May 31st, 2019 | EVALUATION
The Vertically Integrated Science Learning Opportunity (VISLO) program builds upon an existing three-way partnership between (i) faculty, graduate students, and undergraduate students form the University Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL), (ii) the 21st Century Community Learning Centers (CLC) in Lincoln, NE, and (iii) The University of Nebraska State Museum.
VISLO uniquely incorporates vertically-integrated peer instruction across educational levels, including: graduate, undergraduate, middle school, and elementary school. Throughout the program, participants of all identified educational levels had the exceptional opportuniy to be both students and teachers, thereby increasing both their science learning (as students) and their science identity (as science educators).
The VISLO evaluation, which took place during the 2017 - 2018 and 2018 - 2019 academic years, involved gathering demographic data from two populations: undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in the Communicating Science through Outreach BIOS course and the middle school and elementary school students that participated in the undergraduate led afterschool science clubs. We used a mixed methods analysis that included pre- and post-surveys of the university students and a reptrospective survey for youth each semester. Additionally, we conducted a focus group of the midle school age youth.
Document
VISLO-Summative-Report-2019.pdf
Team Members
Trish Wonch Hill, Evaluator, Methodology and Evaluation Research Core Facility, University of Nebraska-LincolnEric Weber, Evaluator, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Maricela Galdamez, Evaluator, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Cassidy Whitney, Evaluator, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Eileen Hebets, Principal Investigator, University of Nebraska
Funders
Funding Source: Other
Funding Program: Nebraska Department of Education Two-Year Opportunity Grant
Funding Amount: 30,000
Tags
Audience: Educators | Teachers | Elementary School Children (6-10) | Middle School Children (11-13) | Museum | ISE Professionals | Undergraduate | Graduate Students
Discipline: Education and learning science | General STEM
Resource Type: Evaluation Reports | Summative
Environment Type: Community Outreach Programs | Higher Education Programs | Informal | Formal Connections | K-12 Programs | Making and Tinkering Programs | Public Programs