Scientists for Tomorrow - A Self-Sustained Initiative to Promote STEM in Out-of-School Time Frameworks in Under-served Community-Based Organizations: Evaluation and Lessons Learned

In 2011, the Scientist for Tomorrow (SfT) initiative was created after receiving a grant from the National Science Foundation’s Informal Science Education program. The SfT initiative is designed to utilize a science-based curriculum to provide urban youth in Chicago with information and skills related to science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics (STEAM) careers and foster positive attitudes toward STEAM subjects and related careers. This grant financially sustained SfT and allowed it to serve 15 out-of-school-time organizations for two years. Today, the SfT initiative is in its sixth year, serving more than 40 out-of-school time organizations, 600 middle school student and 150 parents per semester in a self-sustained mode. The Scientists for Tomorrow initiative is a partnership between postsecondary institutions, out-of-school time organizations and informal-science education providers. The initiative is implemented throughout communities during the academic school year exploring different learning module, such as “Alternative Energies,” “Physics of Sound and Mathematics of Music,” “People and Plants,” “Robotics” and “Astronomy”. Before each module starts, the SfT initiative provides more than 15 hours of professional development for all of the instructors involved in the program. Each session includes 10 weekly, 90-minute classes exploring the modules, as well as a Family Science Day field trip, where participating students and their families are invited to one of SfT’s partner institutions, including the Museum of Science and Industry, The Field Museum of Natural History and the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum. The question the SfT initiative explores is if there are changes in participants’ and out-ofschool time organization leadership’s attitude towards STEAM, as well as a gain in content knowledge. To study this question, participants are given a survey gaging their attitudes and knowledge about STEAM before and after each module. Additionally, all instructors are required to complete Activity Journal Logs after each of their class sessions. These journals allow instructors to reflect on their classes and help to identify where they needed more support from the SfT initiative. Finally, the out-of-school-time organization’s director, program coordinators and volunteers are given a survey to evaluate the program as a whole at the end of each module. Four years of external evaluation show that the SfT initiative cultivates a modest gain in content knowledge and an increase in positive attitudes towards STEAM. The findings also show a significant, positive change of attitude from out-of-schooltime organizations’ leadership toward the introduction of STEAM academic enrichment activities as part of the regular activities in their out-of-school-time programs. As the Scientists for Tomorrow initiative has grown, some of the lessons learned include 1) the need to have more parental involvement in the SfT initiative’s activities to ensure success, 2) the need to provide instructors with flexible professional development opportunities and feedback conversations to ensure the quality of the learning process remains high and the growth of the out-of-school-time organizations’ capacity to continue promoting STEAM as an integral part of their out-of-school-time model, and 3) the need to promote the public perception that out-of-school-time learning is as important as formal education in helping academically advance students, especially those in underserved communities.