THE RESEARCH
This Innovation Collaborative, in partnership with Texas Southern University, has completed a two-year National Science Foundation-funded study of where STEAM (Sciences, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math) is in Out-of-School Time nationally in relation to serving all students and where it would be beneficial to head next.

 

Participants

70 leading STEAM Out-of-School Time researchers and practitioners from a variety of institutions and geographical locations across the U. S. participated. Participants also joined the project from Canada and Germany.

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They Looked At

• The wide variety of Out-of-School Time learning experiences

• Youth aged early childhood through high school

• The various intersections of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) with the arts in a variety of learning settings 

• In-person experiences that were a result of specific programming.

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Topics Investigated

Participant surveys at the outset of the project determined the 7 leading topics. These were investigated in topic-based cohorts. The cohorts were:

• Belonging and Identity

• Enhancing Professional Learning Capacity for Informal Educators

• Integrating the Arts with STEM to Promote Learning and Thinking

• Intersections of Formal and Informal Learning

• STEAM Creative/Innovative Thinking 

• STEAM for All

• Understanding the Importance of Well-Being and STEAM

How Will This Research Benefit Me as a Practitioner?

This project’s Final Report will provide the important findings, recommended next steps, and further resources to explore from each of these cohorts