Skip to main content
Article
NE STEM 4U afterschool intervention leads to gains in STEM content knowledge for middle school youth
Cogent Education
  • Christine E. Cutucache, University of Nebraska at Omaha
  • Taylor Boham, University of Nebraska at Omaha
  • Jamie Luhr, University of Nebraska at Omaha
  • Amie Sommers, University of Nebraska at Omaha
  • Nikolaus Stevenson, University of Nebraska at Omaha
  • Erkko Sointu, University of Eastern Finland
  • Kati Mäkitalo‐Siegl, University of Eastern Finland
  • Sirpa Kärkkäinen, University of Eastern Finland
  • Teemu Valtonen, University of Eastern Finland
  • Neal Grandgenett, University of Nebraska at Omaha
  • William Tapprich, University of Nebraska at Omaha
Author ORCID Identifier

Christine Cutucache

Document Type
Article
Publication Date
12-24-2018
Disciplines
Abstract

Afterschool interventions in STEM are linked to learning gains during the school day. These opportunities engage and excite students about STEM concepts since they observe a more hands-on, project-oriented approach. Often these opportunities for afterschool interventions are infrequent in nature and leave gaps for students in their maturation and understanding. Herein we describe the first report of an afterschool intervention, named NE STEM 4U, targeting socioeconomically disadvantaged middle school youth via a twice weekly, year-long intervention, studied across two years. We assessed the impact of this program on i.) short-term, individual student gains in STEM content knowledge and ii.) delivery of the program in terms of appropriateness for age group and content using the DoS observation tool. We observed statistically significant gains in STEM content knowledge over short-term assessment using a multiple-group, pre-test post-test research design comparing scores in content before and after the intervention. In this report, we highlight the impact of this nascent program in Omaha Public Schools.

Comments

© 2019 The Author(s). This open access article is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 license.

https://doi.org/10.1080/2331186X.2018.1558915

Creative Commons License
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
Citation Information
Christine E. Cutucache, Taylor Boham, Jamie Luhr, Amie Sommers, et al.. "NE STEM 4U afterschool intervention leads to gains in STEM content knowledge for middle school youth" Cogent Education Vol. 5 Iss. 1 (2018) p. 1 - 12
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/christine-cutucache/18/