After-School Adventures in Wildlife Science (ASCEND Project)

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The Wildlife Conservation Society seeks funding for a three-year project to develop an after school and Saturday program for 180 high school students from the Bronx in New York City. The families are all low-income and 85% are below the poverty level. Students will attend sessions two times a week after school from 2:30pm-5:00pm for 18 weeks; one-half day on Saturday per session will also be included. Sessions will be held in the spring and fall, and will include a total of 180 students over the three years of the project. The science content will be based on the Wildlife Inquiry through Zoo Education (WIZE) curriculum materials developed by the Bronx Zoo and supplemented with hands-on activities at the Zoo. The program will bring students from Bronx-area high schools to the Bronx Zoo where they will learn to observe, formulate hypotheses, collect data, analyze and present the data. Student will learn aspects of ecology, anatomy, animal behavior, food webs and chains, etc. Participating students will receive high school credit from the city of New York for participating. The Institute for Learning Innovation, an Annapolis, MD-based, non-profit educational research and development organization, will conduct formative/remedial and summative evaluation of the implementation and long-term impact of the program.