Youth as Citizen Scientists: Data, Insight and Action through Service-Learning

KIDS Consortium, in collaboration with the Maine Mathematics and Science Alliance (MMSA), will engage middle level students and community partners in high quality service-learning projects in the STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) disciplines. Students will explore environmental and health issues and needs in their schools and, with guidance from their teachers, identify a problem they want to solve.

Projects topics will focus on “Green” schools and communities, such as: energy efficiency; recycling; sustainable food/gardens; use of chemicals; and car and bus idling and air quality impacts. Projects will be aligned with appropriate state and national STEM standards.

During the first year of the grant, a “Design Team” of experienced middle level STEM service-learning practitioners is collaborating with KIDS and MMSA to integrate innovative, research-based instructional strategies into service-learning experiences they are facilitating with their students. One focus is to explore how middle level students collect, analyze and apply data to authentic problems in their schools and communities. Based on their work, Design Team members will create professional development sessions and support materials to be shared with peers in subsequent years.

In Year Two of the grant, “Expansion” Schools in Albany, New York; New Bedford, Massachusetts; Northern Maine (Presque Isle and Ashland); and Washington West Supervisory Union, Vermont will participate in training and project implementation with students.

The project will also create a new publication that will provide guidance for middle level educators on high quality service-learning experiences that focus on the STEM content areas. Summaries of pilot projects will be created and shared with middle level practitioners through the KIDS Consortium and MMSA websites, as well as national websites such as the National Service-Learning Clearinghouse and the National Science Teachers Association. The project will also engage nationally recognized service-learning and STEM evaluators from Brandeis University to help project partners understand the impacts of this initiative on middle level students (e.g. civic engagement, academic engagement, STEM knowledge and skills; and aspirations for higher education), teachers and community partners.