Webinar: Learning Science Outside the Classroom

As part of their recent special report on informal science education, Education Week will be hosting a webinar tomorrow (4/19) on science learning outside of the classroom. The webinar will take place from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. EST and will feature John Falk, Professor of Free Choice learning at Oregon State University, and Dr. Alan Friedman, former Director and CEO of the New York Hall of Science and current member of the National Assessment Government Board. Both are highly regarded experts working at the cutting edge of informal science learning research, and they should have a lot to say about this ever-evolving field.

Dr. Friedman also gave a talk at the 2010 National Conference on Science & Technology in Out of School Time on the importance of program evaluation. Download a free podcast of his talk on the Coalition for Science After School iTunes U page.

Science Museums and Centers

Did you know that over 75 science museums and public science centers from across the country count themselves as members of the Coalition for Science After School? In addition to hosting field trips and workshops for visiting P-12 classrooms, museums and public science centers offer a wide range of camps, classes, clubs, interactive exhibits, and programs. And more research is showing that informal learning spaces like museums give essential contributions to Americans' science knowledge.

Here are some museum and science center highlights from the Directory:

• Overnight Adventure at the ETSU Natural History Museum and Gray Fossil Site Patch in Gray, TN 
• Spend a night a the museum with your class, church, scout, or family group! The focus of this camp-in will correspond with the Museum's newest Temporary Exhibit. Activities begin early Saturday evening after the Museum closes and resume again the following morning. A typical camp-in begins at 5:30pm and includes activity stations, a film/video in the classroom, science demos and workshops, snacks and breakfast. Natural History Museum and Gray Fossil Site Patch will be awarded upon completion of program. Award ceremony following breakfast. Program ends at 8:30am.

• BioDECIDE at the Miami Science Museum Center for Interactive Learning in Miami, FL
• Biomedicine Deliberative Citizens Debate (BioDECIDE) engages underserved high school students in discussion, debate and on-line research related to some of the most cutting-edge, controversial, and personally relevant topics in biomedicine today. The project annually serves over fifty low-income, first-generation college-bound youth participating in the Miami Science Museum's ongoing Upward Bound (UB) program. BioDECIDE supplements content delivered through the regular UB program, involving students in the development and testing of activities themed around current health issues related to infectious diseases/HIV, mental health, cancer, environmental health, and physical fitness.

• Cave Overnight at the Cincinnati Museum Center in Cincinnati, OH 
• This popular overnight program is designed to provide visitors with an in-depth study of the longest man made caves. All of CMCs limestone and ice caves will be explored, animals will be introduced, games will be played, and art will be made. You will enjoy the OMNIMAX film, Journey into Amazing Caves, the next morning. The cost is $28 per camper and per chaperone. 

• EVOLUTIONS After School Program at the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History in New Haven, CT 
• What Is EVOLUTIONS? It's a club for students interested in science, serious about school and headed to college. It's a place where you'll learn how to make yourself competitive for college, explore what you want to do with your life and make a bunch of great friends from other schools -- students as serious as you are. It's an opportunity to get paid as an intern in a Yale professor's lab and work at the Peabody Museum teaching exhibits to visitors.

• 2011 Summer Camp from the Chicago Academy of Science Notebaert Nature Museum in Chicago, IL  
• Fun-filled camps connect children to the wonders of nature through a unique combination of art, music, movement, hands-on science activities, and live animal encounters led by Nature Museum staff. Camps include family open houses the last Thursday evening of each session. Camp fees include a camp t-shirt and healthy daily snack(s). More t-shirts can be purchased prior to camp for $10 each. Campers must turn minimum age of camp before start of session.

Have you learned How to SMILE?

There's a great new way to find fun science and math activities--and to share your own! Howtosmile.org has just launched as a place where educators in non-school settings--like zoos, museums, and afterschool programs--can communicate and share their STEM activities. As of this writing, there's already over 1000 different science and math activities posted! 


Here's how it works. Once users create an account, they can post guides to their favorite projects. This includes a description, time, materials cost, and subjects addressed, among other things. Other users can post comments on their experience with the activity and even try to tweak it. Activities can be added to user-generated lists to create collections of similar activities, and users can earn badges and points based on their participation.

"SMILE" stands for Science and Math Informal Learning Educators, but howtosmile.org can be used as a resource in lots of settings by non-educators too. Many of the activities are simple enough to be done by parents and kids at home, or by non-scientists in community groups, like Girl Scout troop leaders. The interface is simple enough to use that kids could search for interesting activities on their own. It's free to join, and if you get started soon, you'll have a chance to win an iPad!

