June 15, 2008
New NASA-funded subcontract with Jet Propulsion Labs for NIOST
The National Institute on Out-of-School Time (NIOST) at the Wellesley Centers for Women (WCW) will provide evaluation services in support of all phases of a special NASA-funded project. "From Out-of-School to Outer Space: Exploring the Solar System with NASA" combines out-of school time (OST) advisors from NIOST and NASA experts from across the agency to use research-based strategies to develop afterschool activity guides. These guides will be adapted from NASA Planetary Science formal education curricula.
The goals of the project are to:
• Enable OST professionals to provide engaging and enriching science, technology, engineering, and math experiences;
• Develop a training model to build the capabity of OST leaders;
• Develop and pilot an associated training video;
• Pilot and evaluate the training; and
• Disseminate the adapted model.
NIOST will provide evaluation services in support of all phases of the project. The team will review the adaptation of the activity guide in development, will provide input for a prelimary design of the training module and video, and will identify ways for participants to access and benefit from NASA OST offerings.
For more than 30 years, the National Institute on Out-of-School Time at the Wellesley Centers for Women has been dedicated to moving the afterschool field forward through its research, education and training, consultation, and field-building. Much of NIOST’s work has encompassed projects of national scope and influence, several representing “firsts” for the field and many focusing on building out-of-school time systems. NIOST is a program of the Wellesley Centers for Women (WCW). Since 1974, scholars at WCW have helped shape a better world through their social science research projects and training programs.
