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Supportive community contexts are critical to positive youth development. Out-of-school time (OST) programs serve as supportive community contexts, and participation in OST programs is associated with a host of positive outcomes for youth. Cultural centers, such as museums, have been identified as potentially supportive community contexts for youth. Still, museums have been mostly absent in the broader research discussion of the role of community-based OST programs in promoting positive youth development. The current article presents a qualitative, single-case study of 37 youth between the ages of 13 and 18, the majority of whom identified with racial/ethnic identity groups traditionally underrepresented in OST program participation, in which we examined youths’ perspectives of the features of a museum-based, science-focused, youth development program that they found to be particularly supportive. Five themes emerged, including (a) the program structure, (b) meaningful opportunities and experiences offered by the program, (c) relationships with staff, (d) a positive peer culture, and (e) sense of belonging. The results provide detailed insight into how cultural centers, such as museums, can serve as supportive community contexts for youth development.
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Using historical and political understanding to design for equity in science education
Abstract In this article we studied how community educators’ designed for equity in an after school science program. Building from discussions of equity in out‐of‐school‐time (OST) science, this case study offers insight into the role of pedagogy in organizing for dignity and belonging in an after school program. This case study focused on the practices of nine Latinx community educators as they supported science practices in an after school program. Grounded in an understanding of place and the specific cultural, political, and historical densities of life in an agricultural town, the study found that educators created a space of affirmation and care that supported alternative paths to deep engagement in science. The findings add dimensionality to current discourses of equity in OST science and engineering education by examining how historical and political understanding of marginalization informed educators’ pedagogical strategies. These strategies include offering: moment‐to‐moment affirmations of young people's ideas, material and cultural generosity in the Studio, connections to political belonging through science, and extensions from community activities into the after school science inquiries. Together educators created a space of belonging that used science and engineering as entry points for creation, political expression, and intellectual expansion.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1722504
- PAR ID:
- 10124756
- Publisher / Repository:
- Wiley Blackwell (John Wiley & Sons)
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Science Education
- Volume:
- 104
- Issue:
- 1
- ISSN:
- 0036-8326
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- p. 27-49
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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