Howtosmile is a joint project of science educators and researchers from across the country, including the Lawrence Hall of Science, The Association of Science and Technology Centers (ASTC), the Children's Museum of Houston, the Exploratorium, the New York Hall of Science, the Science Museum of Minnesota, and the National Science Digital Library (NSDL). 

The Coalition for Science After School is proud to be a national partner!

Beat the Back-to-School Blues with Smithsonian Magazine Museum Day

With Labor Day weekend just a few hours away as of this writing, the summer is officially coming to a close. Many museums and science centers experience low visitation during these early school months, since teachers rarely plan field trips so early in the school year.

During the summer, museums and science centers provide lots of services (not to mention air-conditioning) to vacationing families, summer campers, and parents and students who want to beat the summer "brain drain." But in September, the focus switches to classroom and homework time. 

Low visitation means less crowds and more time spent with exciting exhibits, making September a great time to visit museums after school and on the weekends. Maybe that's why Smithsonian Magazine is having Museum Day on September 25th! Print out the admission ticket on their website and visit a participating museum near you (we love science museums, of course, but there are lots of art museums, natural history museums, and children's museums participating).

Check it out at the Smithsonian Magazine website !

Funding Your Afterschool Science Program Part I: Finding Grants for Afterschool Science

This is a special two part blog post on finding grants for your afterschool science program. Check back next week for a post on how to keep track of grant opportunities.

Though the economy is still recovering from the recent recession, funding is still available for education programs across the country. Government resources as well as corporate and private foundations continue to provide grants for a variety of educational purposes, including for administering and attending afterschool science programs.

The Coalition's website lists funders who have demonstrated a commitment to funding science, technology, engineering, and math education in informal and afterschool settings. The list includes government-funded entities like the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the National Science Foundation, and the U.S. Department of Education. Private foundations listed include the Motorola Foundation, the David and Lucille Packard Foundation, and Time Warner Cable (through their Connect a Million Minds Initiative).

Professional associations often offer grants or prizes to their members or participants. The NSTA (National Science Teacher's Association) and AAAS (American Association for the Advancement of Science) offer prizes for accomplishments in the field of informal education (as well as other areas).

If you're looking for even more granting opportunities—such as small grants to fund just portions of your program—consider joining or using one of the many grant databases that exist online. Here are some that are easy to use and extensive:

The Foundation Center lists thousands of grants that can be used for special projects, general operating funds, professional development, and more.

Grantwrangler is a searchable grant database devoted to education, and even has a specific STEM database.

The National Education Association (NEA) has a very extensive grant database. While many of the grants are for classrooms, there are many that can be applied to professional educational development as well as out-of-class time programs.

And don't forget that “funding trends” is one of the strands in our upcoming conference. Attending the conference will let you know about the latest developments in out-of-school time funding.

The White House Star Party Features Informal Learning Activities

If you missed the White House Star Party last night, you can still recreate the activities at home (or in your school or after-school programs). The activities came from the Lunar Planetary Institute's Explore! program, designed specifically for use in libraries and informal learning environments. Explore! has been used in 21st Century Community Learning Center and other after-school programs. Try one or more of these White House Star Party activities with your kids:

• Impact Crater Activity: The students dropped 4 different sized objects and measured the diameter of the objects and the depth and diameter of the craters.

• Size and distance in the Solar System: Size Activity and Scale Activity

• The other activities are harder to recreate. Your local science museum may have some of these. Inflatable planetarium dome presentations, "Rocks from Space" with a touchable moon rock, lunar sample disks, a Mars meteorite display and meteorites from the Smithsonian collection, and scientists to talk with the kids.

Thanks to the NASA JPL Museum Alliance for passing along the information!

Cafe Scientifique

In response to my July 8 post, debs from the Children and Youth Blog commented that the idea of pub science would be great to offer to teens as well. I found that NSF recently funded such a project, Cafe Scientifique in New Mexico. I don't know much about it, but it seems to give teens a space to have informal conversations about science and technology. Sounds like a great idea to me!

After-school Science for Adults?

Apparently science after school is not just for kids. If you live in NYC, "Talking Science" offers events at a local bar that make science exciting and fun. The quote from the site that I think tells it all is: "[NPR Science Friday host] IRA FLATOW ON A BED OF NAILS!!"

Science Center Business Models

For those in the museum business, there is an interesting discussion at ExhibiTricks about the recent closing of COSI Toledo. The fact that this hand-on science center, a branch of on an existing successful center in Columbus, OH, was not able to sustain itself presents an interesting case study. I posted a long response to the story, but the short version is - science needs to be where the kids are first. We should be reaching them in their schools, community centers, and even at home.