More and more jobs involve STEM, yet women are still underrepresented in many STEM fields, particularly engineering and computer science (National Science Foundation, 2019). Rural students in particular have historically faced numerous obstacles to entering STEM fields, including low educational aspirations, lack of STEM role models, and lack of…

This article focuses on designing and conducting action research in diverse settings. Action research is a collaborative approach to problem solving. It involves consultative problem identification, reflects context, encourages reflexive examination, and ultimately encourages and empowers beneficiaries for desirable change. In that regard, it puts…

Creative Youth Development (CYD) is a long-standing practice that fuels students' potential by intentionally integrating creative skill-building, inquiry and expression with positive youth development principles. In CYD programs, young people create original work through arts experiences and apply their creative skills to solve problems. These…

Attracting K-12 students to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) is viewed as a critical element for benefiting both the economy and society. This paper describes an outreach program, conducted in a Brooklyn, New York, USA, public middle school, aimed at educating students in mechatronics, biology, and…

This article describes an after-school program at the Horace Mann School for the Deaf (HMS), the oldest public day school for deaf students in the United States, where almost half of the student body imagined and created bridge and robotic machines. The Deaf Robotics Engineering and Math Team, or the DREAM Team club, included HMS students in…

The current article presents a model of a summer and after-school psychoeducational intervention for children ages 4 to 11 and parents offered at an African American church. The IMPPACT program may be best described as a community-based program that applies salient dimensions of African American religiosity and cultural values to the cultivation…

After figuring out why many kids hate math, these longtime educators Bob and Ellen Kaplan created an after-school program in which children as young as 5 formulate equations of their own--and actually enjoy doing it. This paper discusses the experiences of the Kaplan couple, Bob and Ellen, on their Math Circle class during after-school sessions…

Describes and discusses "The Fifth Dimension," a distributed literacy consortium of after-school enrichment programs that involve cooperation between local community organizations affiliated with colleges and universities, in which children engage in activities using a variety of multimedia equipment and software. Notes the program is a useful…

Describes a college service-learning project addressing a crucial need for school-age child care within the community. While creating and implementing the after-school program, students took responsibility for their decisions, cooperated to solve problems and delegate tasks, and developed leadership and self-efficacy. The result was student…