Bringing Up Girls in Science (BUGS) was an afterschool program for 4th and 5th grade girls that provided authentic learning experiences in environmental science as well as valuable female mentoring opportunities in an effort to increase participants' academic achievement in science. BUGS participants demonstrated significantly greater amounts of…

This study sought to explore qualitatively how participation in an informal science program might affect the following aspects of upper elementary school children's scientific thinking: conceptual understanding, epistemology of science, and the formation of their identity as science learners. A purposefully selected, maximum variation sample of…

Describes the Henrico County (VA) Public School System's astronomy program, identified as an outstanding program by the National Science Teachers Association's Search for Excellence in Science Education project. Unique aspects of the astronomy program, instructional strategies used, and program activities are discussed. (BC)

Describes Microcomputer, Nighttime Astronomy, and Communications Technology courses designed specifically for parents and their middle school children to take together. Includes overall goals and family reactions to the courses which appear to foster scientific literacy and bring parents and children closer together while engaged in educational…

Nature's Classroom (Southbridge, MA), which provides field experiences, academic classes, and activities in the natural sciences, has been recognized as an outstanding program by the National Science Teachers Association's Search for Excellence in Science Education project. Various program activities (including building a geodesic dome) are…

Science programs which take place outside the traditional classroom and beyond the usual school hours are listed. The programs (designed for all ages and educational levels and scheduled after school, on Saturdays, evenings, and during summer months) are offered in multidisciplinary science centers located in larger cities, small town museums,…