Thursday
Thursday, September 23
8:00AM – 9:00AM
Registration/Breakfast
9:00AM – 9:30AM
Conference Welcome and Overview
Jim Gordon, RVP Communications, West Region, Time Warner Cable, Gabrielle Lyon, Co-Founder and Executive Director, Project Exploration, Lucy Friedman, President, The After-School Corporation
9:30AM – 10:30AM
Keynote Presentation – From Science for Some to Science for Most
Pedro Noguera, Ph.D., Professor, New York University
10:30AM – 10:45AM
Move to Sessions
10:45AM – 12:00PM | Concurrent Sessions 1
How National Youth Organizations are Approaching STEM
Veronica Escobedo, Girls Inc.; Pam Garza, 4-H; Mary Grybeck, Boys and Girls Clubs of America; Sharon Junge, 4-H; Stephanie Lingwood, Girl Scouts of Western Washington; Kate Pickle, Girl Scouts of America
Moderated by Jane Quinn, Children’s Aid Society.
National youth organizations constitute the country’s largest delivery system for after school and summer enrichment programs. Many of these organizations offer innovative STEM content as part of their core programming. This panel will explore several approaches to this work from both national and local perspectives.
NSF-ITEST and After School: What’s in it for me?
Karen Peterson, National Girls Collaborative Project; Tony Streit, Education Development Center
The National Science Foundation’s ITEST program supports projects that are easily situated to bring new programmatic approaches to the afterschool field, specifically in STEM learning and to support young people’s journeys toward STEM careers. Leaders from the ITEST Learning Resource Center at Education Development Center, Inc. and ITEST Primary Investigators will present strategies for creating a successful program and respond to questions on the upcoming grant solicitation.
NASA/JPL: Summer of Innovation and Partnerships for After School STEM
Leslie Lowes, Shari Asplund and Ota Lutz, NASA/JPL
Imagine Mars. Space School Musical for Middle School. These programs and others are part of Jet Propulsion Lab’s Summer of Innovation and examples of collaborative, customized programming. This session will describe JPL’s motivation for working in out-of-school time and give an overview of its approach to working with the afterschool/summer learning/out-of-school community, including offering uniquely NASA content and working with partners who are experts in delivering out-of-school time content. Session presenters will discuss issues they are tackling in developing and implementing these programs in California and beyond.
Pathways into Science – A Longitudinal Perspective
Robert Tai, University of Virginia
This presentation will begin with an examination of the data from a variety of large-scale survey studies which have implications for the form and format of OST science programs. Next the discussion will move on to consider the questions that a large-scale longitudinal survey study might help to answer and the challenges that this type of study might pose.
The Coalition for Science After School: Making High Quality Science as Integral to the
After School Experience as Snack and Basketball
Mike Radke, The Coalition for Science After School
The Coalition for Science After School (CSAS) envisions the day when high quality STEM education is as integral to the after school experience as snack and homework. What have we done so far to accomplish this goal? What are we engaged in right now? And, where are we going? This session will describe the Coalition’s history, completed and current projects, present a snapshot of the current makeup of the membership, and share our vision for the future of the Coalition and how you can continue to be involved.
Project LIFTOFF – Toward State Systems for Informal Science Education
Jeff Buehler, Midwest After School Academy
To meet the goals of science education in after school settings, stakeholders must come together in joint efforts to establish statewide systems for informal science education complete with supports for curriculum dissemination, professional development, evaluation, and leadership development. This session will explore the ways in which Midwestern states are approaching increased coordination and collaboration among statewide entities such as After School Networks, Departments of Education, and 4-H/University Extension.
12:00PM – 1:00PM
Lunch/Networking
1:00PM – 2:15PM | Concurrent Sessions 2
Digital Youth Network: Using 21st Century Tools to Enhance Impact of Out-of-School Learning Experiences
Nichole Pinkard, DePaul University/Digital Youth Network
In the session, Dr. Pinkard will present the Digital Youth Network’s efforts to use digital media and social networks to expand opportunities for out of school programs to interact with youth beyond contact hours.
Supporting Exploration of Identity in Youth Programs
Diane Miller, St. Louis Science Center; Holly Hughes, Sam Noble Museum
Adolescents, by definition, are people in a stage of life in which the problems of identity are paramount. Reflection on the central questions of identity is inescapable for the adolescent. What does it mean to be human? Who am I as one human among many? What is the proper way to live my life? This session explores how afterschool youth programs can advance participants’ personal “identity work”.
