Student-scientist-teacher interactions provide students with several advantages. They provide opportunities to interact with experts and professionals in the field, give students a chance at meeting a role model that may impact students' career choices, and increase awareness of available career options combined with an understanding of how their…

When the pandemic forced schools across the country to close their doors in March 2020, many district and school leaders worked quickly to plan for and address students' "unfinished learning." How would they support students who had been exposed to content, but had not yet had a chance to master it? Research supports two ways schools can…

This paper draws on data generated within and resulting from a pedagogical encounter between four Black and Latinx youth, two fitness professionals, and myself -- the researcher -- in an urban after-school setting. I draw on Tinning's (2010) concept of pedagogy and affect theory (Hickey-Moody, 2013; Seigworth & Gregg, 2010) to explore how…

Background and purpose: Messages and initiatives around childhood obesity, health and fitness continue to circulate multiple pedagogical sites (physical education, after-school, media), reproducing a narrow stereotype of the healthy, fit body. While participatory, activist research has offered ways to counter problematic messages that youth…

Afterschool centers are known for being flexible spaces where young people enjoy freedom of talk and movement, build long-term relationships with peers and staff, and engage in choice-based programming that supports them in exploring their interests and emerging identities. These conditions are ideal for connected forms of learning that differ…

Computational thinking (CT) is believed to be a critical factor to facilitate STEM learning, and a vital learning objective itself. Therefore, researchers are continuing to explore effective ways to improve and assess it. Makerspaces feature various hands-on activities, which can attract students with diverse interests from different backgrounds.…

The article offers readers an example of how one physical education teacher education (PETE) program created a service-learning course to integrate the Comprehensive School Physical Activity Program (CSPAP) into the PETE curriculum. A PETE professor formed a partnership with a local school to facilitate physical activity opportunities for children…

Informed by strengths-based perspectives and systems theory of social settings, this mixed-methods study focuses on the experiences of the afterschool workforce employed by a large, urban community-based organization. Through directed content analysis of semi-structured individual and small-group interviews with afterschool instructors (ASI), this…

This paper highlights the year-one (pilot) findings of a three-year project on emerging technologies where students engaged in computer modeling, 3D printing, flight simulation, and drones during summer camps and afterschool programs in rural and urban districts. The pilot was iterative as different interventions were field-tested in specific…

Afterschool programs have been among the pioneers in applying a connected learning approach-creating a learning environment for students that builds on their interests; introduces them to new passions; provides mentors and a supportive peer network; and links this engagement to academics, careers and civic participation. This report, discusses the…

The Wallace Foundation's Partnerships for Social and Emotional Learning Initiative is a six-year initiative that The Wallace Foundation launched in 2017 to explore whether and how children benefit when schools and their out-of-school-time programs partner to improve social and emotional learning (SEL), as well as what it takes to do this work. SEL…

The Wallace Foundation's Partnerships for Social and Emotional Learning Initiative is a six-year initiative that The Wallace Foundation launched in 2017 to explore whether and how children benefit when schools and their out-of-school-time programs partner to improve social and emotional learning (SEL), as well as what it takes to do this work.…

This convergent mixed method study investigates learner engagement during a blended, transmedia curriculum called CryptoComics, which is designed to teach 3rd-5th graders about cryptology and cybersecurity. Curriculum design is presented through the lens of four engagement facilitators: (1) anchoring the curriculum with a comic book, (2) blending…

This report presents findings from the annual evaluation of the MacPhail Intensive Strings Program, specifically at Ascension Catholic School in Minneapolis. It includes satisfaction and outcome data for the 2021-22 school year. [For the 2020-21 report, see ED619377.]

Children's poor social-emotional functioning has been an increasing concern prior to and amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Childhood and adolescence are critical stages of life where they acquire key cognitive and social-emotional skills that shape their future mental health. When a student's social-emotional health suffers, so do their relationships,…