Science Explorations - An after school program for girls
The Science Explorations After-School program is a targeted, selective-service program:
- Geared towards inner-city, middle school girls, a group at risk for underachievement in science and technology
- Designed as an intervention to change current trends for middle school girls regarding science interest and ability
- Targets minority students
- Targets students that don't otherwise have access to resources, equipment and programs such as this
Partner Schools
Milwaukee Public Museum is an urban institution, centrally located in downtown Milwaukee. The after-school program works with five Milwaukee schools, composed primarily of urban minority students. Our partner schools are Towbridge, O.K., Notre Dame, Longfellow, and Lincoln Middle School of the Arts.
- Students participate in four sessions over three years
- Entomology (6th grade)
- Geology (6th grade)
- Ecology (7th grade)
- Genetics (8th grade)
- Sessions include
- Visits to museum exhibits
- Working with museum scientists
- Variety of hands-on activities
- Use of technology
- Sample Activities
- Entomology
- Insect anatomy: build-a-bug
- Live butterfly observations
- Geology
- Fossil formation
- Cake coring
- Ecology
- Building terrariums
- Dissecting owl pellets
- Genetics
- Survey of dominant and recessive traits
- DNA Earrings
- Reinforcement and Assessment
- Girls prepare and present hands-on education to families, teachers, and museum visitors
- Entomology
Participants Served
A total of 400 girls have participated in the program in its first six years. In the 2007-08 academic year, the Science Explorations Program has served over 100 girls.
Capstone Field Experience
Among the first group of girls to graduate from the 3-year program, ten girls participated in a 7-day capstone field experience to study the tropical rainforest ecosystem and biodiversity, at the Tirimbina Rainforest Center in Costa Rica. There they experienced many of the concepts studied throughout the program, such as plant and animal biodiversity, adaptations and genetic variation, the role of geology in biome formation and structure, and close-up insect study. The second group of graduates had the opportunity to travel to Archbold research station in central Florida, to experience and study the scrub ecosystem.
- An independently conducted evaluation of the program shows that among participants, significant increases are evident in:
- GPA
- Overall Science Knowledge
- Overall Science Confidence
- Perceived Importance of Science
- Ongoing Support from Family
- I know more things about science. That the middle part is the hardest part of the earth and that's where lava is found.
- I liked it all and the stuff about cells.
- I think I would like to become a scientist.
- I like the program and especially when we are looking through the microscope. It's like being a real scientist. You have to get a little more experience to see what it is like. I liked what I saw so far. I think the more I know the more respect I get from my friends.
- I got a good grade and had learned new things.
- I learned about rocks, minerals, volcanoes, earthquakes, and the Wisconsin fossil. I got to have fun, and we got to do activities.
- I liked it when we went to go learn about the exhibits.
- I liked learning about biomes, because it was fun.
- I liked the field trip when we saw snakes.
- My teachers are fun and we get to learn about stuff we never learned before.
For the 2007-08 school year Science Explorations donors include:
- R.A. Stevens Foundation
- Harley-Davidson Foundation
- Badger Meter
- A. O. Smith
- Pieper Foundation
- Woman's Club of Wisconsin
- H.H. Camp Foundation
- Koeppen-Gerlach Foundation
- Charles-Jacobus Foundation