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I'm looking for after school science programs to use in our school next year. Anyone have any resources, experience, websites, ANYTHING they care to share?

Tom, Could you give me a bit more information; age and subject area? Have you ever looked at the coalition for after school science? http://www.afterschoolscience.org/tools/research/afterschool-science-programs.php Regards Pam

I teach in a 6-8 middle school. Approx. 25% of our student population is on free/reduced lunch. Subject matter is open. I'm willing to investigate most anything. I think the site you mention is one I've run across but I'm not sure. I most definitely will look into it. Thank you!!!

Hi Tom, Do you have a recycling or environmental club at your school? My students, colleagues and I helped organize the recycling of a variety of items at school (white and colored paper, cell phones, ink cartridges, etc.), and we “adopted the highway” in front of our school through an after school science program. We also did activities that related to the environment like: creating a school butterfly garden, keeping the school grounds clean, making recycled seedling planter pots from newspaper, starting a worm compost, creating a school recycling bulletin board, etc. Our county waste management organization had an education coordinator who was very helpful. We toured the recycling facility as an after school field trip. The [url=http://www.soinc.org/]Science Olympiad website[/url] has information about its program. You can purchase the manual to access the events. If you will have a small group of fewer than 20 students, I would like to recommend forming a Science Olympiad team. It is not very expensive to join as a school, and they send you the coach's manual with all of the events. The students would then be introduced to all of them, and then you would have them "train" for specific events during the year. As an after school science club, you could offer a variety of activities. Some of the things my science club did included: bending glass, making candy (using metric measurements), tie-dying old white T-shirts, making plaster of Paris stepping stones, creating egg geodes, making Cartesian divers, making Moustrap car and having races, etc. I have also had guest speakers: an acupuncturist, county crime lab technician, university researcher, fingerprinting expert, handwriting expert, dentist, veterinarian, etc. These professionals from the community usually bring hands-on materials with them for the students to touch, and they learn a little bit about STEM careers. I always have the guests tell my students how they got interested in their careers and what kinds of schooling/training they completed in order to get certified. Your students are so lucky to have this new and exciting opportunity. Good luck with your planning. I know you will be getting a lot more ideas through this thread. Let us know what you decide to do. Carolyn

Hi Tom, I've attached some NSTA resources that might work for an after school science program. They focus on problem-based learning. In Science Beyond the Curriculum, there are many other NSTA resources listed within the article. Project Citizen provides free classroom materials and lesson found at phttp://www.civiced.org/index.php?page=introduction. I hope this helps.

Attachments

Science Sampler: Project Citizen—Students practice democratic principles while conducting community projects (Journal Article)

Web-Based Science Inquiry Projects (Book Chapter)

Science Beyond the Curriculum: Projects and Challenges (Book Chapter)

Hi Tom, I found that the MIT Sea Perch program to be a very effective and fun after school program. The Sea Perch is a simple, remotely operated underwater vehicle that students build and test. Students learn about electricity by building their own control box and about the physical factors affecting the behavior of the underwater vehicle. The website is http://seaperch.mit.edu.

Tom, If you are looking for something fairly simple to start with, Terrific Science has a series of "real world" based support books that address science from a very practical standpoint. They talk about general safety, food safety, hygiene and health. The one that most engages the students I know is "What's that Smell?" It addresses bodily odors and how they form along with other bodily functions that fascinate this age group like burping. The link below will take you to the middle school section. http://www.terrificscience.org/shop/books-by-grade/middle-school/

My program would be for 4th and 5th grade students. Most kids walk home from our school and getting participation would likely not be a problem. Wondering if NASA Explorer or some Environmental program is out there.

Have you looked into Science Olympiad (http://soinc.org/) or Odyssey of the MInd (http://www.odysseyofthemind.com/wf2011/default.php). They are science competitions that the kids would enjoy. You could also have the students enter the Siemens We Can Change the World Competition which has students focusing on solving an environmental problem in their community.

I would also suggest that you check with your local museums. The Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago offers training to teacher for a "Science Minors" club – however, you must apply and be accepted to be trained. Also, Andrill.org offers climate change curriculum teaching ideas that could be used for an after school program. Here is a website for Andrill: http://andrill.org/education Finally, NASA offers a great program that could be used to gain ideas for daily lesson plan ideas or after school activities – NASA Explorer School or NES. http://www.nasa.gov/offices/education/programs/national/nes2/home/index.html You will need to set up an account, but it is easy to do and very worth it! There are great lesson plan ideas, along with other resources that could help. Even better – you earn points as a teacher that can be applied to super cool opportunities or additional resources. NASA occasionally sponsors/hosts NSTA webseminars on the resources within the NES or NASA education programs. Look under webseminars on the Learning Center homepage under the “Learning Resources and Opportunities” and look for NASA webseminars. They may be few and far between with summer upon us, but make sure to check back next fall and get registered. Or you can watched archived versions (same tab, just select “Archived Webseminars”.) The webseminars give you a great opportunity to watch how the lab is completed, while you are also able to network with other teachers and professionals on other ideas regarding the labs. (I love webseminars – can you tell?) :-)