central part of efforts to fill students' nonschool hours
productively. 

Lucy N. Friedman is the founder and president of The After-School
Corporation in New York City. Jane Quinn is the assistant executive director
for community schools at the Children's Aid Society in New York City. 


***********************************************************************
More information about the Informal Science Education Network and the
Association of Science-Technology Centers may be found at http://www.astc.org.
To remove your e-mail address from the ISEN-ASTC-L list, send the
message  SIGNOFF ISEN-ASTC-L in the BODY of a message to
[log in to unmask]