Professional Development Institutes to Increase Afterschool Educators' Use of the NSDL

该项目与加州学龄儿童联合会(CalSAC)合作，后者是一个已建立的全州范围内的课后领导者培训网络，该项目利用探索馆数字图书馆和NSDL中的新课程模块和现有的STEM资源，创建并提供专业发展机构，供各州和地区的课外组织使用。专业发展机构由四个相互关联的部分组成：(1)讲习班和研讨会，(2)技术援助，(3)从业人员社区，以及(4)课程模块，将NSDL数字资源和工具与面向课外受众的基于探究的动手科学活动相结合。与许多课外活动不同的是，课程单元的设计具有学术挑战性、丰富的科学知识和年轻人的兴趣驱动。除了为课外领导及其教职员工举办的讲习班外，该项目还记录了青年和课外教育工作者搜索和访问探索馆数字图书馆时使用的词语，将这些词语映射到科学词汇作为元数据，以帮助教育工作者和他们所服务的未被充分代表的青年更易使用NSDL。该项目正在产生重要的实践和教学影响。它提供了一个博物馆-课后合作伙伴关系的例子，扩大了NSDL的使用--一家内容提供商(探索馆)与已建立的全州培训网络(CalSAC)合作，创建了一个STEM专业发展计划，将NSDL的丰富资源与为课后计划领导人及其计划工作人员提供的技术援助结合在一起。此外，该项目正在利用NSDL丰富的学习资源培养课外教育工作者和他们所服务的青年的科学素养，从而解决服务不足的关键受众。数学和物理科学局(MPS)多学科活动办公室正在为该项目提供共同资金，以确认博物馆-课外合作伙伴关系在促进MPS感兴趣领域的研究和教育一体化方面的价值。

In partnership with the California School-Age Consortium (CalSAC), an established statewide after-school leader-training network, this project makes use of new curricular modules and existing STEM resources found in the Exploratorium digital library and the NSDL to create and offer professional development institutes for use by state and regional after school organizations. Professional development institutes consist of four linked components: (1) workshops and seminars, (2) technical assistance, (3) a collegial community of practitioners, and (4) curricular modules that combine NSDL digital resources and tools with inquiry-based, hands-on science activities for after school audiences. Unlike many after school activities, the curricular modules are designed to be academically challenging, science-rich, and youth interest-driven. In addition to workshops for after school leaders and their teaching staff, the project documents the words used by youth and after school educators to search and access the Exploratorium digital library, mapping these to scientific vocabularies as metadata to help make NSDL more usable to educators and the underrepresented youth they serve.This project is making important practical and pedagogical impact. It provides an example of a museum-after school partnership that expands the use of NSDL - a content provider (the Exploratorium) working with an established statewide training network (CalSAC) to create a program of STEM professional development combining the rich resources of the NSDL and technical assistance for leaders of after school programs and their program staff. In addition, the project is building the scientific literacy of the after school educators and the youth they serve using the rich repository of learning resources in the NSDL, thereby addressing a key underserved audience.Co-funding for this project is being provided by the office of Multidisciplinary Activities in the Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences (MPS) in recognition of the value that museum-after school partnerships have in promoting the integration of research and education in areas of interest to MPS.