Bring Science & Literacy Program to Your Afterschool Site

The Franklin Institute has teamed up with the Free Library of Philadelphia to offer an exciting and innovative program that combines hands-on science and literacy skill-building. According to their website, LEAP into Science aims to: 

• Increase the capacity of influential adults for science teaching and learning;
• Increase the capacity of libraries for science teaching and learning;
• Understand the ways in which science and literacy can be connected in order to promote children's and families' engagement in both of these areas. 

The program is currently looking for ten new museums, afterschool sites, libraries, and all other organizations who may be interested in bringing the LEAP into Science to their communities. Programs who are accepted will convene in Philadelphia, PA this July with sites where the program is currently happening to discuss findings and be trained in program resources and evaluation techniques.

Interested in applying? Check out their website for more information and application details. 

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!