Bridging the Gap: The Effects of A School-To-Career Approach To Promoting Wildlife Science Careers Among Minority Students

野生动物保护协会和好牧人服务（一个青年发展和教育机构）正在实施和评估一个学校到职业生涯的模式计划，包括高中生在四个纽约市地区动物园和水族馆的课后和周末节目，其次是参与后的跟踪，支持和指导。目标是促进150名低收入少数民族青年的情感，认知和行为结果，这些青年是从事野生动物科学事业所必需的。弥合差距项目是（1）开发一个科学职业计划，包括在动物园/水族馆动手，技术丰富，科学学习经验;职业建设服务，指导，长期跟踪和支持，（2）形成一个社区的少数民族学生谁拥有的知识和技能，以追求野生动物的职业生涯，（3）就该计划的短期和长期有效性产生研究结果，以及（4）向全国其他非正式科学教育机构传播有关该项目的资源和研究结果的信息，以供复制。评价计划衡量各种产出、成果和影响，包括短期和长期认知和情感变量。数据收集方法包括学生活动监测和前后测试。该项目解决了美国动物园和水族馆协会记录的一个引人注目的人事问题-在动物园和水族馆工作的少数科学专业人员。由于目前很少有项目帮助少数民族学生进入野生动物科学专业，该项目填补了一个重要的计划需求，并作为一个示范劳动力计划，可以复制全国各地的其他非正式科学教育组织。该项目的主要战略影响是它能够通过扩大从高中开始的科学专业管道来扩大对野生动物科学的参与。

The Wildlife Conservation Society and Good Shepherd Services (a youth development and education agency) are implementing and evaluating a school-to-career model program that consists of afterschool and weekend programming for high school students at four New York City area zoos and an aquarium, followed by post-participation tracking, support, and mentoring. The goal is to promote affective, cognitive and behavioral outcomes among 150 low-income minority youth necessary to pursue careers in the wildlife sciences. The Bridging the Gap project is (1) developing a science career program that includes hands-on, technology-enriched, science learning experiences at zoos/aquaria; career building services, mentoring, and long-term tracking and support, (2) forming a community of minority students who have the knowledge and skills to pursue wildlife careers, (3) generating research findings on the short-term and long-term effectiveness of the program, and (4) disseminating information about the project's resources and findings to other informal science education institutions around the nation for replication. The evaluation plan measures a variety of outputs, outcomes and impacts that include short-term and long-term cognitive and affective variables. Data collection methods include student activity monitoring and pre-post testing. The project addresses a compelling personnel issue documented by the American Zoo and Aquarium Association - the small number of minority science professionals working in zoos and aquariums. Because few programs currently exist to help minority students enter the wildlife science professions, this project fills an important programmatic need and serves as a model workforce program that can be replicated by other informal science education organizations around the country. The project's key strategic impact is its capacity to broaden participation in the wildlife sciences by expanding the science professional pipeline beginning in high school.