Out-of-School In the Outdoors

After a wet and snowy winter, the world is beginning to bloom again (at least in some parts of the country). All of the sprouting trees and flowers inspired me to look in the Directory to see what kinds of opportunities for afterschool science there are in botanical gardens and outdoor schools. 


At the Garden Apprentice Program (GAP) at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden, high schoolers have the opportunity to learn about different aspects of horticulture and then participate in an urban agriculture project with their peers. The program is structured so that outstanding participants have the potential to work their way up and eventually become paid Senior Apprentices. This innovative program has been around since 2004 and requires a ten-month commitment with extensive training. See the GAP website for more details as well as some great pictures!


In Mississippi, the Plymouth Bluff Center offers environmental programs in an unaltered outdoor setting that includes a  river, a pond, woodlands, a cypress slough, nature trails, an outdoor teaching facility, and outdoor laboratories. The Bluff is the site of an ancient Cretaceous sea and contains fossil sites used for paleontology and geology labs. Nature trails and abundant wildlife present opportunities for unstructured learning time. There is also an outdoor Math Lab and Environmental Discovery Lab perfect for field trip visits from afterschool programs as well as classrooms! 


And on the west coast, 5th grade students in rural Lassen County in northern California can explore their surrounding environment at 5th Grade Day in the Forest. Hosted by the California Regional Environmental Education Community (CREEC), the event encourages participants to explore a variety of science concepts that correlate to California's science standards. 


Let us know in the comments what you're doing to celebrate science in the outdoors! 

P.S. Read about member activities, upcoming conferences, the Afterschool for All Challenge, and more in the Coalition's March newsletter!

Afterschool Programs for Underserved Youth

Equity and access issues are big concerns for afterschool programs across the country. In a recent survey by Bayer, a "lack of quality science and math education programs in poorer school districts" was cited as the top reason for minority underrepresentation in STEM careers. This puts extra impetus on afterschool providers to make space in their programs for underrepresented youth.

Afterschool stakeholders from across the country will be coming together to share their ideas about equity and access issues at our upcoming Conference in September. In the meantime, check out these great programs from our Directory:

Flandreau Indian School Success Academy at South Dakota State University: this program helps students pursue careers, including in STEM, identified by tribal leaders as being of particular need in their communities.

Junior Paleontologists at Project Exploration: Our good friends (and conference co-hosts) at Project Exploration take minority students on real paleontological excavations in Montana, South Dakota, and Wyoming.

Camp GOAL at the Intrepid Museum Foundation Inc.: a four-week summer science program for underrepresented middle-school girls in NYC.

Multiethnic Introduction to Engineering (MITE) at Purdue University: qualified students interested about engineering learn about how to pursue an engineering at the Purdue campus.

Latinos in Forestry at Oregon State University: a pre-college recruitment program for students interested in natural resource management.

Youth Involved in Major Scientific Announcement

Today, National Geographic announced a major archaeological find in the Sahara. Follow the link to read more about the science. However, what is most relevant to readers of this blog is the involvement of Chicago-area teens in the announcement. The African gravesite was found by an expedition led by paleontologist Paul Sereno, who is also co-founder of Project Exploration, a non-profit science education organization that connects science to the public - especially minority youth. Some of those youth traveled to Niger as part of the excavation team, and still more were involved in the production of today's public announcement. Read here about Shureice, one of the junior paleontologists involved in the program. Many scientists will tell you that communicating their findings to the public is one of the hardest parts of their job. Project Exploration gives youth an early opportunity to experience the science and the communication. Visit their website announcing the find, and you should be impressed by how well they do it.

Youth Involved in New Dinosaur Discovery

You may see a news story in the next few days about a newly discovered dinosaur species. You may be interested to know that a group of Chicago-area high school students were a part of this discovery. The students, as well as three teachers, were part of every aspect of the research that led up to the press announcement. They participated in science fieldwork during the summer, toured the fossil lab where the new species was reconstructed, completed a day of training by lead scientists, and studied scientific reports and media alerts before they were released to the public and press.

Their participation was part of Project Exploration, a Chicago nonprofit science education organization (and CSAS member). Paleontologist Paul Sereno (who led the new discovery) and his wife, educator Gabrielle Lyon, founded the organization in 1999.

The experiences of the students and teachers are available at the Project Exploration website.