Partnerships between communities and institutions of higher education have become central ways in which post-secondary students and faculty members interact with teachers and students in community environments. These partnerships can be challenging to develop, however, particularly given the numerous and shifting priorities of both schools and…

This dissertation aimed to address existing research gaps in the understanding of "tech social capital" amongst Black and Latino/Hispanic high school students in afterschool computer science education programs. The research employed an exploratory mixed methods approach, with afterschool high school coding program Code Next as its sample…

Safety, security, freedom of expression, love, and support are critical components for adolescent youth that encourage growth and development. This study explored how Black girls make sense of their educational experiences while partnering with school staff through the RoyalSapphires program. Children must be in relationships with well intended…

The problem explored in this study addresses the disparity in math achievement outcomes for African American and Latinx students at Oak Hills Elementary School (pseudonym). Leading educational scholars have charged educational researchers to rethink how they discuss and examine achievement and invited them to frame achievement discourse through…

Informal community-based science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) clubs provide rich informal learning environments that help elementary-aged students develop STEM knowledge and skills while fostering their initial and continued interests in STEM. This phenomenographical case study sought to interpret stakeholders' (five university…

To effectively prepare students for their futures, they must be at the center of their learning experiences. Creating equitable learner-centered education systems requires fundamental system-wide shifts. These shifts are vital to unlock active, engaged, competency-based education (CBE) for all learners, which the learning sciences tell us is key…

African-American women continue to be underrepresented in science and engineering field despite years of interventions, including providing out-of-school time STEM experiences. Although some out-of-school time programs have shown impacts in participants' content knowledge and skill acquisition, impacts on science identity development have been…

The decision to enroll in organized after-school activities involves a gradual negotiation of adolescents' independence between family members who can hold contrasting views on adolescents' autonomy. Furthermore, less is known about the culturally grounded nature of this decision-making process generally observed among the Latinx community,…

This study investigated the technologies and tools used to support upper-level elementary students' engineering design and problem-solving activities in a bridge design and building challenge. The study was conducted in an eight-week afterschool program with a total of 36 4th to 6th grade students in small groups of four to six students. Analysis…

This mixed methods case study presents the experience of a group of middle school students in a year-long, after-school computing programme in a large, inner-city school district in the southeastern United States. The purpose of this research is to explore informal educational strategies that are conducive at giving underrepresented minority youth…

Cleveland came into the pandemic with a history of collaboration among civic organizations and schools. In summer 2020, the Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD) and partners--community organizations, funders, and out-of-school-time organizations--saw that students were in a crisis and came together to establish full-day remote-learning…

Positive youth development has been extensively documented in contexts such as the family, school, and afterschool. Emerging theory and research indicate that digital contexts such as social media may also be venues through which young people develop skills and attributes associated with the 5 Cs model of positive youth development and thriving.…

When Alexandria Hodgkins began her inquiry for the National Institute on Out-of-School Time's Afterschool Matters Practitioner Research Fellowship, she wanted to investigate afterschool programs that had been rated "excellent" by funders. Wanting to understand what excellent programs look like and how they get that way, she writes that…

In this paper, I intend to explore the role played by reflexivity in grounding a more critical perspective when designing, implementing and analysing participatory digital media research. To carry out this methodological reflection, I will present and discuss a recently concluded research project on young people's game-making in an after-school…

This study describes the design and implementation of an integrated STEM + computational thinking (CT) curriculum, which was guided by project-based learning, for integrating CT in after-school programs. The study examined teachers and students' reactions to the curriculum and the challenges in implementing such a curriculum. Results show that…