Incorporating climate change into education is critical for building a sustainable future and empowering the next generation to take action. This study aims to explore how a project-based club program influences middle school students' action competency in responding to climate change. For this aim, ten students who participated in a project-based…

This study investigates the effect of out-of-school activities on gifted students' affective and behavioral tendencies. Mixed method research with a single group pre and post-test experimental design was used in this study. Twenty-five gifted students from Turkey-Istanbul participated in this study. "Environmental Affect Scale" and…

It is important that teens are exposed to STEM education both through formal and informal learning opportunities. STEM cafés are an instance of the latter. Within an informal setting, teen science cafés can significantly enhance teens' view of the importance of science in their lives, positively influencing teens' understanding of science in the…

Breakthrough Collaborative operates as two dozen community-based affiliates supported by a national office. Traditionally, the Breakthrough model has consisted of two components: (1) a summer enrichment program that provides academic and social-emotional learning support to students; and (2) out-of-school-time tutoring and enrichment during the…

Purpose: Centered on the framework of global citizenship education (GCED), an after-school music program was developed for middle school students in Korea. The program aims to introduce multicultural topics to improve intercultural understanding and promote multicultural sensitivity for community relations development in response to rapid…

Background and Context: Pair programming is used in classrooms to promote learning and engage a more diverse group of students in computing fields, but little is known about what it looks like in middle school. Objective: The aim of this study was to examine how programming pairs were interacting and about what. Method: Video, audio, and screen…

Afterschool interventions in STEM are linked to learning gains during the school day. These opportunities engage and excite students about STEM concepts since they observe a more hands-on, project-oriented approach. Often these opportunities for afterschool interventions are infrequent in nature and leave gaps for students in their maturation and…

Social networking sites (SNSs) are popular technologies used frequently among youth for recreational purposes. Increasing attention has been paid to the use of SNSs in educational settings as a way to engage youth interest and encourage academically productive discussion. Potential affordances of using SNSs for education include knowledge…

Science learning is most often examined within formal education contexts, even though students spend more of their lives outside of the classroom. Students may interact with scientific phenomena during these out-of-school experiences, providing additional opportunities for learning to take place. Prior studies have found that optional science…

This explanatory mixed methods study investigates the experiences of approximately 280 rural, underrepresented middle school student members of STEM Career Clubs over 3 semesters (19 meetings). Data sources included surveys about STEM interests and career intentions (STEM-CIS), STEM club perceptions, and content questions. A subset of 101 students…

The study reported here investigated the effectiveness of the LSU AgCenter Help a Friend, Help Yourself youth diabetes education curriculum to increase knowledge and awareness of diabetes and its symptoms in low-income middle school students participating in the Boys and Girls Club after-school program. The curriculum includes four lessons with…

Background: Asthma places a heavy burden on Chicago's schoolchildren, particularly in low-income, minority communities. Recently, our group developed a 10-week afterschool program, the Student Asthma Research Team (START), which successfully engaged high school youth in a Photovoice investigation of factors impacting their asthma at school and in…

Purpose: The purpose of this journal-ready dissertation was to examine middle and high school students' perceptions of the relationship between their Biblical literacy practices and academic performance (i.e. grades, test scores, reading ability) and academic success (i.e. attendance, behavior, motivation, goals, decision-making) according to…

The AISD Student Substance Use and Safety Survey, administered annually to a random, representative sample of AISD students, provides self-report data on student knowledge, attitudes, and behavior related to substance use and school safety issues. This report summarizes results for school year 2011-2012 compared with previous years.

This document summarizes evaluation reports from afterschool science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) programs across the United States and identifies common trends and strengths that afterschool learning brings to STEM education. Like many programs nationwide, several of the programs highlighted in this paper were designed specifically to…