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

该项目与加州学龄联盟（CalSAC）合作，这是一个建立在全州范围内的课后领导者培训网络，该项目利用探索博物馆数字图书馆和国家自然科学图书馆中的新课程模块和现有的STEM资源，创建并提供供州和地区课后组织使用的专业发展机构。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)从业者的学院社区，以及(4)课程模块，将NSDL数字资源和工具与课后观众的探究性实践科学活动结合起来。与许多课外活动不同，课程模块的设计具有学术挑战性，科学丰富，并以青少年的兴趣为导向。除了为课后领导及其教学人员举办的研讨会外，该项目还记录了青少年和课后教育者在搜索和访问Exploratorium数字图书馆时使用的词汇，并将这些词汇映射为科学词汇作为元数据，以帮助教育者和他们所服务的未被充分代表的青少年更容易使用NSDL。这个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，扩展了NSDL的使用-一个内容提供商（探索博物馆）与一个已建立的全州培训网络（CalSAC）合作，创建了一个STEM专业发展项目，结合了NSDL的丰富资源和对课后项目负责人及其项目人员的技术援助。此外，该项目正在利用国家自然科学图书馆丰富的学习资源库，培养课后教育者和他们所服务的青年的科学素养，从而解决一个关键的未得到充分服务的受众。数学和物理科学理事会（MPS）的多学科活动办公室为该项目提供了共同资金，以认识到博物馆-课后伙伴关系在促进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.