Out-of-School Time STEM: Building Experience, Building Bridges

A June 2010 report from the Exploratorium's Learning and Youth Research and Evaluation Center (LYREC) highlights trends, questions, and findings related to out-of-school-time science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (OST STEM). Based on an October 2009 meeting, the report aims "to inform the work of OST educators, researchers, and funders." The report notes that "out-of-school-time programs such as summer camps,afterschool programs and Saturday classes provide students with important opportunities to: (1) spark, sustain, and deepen their interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), (2) develop and expand their understanding of STEM, and (3) advance an awareness of and commitment to pursuing academic, career, and lifelong pathways in STEM-related fields. Such programs "are especially well positioned to help children make connections between science and real world contexts, needs, applications, and communities," the report notes. They "pose unique opportunities for teachers and other program staff to experiment with new ways of interacting with the scientific phenomena and with new pedagogies." Other topics touched on in the report include: research and evaluation, scaling and sustainability, student learning and development, and teacher learning and development.