The New York City Department of Education (NYC DOE) is the largest public school system in the country, and regularly communicates with more families in a month than many school districts do in a year. Innovations in communication or outreach efforts can influence profoundly how families engage with the district, especially innovations in outreach…

This report explains how the Tennessee Investment in Student Achievement (TISA) Act came to be and offers promising practices and lessons other states may adapt to their political and economic contexts. Through in-depth interviews with advocates and state leaders, the authors uncovered five factors that contributed to TISA's passage that have…

Science outreach programs that enable real-time interactions between scientists and school-aged children are known to positively impact learning gains and students' perceptions of scientists. To expand K-12 outreach by scientists, it is important to build structured outreach programs which offer scientists well-defined opportunities, while…

Dance as an art form continues to be undervalued; however, more exposure to dance at a young age can spur the next generation's enthusiasm for it. As an Associate Professor of Dance, my creative practice as research involves the application of creative engagement methods for young doers and viewers, while simultaneously enhancing their…

Questions often heard echoing through classrooms are: 'Why do I need to know this?' and 'When will I use this in real life?'. Working with the Centre for Industry Education Collaboration (CIEC), the authors chose a curriculum segment that aligned with some of their own research -- microorganisms: how they can harm us, help us and how we can use…

Service learning is a community-based educational approach where college students are connected to academic content through active participation in planned community experiences. Therefore, service learning is the form of civic engagement that we have used to connect Chemistry undergraduate students with K-12 students, teachers, and parents in our…

This paper presents a novel approach to teaching how vaccines work in the body, and introduces a community outreach project and activity we piloted with youth. Our Nuestra Ciencia program addresses scientific misconceptions among bilingual elementary school children in engaging and scientifically accurate ways. Utilizing analogies and…

The Native American Astronomy Outreach Program (NAAOP) at Lowell Observatory is an in-class STEM enrichment program that pairs astronomers with 4th-8th grade teachers at Native-serving schools in northern Arizona. The astronomer works with the teacher to present hands-on astronomy activities to their class with the goal of getting students excited…

The SPECTRA program was introduced to Pennant Hills Public School as an extracurricular activity to help support the science and technology discipline, and more broadly STEM connections, for students in Stage 3. There are currently 35 students of mixed ability completing the program. Throughout their involvement in the SPECTRA program, these…

The City of Kitchener is the largest city in Waterloo Region in the province of Ontario, the third fasting growing region in Canada, yet it has only one air quality monitoring station. Our research group launched a pilot project in September 2020 to install a network of AQMesh multisensor mini air quality monitoring stations (pods) near elementary…

What's in Our Waters Jr. (WOW Jr.) is an environmental outreach program designed to teach fourth grade elementary students about watershed protection. This program is unique because of the partnership that brings together students, teachers, scientists, and water resource professionals to promote science education and environmental stewardship in…

Visiting classical concerts as part of school activities has a long tradition in Germany but has always been controversial. The multi-case study Schools@Concerts aims in mapping different approaches of connecting school music education with classical concert visits in seven European countries. As part of this project, this article gives early…

The Smithsonian Science Education Center (SSEC) serves K-12 students and teachers, school districts, state education agencies, and ministries of education throughout the world with curriculum materials, digital resources, professional development, leadership development (through our Leadership and Assistance for Science Education Reform [LASER]…

Higher education institutions are in a great position to create authentic programming to support local underfunded or underperforming public school districts. This article gives an overview of an education outreach collaborative between a 4-year public university, local schools, and a community institution and highlights lessons learned from the…

In this article, first Toby Tyler describes how using Twitter to engage the community and to pursue the ICE principle (Introduce, Consolidate, and Extend) to enhance learning has brought his school community closer together. Then, Emma Vanstone highlights how schools can draw on support for engaging children with science at home by using social…