In the midst of political attacks on public schools to prevent discussions on social injustice and Latinx youth culture, there are after-school programs that nurture Latinx youth critical consciousness and social justice activism. This study uses agencies of transformational resistance (ATR) as a framework to explore one after-school program's…

"When a group of people come together to share a vision for an organization, each person brings a unique visualization of an amazing running institution and each shares a responsibility for the establishment to run effectively" Senge (2006). This dissertation in practice (DiP) was aimed at addressing a performance gap of low engagement…

Aquaponics systems model aquaculture and hydroponics systems for food production. Aquponics allow cycle of nutrients as well as wastes and offers a sustainable option to the use of environmental resources. Aquaponics systems are also considered in education as a teaching tool which can be implemented into different grade levels. It's possible to…

Writing conferences are one-on-one feedback sessions that enable teachers and students to engage in constructive interactions to improve students' writing. While interacting individually, a teacher can use various feedback strategies to improve the quality of a student's writing. This study examined how a secondary English teacher elicited…

Between 2013 and 2014, 25.2% of 10th grade algebra students who worked with 870,000 adult volunteers in after-school programs in the United States met their goals of improved math proficiency scores. A gap exists involving volunteer training strategies for after-school programs that are effective in improving math proficiency of 10th grade math…

Maker-based learning activities offer benefits to both students and educators; however, there exist few research examples that examine how educators enact a process of identity exploration when implementing maker activities in their instruction. The Projective Reflection framework was used to assess three science educators' identity exploration as…

Background: Scholars have analyzed the possibilities that robotics-centered learning programs offer, including opportunities for developing collaboratively and engaging in authentic STEM professional practice. This work adds a sociopolitical perspective, explicating a case of a newcomer to a robotics team that elucidates the nuances of…

For young people who exhibit attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) traits, out-of-school (OST) programming can provide the atmosphere and learning experiences that, by design, sustain attention, engagement, and focus. "Possibility projects" enabled one afterschool practitioner to redefine ADHD in terms of attention-driven,…

We present an analysis of three 9th grade integrated mathematics lessons in which a group of teachers and researchers redesigned a sequence of lessons with the goal of engaging a linguistically diverse group of students in productive and powerful discussions (Herbel-Eisenmann et al. 2013). The three lessons were part of a design experiment. Two…

This qualitative study, based on data from an ongoing after-school literacy and songwriting initiative, examines the multiliteracy practices of Noriah Rose and Koral, Black adolescent girls, and their socially situated meaning-making and sharing about loss. Specifically, we asked, "In what ways do youth grapple with complicated meanings of…

One of the challenges of educating adolescents with autism spectrum disorders is to find activities that are interesting and engaging. Researchers have shown that adolescents with autism often are attracted to technology. Using an exploratory research method, the experiences of three students with autism who participated in after school robotics…

Through an ecological systems perspective, this study explores factors that influence successful academic achievement for African American males in at-risk settings. This qualitative study examines factors that contribute to the successful academic achievement for African American males from at-risk populations. The researchers explore African…

The present study explores how engaging in modeling practice, along with argumentation, leverages students' epistemic and conceptual understanding in an afterschool science/math class of 16 tenth graders. The study also explores how students used mobile Internet phones (smart phones) productively to support modeling practices. As the modeling…

This study examines positive dispositions reported by middle school and high school students participating in programs that feature STEM-related activities. Middle school students participating in school-to-home hands-on energy monitoring activities are compared to middle school and high school students in a different project taking part in…

Participatory mapping attempts to engage youth in the generation of personalized maps, as a way to both harness the value of individual knowledge about geographic space, and to concurrently empower the research participants by inviting them to take an active stake in the representation and explication of their spatial environment. Engagement in…