TASC is building a library of multi-media articles we produce on the most critical issues in the after-school field. This compilation of issues are written by TASC about hot topics and relevant research pertaining to out-of-school time initiatives. It provides information about research and evaluation work as well as practical information for folks working in the field.
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"We're going to show you how cool science can be."
Not long ago President Barack Obama used those words to launch "Educate to Innovate," a campaign to boost the scientific literacy of American kids. He could have been reciting the first principal of science learning in after-school, a movement gaining ground across the country.
In these videos, see just how cool science can be.
The notion of adolescents becoming apprentices is as old as the notion of skilled work. What's changed across the country is that more organizations are developing teen training and apprenticeship programs that engage the most vulnerable high school students in work that excites them, puts them in touch with career masters, and helps them envision that kind of mastery in their own futures.
Learn about initiatives in New York, Chicago and California where high school students are discovering how capable they are as they rise to the challenge of the new apprenticeships. Strong apprenticeship programs go well beyond job placement. Kids typically undergo intensive training not only in the skills they need to do their jobs, but in general life skills: be responsible, be on time, and communicate when there's a problem. They bond with peer apprentices from other schools, making friends with similarly committed kids. And they form strong relationships with adults, many of them youth development professionals who can help kids through challenges at school and at home.
The good news is that nearly nine out of 10 after-school programs are trying to get kids more involved in science and technology. They're infusing so-called STEM projects (science, technology, engineering and math) into their programs. But too few leaders know about the growing universe of available resources: enticing curriculum, opportunities to train staff, tools to test their progress.
Access to high-quality after-school science curriculum and staff training has yet to catch up to interest.
But that's changing. At an elementary school in Harlem, kids are learning about volume, cohesion and air tension from blowing bubbles bigger than their heads. And where there was once a patch of weeds, kids seized with a passion for conservation have become urban planters.
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