Implications of Expanded Learning Time
Lucy Friedman, The After-School Corporation; Jennifer Peck, Partnership for Children and Youth; Jessica Graham, Citizen Schools
There is growing national momentum for models of expanded learning time (ELT), including policy proposals at the federal level. What is the impact of ELT on STEM learning and what are the best practices for effective STEM learning activities in ELT? Hear about the national context, one model of ELT in New York City led by The After-School Corporation, and how the community organization Citizen Schools brings STEM to life within an ELT model.
Science Facilitators in Action: Building Reflective Practice Using Low Cost Video Tools
Bronwyn Bevan, Exploratorium; Pam Garza, 4-H
Multi-media is a powerful tool that goes beyond a picture being worth a thousand words. This session will explore how using and reflecting on videos of out of school time facilitators leading science activities is being used to enhance professional development efforts and build reflective practitioners.
Building STEM Skills in the Summer
Jennifer Brady, National Summer Learning Association
Did you know that all kids fall behind in math computational skills during the summer if they don’t practice? And worse, by ninth grade, summer learning loss could be blamed for about two-thirds of the achievement gap between upper and lower income groups. This session will focus on a discussion of why summer is a critical time for engaging young people in building STEM skills and learn how some programs across the country are addressing this challenge.
Bridging In and Out-of-School Learning with Technology
Bob Cabeza and Dick Roberts, Long Beach YMCA
Computer technology can be used as a way to engage youth and teens and enhance after school enrichment experiences. Find out what your youth and teens have been missing and how to properly introduce computer technology to create academic success, creative expression and 21st century workforce skill sets. Participants will also learn how to mentor young people, build effective relationships with youth and teens, as well as gain knowledge in conflict resolution, communication techniques and cultural competency and team building.
Building Capacity for Science and Youth Development in OST: Findings from a Ten Year Alumni Study
Gabrielle Lyon, Project Exploration; Bernadette Chi, Lawrence Hall of Science
Presenters will discuss findings from an alumni study of Project Exploration, an organization that has developed a “youth-science” (youth development/science) approach to OST programming with a focus on fostering long term relationships with students historically overlooked by science education endeavors. This approach breaks down the youth development/science split to create a more comprehensive framework that fosters a wide range of youth-science outcomes needed for success as a scientist or STEM professional and in life.
2:15PM – 3:00PM
Program Showcase/Ice Cream Social
The program showcase brings attention to programs and projects in out-of-school time. Visit the Showcase to learn about breakthrough after school programs, cutting edge educational research, samples of student work and examples of partnerships between service providers, schools and communities. The showcase will be open throughout the conference.
3:00PM – 4:15PM
Plenary: Funders and Funding; Strategies and Priorities; Why and How
Ron Ottinger, Executive Director, Noyce Foundation; Cindy Schwab, Abbot Global Citizenship and Policy; Eileen Sweeney, Motorola Foundation; Tessie Topol, Senior Director, Strategic Philanthropy & Community Affairs, Time Warner Cable; Soo Venkatesan, J. D. Bechtel Foundation
Moderator: Kathleen Traphagen, Coordinator, Out-of-School Time Funder Network, Grant Makers for Education
Funders and The Field: This panel of diverse funders will discuss trends in the field, priorities and initiatives: What challenges are they choosing to address and why? What results are they seeing? What stories and data matter? What challenges and opportunities are emerging as the field evolves? Panelists are eager to take questions from the audience, so come ready!
4:15PM – 5:15PM
What’s Going on Here? Big Ideas Conversations
Facilitators: Heather Gibbons, Senior Director for School & Community Education, St. Louis Science Center; Christian Greer, Project Exploration; Diane Miller, St. Louis Science Center; Rafael Rosa, Vice President of Education, Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum; Maryann Stimmer, Senior Manager for STEM Programs, Educational Equity Center at AED; Tony Streit, Senior Project Director, Education Development Center
What IS going on here? Attention to science and technology in after school settings has never been stronger and education, policy and funding landscapes have changed dramatically since the first National Conference on Science and Technology in 2008. Conference attendees will break into facilitated workshops to explore issues, opportunities, challenges and questions in the developing field of science and technology in out-of-school time. These facilitated conversations will be documented and the results will be shared with the group Friday afternoon.
