This mixed-methods research evaluates Conversation Club (CC), a Canadian after-school group mentoring intervention for newcomer youth. The study's main objectives are to examine the effects of CC on newcomer youth's experiences of belonging, connectedness, hopefulness, and integration into Canadian society. Using a quasi-experimental design, CC (n…

Teachers have the daunting task of preparing students for a future that they cannot predict. In an age of information where students have the world quite literally at their fingertips, and with the ever-growing momentum of integrated science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), it is not enough that students experience STEM subjects…

Young children are capable of engaging in STEM investigations when they are guided by skilled and knowledgeable teachers. However, many elementary teachers may lack sufficient STEM content knowledge and report feeling unprepared to teach STEM content. Two university faculty members in mathematics and science education, worked to cultivate and…

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of an 8-week after-school intramural program that adopted a Teaching Games for Understanding (TGfU) approach to facilitate the development of elementary-school-aged children physical literacy. Methods: Using Physical and Health Education Canada's Passport for Life tool, 22…

This article focuses on how pupils' everyday transitions constitute a condition for pupils' activities and relationships, and how pupils understand and give meaning to their everyday transitions between different school settings (school and Leisure Time Centre). To examine this, we made participant observations in three different educational…

This study is an exploratory analysis of the multimodal composition practices of adolescents and young adults in a free after-school drop-in programme called the Workshop, and the moral development opportunities afforded by these practices. Pasupathi and Wainryb's [(2010). "Developing Moral Agency Through Narrative." "Human…

In Sweden and the other Scandinavian countries children are offered a curricular based combination of care and teaching before and after compulsory school hours. These leisure time centers, so-called "fritidshem," are offered to children aged between 6 and 12 whose parents' study or work, as well as to children that require special…

This article investigates how playwriting served three middle school Black girls within a larger practitioner research study seeking to better understand the literate practices of girls of color. It delves into the ways that playwriting provided the girls in an afterschool writing club opportunities to explore both their knowledge and ways of…

The vast majority of young South African children grow up in socially- and economically-challenging settings. These impeding conditions hamper their intellectual growth and affect their physical, mental, emotional and spiritual well-being. Increasingly, mindfulness is being recognised as a means to enhance holistic well-being of children.…

We investigated adolescent responsibility across 2 developmental contexts, home and an afterschool program. Longitudinal data were collected from 355 ethnically diverse 11-20-year-old adolescents (M = 15.49; 55.9% female) in 14 project-based programs. Youth rated their responsibility in the program and at home at 4 time points; parents and leaders…

Collaboration is an important aspect of social activity associated with young children's digital gameplay. Children organise their participation as they communicate with and support one another, through sharing knowledge and problem-solving strategies, displaying their expertise, encouraging others and creatively exploring possibilities for…

In low-income communities, schools often lack the resources to provide children with robust, hands-on science experiences, especially those that utilize green spaces and natural phenomena outside their doors. Out-of-school-time programs are well-positioned to fill this gap, but to do so must address constraints that prevent educators and parents…

Without equal educational opportunities to engage with technology, students who lack such opportunities are put at a disadvantage. In response to this inequality and the need for STEM enrichment opportunities, a research team from a Learning Technologies Division in a College of Education and Human Development at a local university partners with…

Background/Context: Large gaps in achievement and interest in science and engineering [STEM] persist for youth growing up in poverty, and in particular for African American and Latino youth. Within the informal education community, the recently evolving "maker movement" has sparked interest for its potential role in breaking down…

In general, vocational psychologists have not been engaged in applied research that demonstrates how career interventions can improve educational problems that matter to relevant decision-makers and stakeholders. This article describes how vocational psychology can make a difference in K-12 education by embracing an interdisciplinary…