Sounds like a great project! Can you point us more information about the project? I found this:
http://depts.washington.edu/uw3dl/post/studio-b...

- One of the big things I’ve struggled with in out-of-school programs is making sure that students who are underrepresented in STEM don’t opt out of these out-of-school opportunities. How do you address recruitment? For example, how do you ensure girls are participating?

Thanks!
- Colleen

Really good question Colleen! At Digital NEST we’re also working with underrepresented students and we’ve certainly had our challenges with youth opting out! But we’ve also been tremendously successful – for example, our youth Membership is almost 40% female. For us, the “secret sauce” is starting with positive youth development – in particular developing long-term relationships with youth, youth partnerships and creating a space that youth identify with. This takes constant work and commitment, but it works.

Leslie, I liked your comment in the video about diversity in the field. Because the Digital NEST is working for economic justice, we’re focused on making the argument for diversity in the workplace: http://stemforall2016.videohall.com/presentatio...
I just read an interesting article about the business case for diversity NOT being the usual argument – immediate benefits to product development, market analysis and innovation – but rather that societies with greater social cohesion tend to be more economically prosperous: https://hbr.org/2016/04/were-making-the-wrong-c...

Hi Colleen and Steve,
Thanks for your great questions and comments to spark discussion and sharing! Building from what Steve said, we also have a strong youth development model at the center of STUDIO that supports relationship building that in turn supports youth recruitment and retention. Our program is located within Neighborhood House, a trusted multi-service community based organization that serves many community needs in addition to youth STEM learning. This is also critical to our success with youth. You can learn more about our model using this link to the STELAR webinar that discussed the recent NSF Smart & Connected Communities Initiative. http://stelar.edc.org/events/stelar-webinar-sma...

First off, I’m really proud to know that such great work is happening at my alma mater — Go Huskies!

Secondly, I’m wondering a few things about the curriculum: 1) Who writes the curriculum? and 2) How much influence do students have over its direction?

Great video! I would love to learn more about the way you recruit and support mentors in the program and what learning looks like across the different individuals in the room. I think it is wonderful to hear how mentors both support youth in the program, but also describe learning more about inequities experienced by youth while mentoring in the program. Do you have professional development opportunities for the mentors to support the learning they experience as well?

What a great project! When it comes to out-of-school learning, I’m a big fan, but also curious how/if you make connections back to what is going on in school. In the spirit of “Connected Learning,” do you make attempts to synchronize what you are doing with what students are learning in school?

Hi Barry! Thanks for watching the video and for the important question. We agree that linking learning in and out of school is really important. This can be a complicated process for us because our youth do not always feel fully supported to learn STEM in school. In STUDIO we provide learning opportunities (both content and process) that help them recruit their own personal and cultural resources. We are working hard to explicitly name this work “STEM” and connect it to “STEM” that happens in other parts of their lives. At the same time as we work with youth to see the “STEM in them” across contexts, we also need to connect directly with their teachers to help them learn about the inquiries and projects that the youth are completing in Studio. We haven’t done as much of this as any of us would like but it is something that we have in our sights as an important goal for next year.

Thanks for the thoughtful responses, Leslie and Meixi. I wish there great examples of how to do this… but it’s one of the truly difficult problems. Karen Brennan of Harvard cast it really well in talking about the challenge of introducing Scratch, a programming environment that thrives in informal environments, into school. The tension was between agency (a feature of informal learning) and structure (a feature of formal education). We’re still looking for good ways to balance this tension.

Hi Leslie and Meixi, What an important project you folks are doing! The cross-age process that Meixi described is really important, I think, as a way of generating deeper understanding. Barbara

I love the commitment that I see in this video from those working with the young people—I hope more community people will learn about such programs and want to contribute.

Thank you all so much for your interest in our project. It is a project that is truly inspiring to work on. I work for the community based organization, Neighborhood House, and it truly makes a huge difference having the partnership with the University. Having multiple perspectives on this project allows us to address many of the discussed topics and other challenges in unique ways. It is a great program that has had significant impact on the High Point community in a short amount of time.