Building Bridges Building Bridges After school programs can

Building Bridges

Building Bridges After school programs can provide: ¢ an environment in which children can practice ways of learning and behaving that will help them succeed during the school day a complement to school by providing lots of opportunities for young people to make decisions and solve problems, rather than being told what to do and how to do it ¢

Connect Fun and Learning ¢ Engaging Activities - explore new ideas and develop new skills - appeal to wide range of academic abilities - tools/activities support simple to complex tasks ¢ Variety of Sources of Motivation - play - peer interaction - learning Hands-on Activities ¢ Voluntary Participation ¢

Connect to the Learner ¢ Set Their Own Goals - develop and work towards articulated goals - activities involve projects rather than set curricula Freedom to Follow Interests ¢ Build on Concrete Experiences ¢ Incorporate Inquiry-based Strategies ¢

Peer Interaction Learning occurs through social interaction ¢ Share and teach others what you have learned ¢ A source of motivation for staying engaged in the program ¢

Coordinated Program ¢ Well developed structure - need to adapt to a mix of factors that influence daily procedures ¢ Knowledgeable and Supportive Staff - understand developmental abilities of young people - accommodate different learning styles - professional development needed ¢ Assess Program to Adapt to Changing Environment

Algebra Project ¢ Purpose: develops and implements curricular interventions that build on experiences students find interesting-and understand intuitively-to help them shift from arithmetic to algebraic thinking ¢ Process: - Participate in a physical event - Make a pictorial (graphic) representation or models of the event - Discuss and write about the event in intuitive language - Discuss and write about the event in structured language - Develop symbolic representations of key features of the event, make a presentation to the class and apply the representation

After School Science Plus ¢ Purpose: facilitate inquiry-based science activities that are fun to do and develop higher-order thinking skills such as problem-solving, creative-thinking, decisionmaking, and spatial relations ¢ Structure: - uses simple materials that are low cost and readily available - uses science to promote literacy through writing and oral communication stemming from science activities - creates opportunities for students to see science as part of their everyday experiences

Fifth Dimension ¢ Model Basics: - a mixed activity program of education and play - a cultural system decides the social constitution through rules, artifacts, division of labor, and jointly constructed outcomes - promotes collaboration in which the roles of teacher and participant are flexibly shared - encourages the formulation of personal goals through recurrent choices, including participation, activities, and level of expertise - expanded activities create occasions for reflection on problem solving efforts through dialogue and writing

Fifth Dimension Organizing Tools ¢ Task Cards: an auxiliary means to order function of software ¢ The Maze: a virtual space containing games and tasks which are official parts of the program ¢ Mythical Figurehead: has the power to decide disputes rather than the adults

Computer Clubhouse Network ¢ Model Basics - encourages young people to work as designers, inventors, and creators - youth work on projects related to their own interests - program offers resources and opportunities to those who would not otherwise have access to them - members work closely with adult mentors: students and professionals in fields such as art, science, education or technology who share their experiences and serve as role models

Computer Clubhouse Network Pilot Programs ¢ ¢ Beyond Four Walls: science-based activities involving the physical world designed for the child to become meaningfully involved in scientific inquiry, not only using tools to gather, analyze, and interpret data, but also designing their own scientific investigations and defining the space in which those investigations take place Beyond Black Boxes: initiative to engage girls in scientific and technological inquiry in a relevant and inviting way

Technological Fluency ¢ Definition: National Research Council defines fluency as the ability to reformulate knowledge, to express oneself creatively and appropriately, and to produce and generate information ¢ Impact on Informal Learning: ¢ Programming and Fluency: positioned to motivate children into new technologies by helping them to design, create, and invent with new technologies NRC reports that skills associated with programming play a central role in fluency

A place to explore new ideas and develop new skills