Afterschool educators know the power of providing opportunities for youth to make real-world connections to what they are learning - of closing the gap between knowledge and application. When a young person sees how their skills could be used in a career, or how their efforts can make a noticeable difference in their community, these can be the sparks needed to ignite that young person’s curiosity about a subject they struggle with or have come to believe is out of their reach. Sitka Sound Science Center’s Science With Math afterschool program set out to make this connection possible for mathematics and Middle School students, using a new funding source from a competitive out-of-school time learning grant.
Sitka Sound Science Center was one of only eight programs to receive the maximum award of $100,000 from the New York Life Aim High Grant, a grant which received over 470 applications nationwide. The Aim High Grant invests funding in Out-of-School Time programs to help students transition successfully from middle school to high school. We spoke with Sitka Sound Science Center’s Education Director, Janet Clarke, about her vision for building opportunities for middle school aged students, the relationship between math and the transition to high school and using out of school time to make mathematics meaningful to Sitka youth.
Aiming High
Janet came across the Aim High Grant in 2019, one of the many resources and links that she received as the Education Director. “I wasn’t really searching for something like that, right?” she said. “But when I saw it - because this grant is specifically focused on strengthening the transition from middle to high school - I was really interested.” Janet’s background is as a middle school teacher, and she spoke about a central question educators for this age group face: “What can we do as educators to make that transition successful?”
“Math is essential. Once you have that going for you, all the doors are opened.”
She noted that in her years working as an educator, she came to believe that the “defining factor” in a student’s success was math. If a student couldn’t achieve necessary proficiency in math, the doors to certain science classes would close for that child. If they had to take extra mathematics support classes, they would lose a class period to take an elective of their choice. “Math is essential,” Janet says. “Once you have that going for you, all the doors are opened.”
Janet then began to formulate the idea for Science With Math, or SWiM, an afterschool program where youth could explore the diverse real-world applications of mathematics; in biology, in technology, and engineering; an idea she contrived after a friend of Janet’s mentioned that “Math finally made sense to me when I learned physics, because I saw how it could be used.” The Science Center was the perfect place to explore this science-math combination. “We have an aquarium, we have a hatchery, and we have amazing facilities,” Janet explained, “facilities we can use as launching points for math study.” With this in mind, Janet applied for the New York Life Aim High Grant in partnership with the Sitka School District, hoping to open doors for a few more Sitka youth.
STEM Role Models and Career Exploration
The main idea behind SWiM was for youth to participate in science projects that use specific and explicitly stated math skills, providing youth with the chance not only to learn math skills, but to generate excitement for the subject by helping them to see firsthand how these skills can be applied.
In the Pipes and Plumbing unit, youth learned from the Sitka Sound Science Center facility manager about the technology used to make the Sitka Aquarium function. Youth were able to build large scale models using PVC pipes and lots of water, and performed water flow experiments with these models. The time youth spent on this project developed their skills in geometry and introduced them to technical drawing. Students were also able to work with and learn from community members outside of family and school. “What we know about this age group, middle school students, is that they are ready to step into their community and receive affirmation outside of the circles that they are commonly in.” Janet says.
“I feel like my son has found a whole new way of looking at math.”
Another unit that provided this opportunity was SWiM’s Measuring Fish unit, which was “really a study in statistics, but we didn’t call it that!” Janet laughs. During spawning season at the hatchery, students counted the number of male and female chum and pink salmon, measured the length, height, and weights of each species, learned to sample eggs to create a fecundity count, and explored calculation of central tendency. “They get to do the same work and activities as the fish culturalist, the same work as a technician, and the aquaculture director,” Janet says. Students finish their project with the knowledge that they have made a meaningful contribution to a project and are completing the same tasks as their STEM role models. In this way, SWiM provided unique opportunities for career exploration and allowed math learning to take on new meaning. One parent of a SWiM student put it simply: “I feel like my son has found a whole new way of looking at math.”
Innovative Outreach
Another inventive approach to the SWiM program was their method of recruitment. Only students who were below proficient in mathematics - and who also did not have access to other resources for academic help - would be invited to join. Sitka Science Center’s partnership with the School District was key here: teachers made recommendations of students they knew who could use extra support, or whose parents were looking for ways to help their child get excited about math learning, and program coordinators called the caregivers of each middle schooler to let them know they were selected to participate in the program. This helped “create a mindset in each child of ‘I get to go’ not ‘I have to go,’” Janet explained. It also allowed staff to work with learners “work hands on, one on one, and in small groups.” Most importantly, it targeted help to the students who needed it most.
Family involvement and outreach was another important aspect of SWiM. Sitka Science Center organized three different Family events for SWiM participants, including a whale watching event, a swimming night, and an aquarium visit. Family involvement was an important component of changing young people’s perceptions of math and building STEM identity in participants. As Janet outlined, “Sometimes you hear parents say things like, “I was never that good at math either,” or “I don’t know how to help them,” in other words, expressing long standing misconceptions that math is a talent rather than a learnable skill. Family engagement can begin the process of altering entrenched negative perceptions of mathematics that caregivers and their youth may hold.
Making an Impact
The Aim High Grant allowed Sitka Sound Science Center to implement STEM programming that had a measurable impact on their students’ academic performance. Data from 7th grade testing showed that students who did not participate in SWiM showed no initial proficiency or improvement in statistics throughout the year; however, 7th graders in the SWiM cohort exhibited a growth of +3.43, indicating major improvement in this subject.
The success of the SWiM program in improving academic performance demonstrates the critical role that out-of-school time can play in helping youth recover from learning loss brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. As Janet puts it, “We are able to just look at a kid and start where they are.” It also highlights the continued need for investments in out-of-school STEM learning specifically. Youth of all ages and backgrounds deserve every opportunity to build STEM skills with hands-on learning activities, understand how STEM skills play a role in their community, and see themselves reflected in STEM roles and careers. The potential that out-of-school time has for filling learning gaps in STEM cannot be overlooked.
The Alaska Afterschool Network and Sitka Science Center would like to extend a tremendous thank you to the New York Life Foundation for their investment in Alaska’s out-of-school time STEM programming. As Janet Clarke and Sitka Sound Science Center have demonstrated, program funding opportunities like Aim High can alter the trajectory of students' academic performance and open up new possibilities in the mind of every participant. Thank you as well to Janet and everyone at Sitka Science Center for the incredible work you have done in developing and hosting the SWiM program for Sitka’s youth.