After-school settings provide youth with homework support, social outlets and fun activities, and help build self-confidence. They are safe places for forming relationships with caring adults. More after-school settings are starting to integrate Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) topics. What science skills and concepts might…

The concept of connected learning proposes that youth leverage individual interest and social media to drive learning with an academic focus. To illustrate, we present in-depth case studies of Ryan and Sam, two middle-school-age youth, to document an out-of-school intervention intended to direct toward intentional learning in STEM that taps…

The reported exploratory study consisted primarily of classroom visits, videotaped sessions, and post-treatment interviews whereby second graders (n = 12) worked on problems in planar geometry, individually and in triads, using physical and virtual manipulatives. The goal of the study was to: 1) characterize the nature of geometric thinking found…