Science

If kids still enjoy science by the time they are in middle school, that's a better predictor of whether they'll become scientists than whether they get good marks in science.

Kids are natural experimenters and inventors. Some of the most popular after-school activities are science projects, from first graders mixing dough to teens tracking wildlife in Central Park. After-school, with its informal atmosphere and lack of constraints on activity time, is the perfect venue for involving kids in hands-on STEM activities. Kids can dig elbow-deep into real-life science, reinforcing and extending the skills and concepts taught in day-school.

After-school provides a chance to do a better job of encouraging kids' lasting interest in "STEM" activities - science, technology, engineering and math. Because while kids start off well in the early grades, by the end of high school, Americans are among the lowest-performing science scholars internationally. Students from disadvantaged backgrounds are disproportionately ill-prepared to move on to secure, lucrative careers in science and math-related fields.

After-School Science PLUS, developed for the after-school hours, encourages kids of both genders and every ethnicity to see themselves as young scientists. Cooking programs teach the science of healthy eating, while dipping into math and chemistry. The Growing Connection makes urban gardeners of kids, and exposes them to the challenges of feeding the world. These and other science activities place kids at every achievement level into important roles as scientific investigators.

TASC is a founding partner in the Coalition for Science After School (CSAS), a strategic alliance among individuals and organizations working to ensure young people from all backgrounds have access to high quality STEM learning experiences during out-of-school hours. Together with its CSAS partners, TASC is developing the training and tools to help after-school staff deliver the STEM activities kids crave.