Bridging the Gap: The Effects of A School-To-Career Approach To Promoting Wildlife Science Careers Among Minority Students

June 15th, 2012 - May 31st, 2016 | PROJECT

The Wildlife Conservation Society and Good Shepherd Services (a youth development and education agency) are implementing and evaluating a school-to-career model program that consists of afterschool and weekend programming for high school students at four New York City area zoos and an aquarium, followed by post-participation tracking, support, and mentoring. The goal is to promote affective, cognitive and behavioral outcomes among 150 low-income minority youth necessary to pursue careers in the wildlife sciences.

The Bridging the Gap project is (1) developing a science career program that includes hands-on, technology-enriched, science learning experiences at zoos/aquaria; career building services, mentoring, and long-term tracking and support, (2) forming a community of minority students who have the knowledge and skills to pursue wildlife careers, (3) generating research findings on the short-term and long-term effectiveness of the program, and (4) disseminating information about the project's resources and findings to other informal science education institutions around the nation for replication. The evaluation plan measures a variety of outputs, outcomes and impacts that include short-term and long-term cognitive and affective variables. Data collection methods include student activity monitoring and pre-post testing.

The project addresses a compelling personnel issue documented by the American Zoo and Aquarium Association - the small number of minority science professionals working in zoos and aquariums. Because few programs currently exist to help minority students enter the wildlife science professions, this project fills an important programmatic need and serves as a model workforce program that can be replicated by other informal science education organizations around the country. The project's key strategic impact is its capacity to broaden participation in the wildlife sciences by expanding the science professional pipeline beginning in high school.

Project Website(s)

(no project website provided)

Project Products

http://www.wcs.org/educators/educational-research-and-evaluation/bridging-the-gap
Dissemination Report - Bridging the Gap: The Effects of a School-to-Career Approach on Promoting Wildlife Science Careers Among Diverse Audiences
Bridging the Gap Program Evaluation: Final Report
Final Evaluation Report: Bridging the Gap

Team Members

Karen Tingley, Principal Investigator, Wildlife Conservation Society
Chanda Bennett, Co-Principal Investigator, Wildlife Conservation Society
Don Lisowy, Former Principal Investigator, Wildlife Conservation Society
Brian Johnson, Project Staff, Wildlife Conservation Society
Emily Stoeth, Project Staff, Wildlife Conservation Society
Courtney Wiggins, Project Staff, Wildlife Conservation Society

Funders

Funding Source: NSF
Funding Program: ITEST
Award Number: 1138685
Funding Amount: $1,044,917

Tags

Audience: Evaluators | Museum | ISE Professionals | Youth | Teen (up to 17)
Discipline: Ecology | forestry | agriculture | Life science
Resource Type: Project Descriptions
Environment Type: Afterschool Programs | Aquarium and Zoo Programs | Public Programs