Afterschool Webinar:

About this webinar:

Following up on our webinar last month, “Equity in Making and Tinkering,” we’re going to take a step back and examine the current research on making and tinkering for K-12 learners. Many of us have questions about the learning outcomes and goals for making and tinkering in afterschool and how educators can best facilitate these experiences.

The Relating Research to Practice project has just released a new resource. This Connected Collection synthesizes of-the-moment science education topics and comes with a bundle of research briefs that provide multiple examples and ongoing challenges for busy education professionals to consider as they seek to improve learning environments for youth.

For this webinar, you’ll want to read the Connected Collection “Tinkering in STEM Education” along with each of the five one-page research briefs in the collection. If you have time, you may want to skim the “Equity in Science Education” collection, as we’ll definitely touch on the intersections of equity and tinkering. Come ready with your questions for our guest researchers, which can be about any of the briefs included in the collection, theoretical OR practical questions about tinkering and making, or just about research in general. We will make time to address, as a group, the discussion questions featured in the collection (see page 2, “What do you think?).

This type of webinar is a new format for us, and we envision an engaging dialogue with our guest researchers and among the participants! If you have questions, please email Melissa Ballard, STEM Manager at the Afterschool Alliance.

Speakers:

• Dr. Molly Shea, Director, Center for Informal Learning And Schools, Exploratorium
• Dr. Jean Ryoo, Project Director, California Tinkering Network and Postdoctoral Researcher, Exploratorium
• Melissa Ballard, STEM Manager, Afterschool Alliance

Resources and links:

• Webinar Presentation (PowerPoint)
• Webinar Recording
• Documents:
  • Connected Collection on Equity in Science Education
  • Connected Collection on Tinkering in STEM Education
  • Equity in Out-of-School STEM Learning: Professional Development Needs and Strategies
• Previous webinar from May 2015 with a focus on classroom strategies, Equity in Making and Tinkering
• Upcoming Coursera course, Tinkering Fundamentals: A Constructionist Approach to STEM Learning (starts July 22!)
• Further reading from the California Tinkering Afterschool Network