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Selected Research and Resources on STEM & Afterschool

Submitted by kategoddard on Tue, 02/09/2010 - 11:11
Last updated by Tony Streit on Thu, 02/10/2011 - 17:34
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ITEST Afterschool Convening Home

In the course of preparing for the ITEST Convening Event: Defining an Afterschool Research Agenda, the ITEST Learning Resource Center (LRC) reviewed a wide variety of publications addressing issues in the STEM and afterschool fields. From this scan of the literature, the LRC has compiled this bibliography of materials for reference leading up to and during the convening.

In addition to the general topic of the integration of STEM workforce development in afterschool, the LRC has sorted literature into five potential areas of discussion for convening participants (Download PDF of all Selected Resources):

White papers are now being solicited to illuminate these and other topics; the LRC makes this collection of research and resources available to assist authors in developing their articles.

The intent of this collection is to reference background materials that provide rich context for an examination of STEM workforce development, informal learning, and afterschool programs, as well as to identify topical research and other resources that can inform the effort to define an afterschool research agenda.

To be included, resources must address issues (identified as areas of discussion above) that are fundamental to this inquiry into STEM learning afterschool. It was also important to find complementary resources that covered various dimensions of an issue (i.e., research related to different groups in the subtopic on engaging under-represented groups). Further, the LRC sought to include National Science Foundation-funded research and publications by ITEST Program principal investigators.

In all, the selected resources include articles in peer-reviewed journals, evaluation reports, research summaries, government-issued reports, books, commissioned white papers, issue briefs, best practices guides, position papers, and various online publications.

The vast majority of resources in this collection were culled from a few key sources:

    • Preparing Tomorrow’s STEM Workforce through Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers, a publication of the ITEST LRC (2009)
    • Bibliography compiled by the ITEST afterschool interest group, with an emphasis on publications authored by ITEST PIs
    • Learning Science in Informal Environments: People, Places, and Pursuits by the National Research Council (2009)
    • Literature Review compiled by the Coalition for Science Afterschool, the leading advocacy organization for science in afterschool
    • Afterschool Matters, a national peer-reviewed journal published by the National Institute on Out-of-School Time
    • New Directions for Youth Development: Theory, Practice, and Research, a quarterly publication focusing on contemporary issues challenging the field of youth development

Other resources were identified via Google web search, using “STEM” and “afterschool” for search terms, plus key words associated with the subtopics, such as “program design,” “professional development,” and “sustain.”

Please note that resources have been categorized in the subtopic most closely related to their content, though they may also pertain to other subtopics.

Additional research and articles of importance identified by white paper authors will be added and shared with participants at the convening, and more broadly via the LRC website. Suggestions for other resources are welcomed.