AISL Workshop Series: Understanding the Challenges to Achieving Best Practice in Afterschool Science

教育发展中心公司(EDC)将在新泽西州、堪萨斯州和加利福尼亚州为20多个州的地区和州级课后科学教育领导人举办三次为期两天的研讨会，这些领导人一直与全国课后科学伙伴关系(NPASS)有关联，设计它！去探索它吧！课外科学倡议。这些研讨会将旨在加强NPASS网络现有成员和潜在成员之间的联系，并确定未来课后领域研究的问题，旨在增加对课后科学计划成败的了解。尽管目前没有集中支持来维持或扩大这一网络，但它的许多成员继续在各自的州提供NPASS和类似NPASS的方案。讲习班将汇集国家科学学会网络中一些最有经验的领导人，以及来自网络之外的有经验的课外科学倡导者和领导人。该项目建立在经发会15年来开展的先前工作的基础上，这些工作制定了课外科学和工程课程，并通过全国科学和工程学会网络和培训员培训讲习班在全国范围内传播。该项目将支持推进非正式STEM学习(AISL)计划的总体战略，通过通过各种环境资助创新资源来加强非正式环境中的学习。这包括为扩大获得和参与STEM学习经验提供多种途径，推进对非正式环境中STEM学习的创新研究和评估，并促进参与者对更深入学习的理解。区域研讨会将旨在：(1)使NPASS网络的领导人能够重新建立联系，并更新他们对最佳做法和课后科学关键要素的理解和承诺；(2)收集关于实施这些做法的常见障碍以及何时、何地和为什么对这些最佳做法进行调整的信息，以及他们(实践者)认为对项目质量的影响；以及(3)找出有待进一步研究的问题。这些讲习班的调查结果将通过一份总结讲习班记录和调查结果的报告向外地广泛传播，其中包括经修订的NPASS关于对成功的课后科学计划编制至关重要的做法的结构和教学要素的声明。

Education Development Center, Inc. (EDC), will hold three two-day workshops (in New Jersey, Kansas, and California) for regional and state-level leaders in afterschool science education in more than 20 states who have been associated with the National Partnerships for After School Science (NPASS), Design It! and Explore It! afterschool science initiatives. The workshops will be designed to strengthen ties among current and prospective members of the NPASS network and to identify issues for future research for the after school field at large aimed at increasing understanding of how afterschool science programs succeed or fail. Despite the current absence of centralized support to maintain or expand this network, many of its members continue to offer NPASS and NPASS-like programming in their states. The workshops will bring together some of the most experienced leaders in the NPASS network as well as experienced advocates and leaders of afterschool science from beyond the network. The project builds on 15 years of prior work conducted by EDC that developed afterschool science and engineering curricula that was nationally disseminated via the NPASS network and train-the-trainer workshops. The project will support the overall strategy of the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program to enhance learning in informal environments through the funding of innovative resources through a variety of settings. This includes providing multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM learning experiences, advancing innovative research on and assessment of STEM learning in informal environments, and developing understandings of deeper learning by participants.The regional workshops will be designed to: (1) enable leaders of the NPASS network to re-establish ties and renew their understanding of and commitment to best practices and critical elements of afterschool science; (2) gather information about common obstacles to implementation of these practices and about when, where, and why adaptations to these best practices occur, and what they (the practitioners) believe to be the impact on program quality; and (3) identify questions for further research. The findings from these workshops will be broadly disseminated to the field via a report summarizing the proceedings and findings from the workshop, including a revised NPASS statement of critical structural and pedagogical elements on practices critical to successful afterschool science programming.