 By Sam Piha An important part of engaged learning is ensuring that the learning experience is active. We know that young people tend to be wiggly and need to be physically active and that they learn best when they are allowed to learn by “doing”. We also know that they are more difficult to manage when we allow them to be who they are, and hands-on projects are messier and pose greater challenges in planning and implementing activities. It is important that we accept the need for young people to be active learners and take on the challenge of designing activities that meet these needs. What does new brain science tell us about active learning? As the neuroimaging evidence has shown, the more a student is engaged in a learning activity, especially one with multiple sensory modalities, the more parts of his/her brain are actively stimulated. When this occurs in a positive emotional setting, without stress and anxiety, the result is greater long-term, relational, and retrievable learning.” – Dr. Judy Willis, Neurologist and Classroom Teacher  What ACTIVE learning looks like:
Four things program leaders can do to begin promoting active learning: 1. Explore and assess: It is important that you take the time with your staff to explore and assess your alignment with this first learning principle. 2. Project-based learning: If your program is lacking the use of this teaching and learning method, offer a training in project-based learning for your staff. Try adding one club that features project-based learning. The Sunset Neighborhood Beacon Center in San Francisco, CA features a large number of project-based clubs for their middle school youth. They published a great guide entitled The Best of Both Worlds: Aligning Afterschool Programs with Youth Development Principles and Academic Standards. Click here to purchase. 3. Promoting positive behavior: When young people are physically active and engaged in hands-on activities, they become excited. It is important that program staff are skilled in behavior management, which is often the result of good training. You can contact Temescal Associates if you wish help in offering a training in promoting positive behavior. 4. Activity planning: Active learning requires that activities are carefully planned and the right materials are available to ensure the activity is a success. It can be very useful to require that program staff develop clear lesson plans that articulate the sequence of the activity and activity directions and list the needed materials. This takes time and it is important that the organization provides staff with training and additional time to develop these plans. Below is a good program example of active learning:  Techbridge; Oakland, San Lorenzo, Fremont, and Concord School Districts; (Grades 6 – 8) Techbridge offers hands-on summer academies that inspire middle school youth (particularly girls and those underrepresented in STEM) a chance to explore science, technology, and engineering. Curriculum is developed with girls in mind, and includes projects like remotely operated vehicles where girls design and construct their own remotely operated boats and test them out on water; Electrical Engineering, where girls build solar night lights and learn to solder; Cleantech, where girls build solar cells and learn about renewable energy; and AppInventor, where students use creativity and technology to create their own Android app. In addition to the learning being very active, the youth also expand their horizons as staff provide career exploration to help students make the connection between STEM projects and careers. Role models and field trips are key to their success.
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 Rebecca Fabiano By Guest Blogger Rebecca Fabiano Bryan Belknap has worked at the McPherson branch of the Free Library of Philadelphia since 2015. The McPherson branch provides a safe haven for children in the Kensington area of North Philadelphia, PA, which is known as the epicenter of the opioid crisis in Philadelphia. Bryan is the Lead Maker Jawn Instructor with the library. Jawn is a Philly colloquialism to mean just about anything (space, things, place, person, etc.). Monday through Thursday children and teens can drop in to the library’s Maker Jawn space. I’ve known Bryan for a couple of years and hold him in high regard. Earlier this summer he dropped the term HOMAGO in one of our conversations “HO, what,” I thought? I had to know more. This is what I learned from our conversation where he schooled me on this framework: “HO-MA-GO” comes from the field of youth media and is an approach that Bryan and his colleagues at the Free Library of Philadelphia have been utilizing for the past couple of years.
 McPherson Square Library- Source: whyy.org “HOMAGO fits well at this particular library because its structure provides a safe place for youth to be, and the neighborhood is often unsafe for residents of all ages,” says Bryan. He goes on to say: “Providing a safe place has always been the top priority, and you’re [youth] free to come in here and you can get comfortable here and feel safe here you can just come hang out. There’s no additional requirement other than contributing to the atmosphere of safety and welcoming.” And while Bryan received training on HOMAGO from the Free Library when he started, they’re not just using it related to youth media, but more an approach to youth engagement. HOMAGO is backed by research, which demonstrates high retention of learning, development of problem-solving skills, and critical thinking skills. Though they are a drop-in program, offering clubs and ‘free’ time in the Maker Jawn, the participants attendance tends to be cyclical, it is also predictable. In fact, HOMAGO aligns well with the three core protective factors developed by using a Positive Youth Development framework: positive relationships (hang out), clear, fair and high expectations (mess around, understanding how to use the materials and tools) and opportunities to connect, navigate and to be productive (geek out). While I visited Bryan, I saw several of the projects the participants were working on including a jacket a young person had taught herself how to make through trial and error, getting to know how to use the sewing machine, watching YouTube videos and lots of encouragement.  Source: springboardexchange.org To facilitate HOMAGO, they set up work stations with sewing machines, cardboard, hot glue guns with popsicle sticks, snap circuits are always out and something messy like slime or painting. There’s also a computer where youth can play video games, which they usually do in a small group huddled around the computer. Having these all out all the time, youth see each other messing around and get inspired to try new things.
Things to consider if you want to try HOMAGO at your drop-in or afterschool program: · Learning and exploring is self-directed by the participants · There’s a lot of organized chaos; what makes it organized is the clear expectations for how to use the space, the tools and materials. ……………. Rebecca Fabiano, MS in education, is the founder and president of Fab Youth Philly, a small, woman-owned business that supports youth-serving organizations and serves as a lab to create programming for and with youth.  By Sam Piha In Part 1 of The Science of Learning and Development, we discussed the importance of this new science. Below we continue our interview with Dr. Deborah Moroney. Dr. Moroney is the Managing Director at the American Institutes for Research (AIR), and she recently authored a briefing paper entitled, “The Science of Learning and Development in Afterschool Systems and Settings.” On December 5th, 2019, Dr. Moroney will serve as our featured speaker at an upcoming Speaker’s Forum. She will be joined by Jeff Davis (California Afterschool Network), Dr. Femi Vance (AIR), and a youth worker and an afterschool participant from the All Stars Project of the San Francisco Bay Area.  Dr. Deborah Moroney Below is the continuation of our interview with Dr. Deborah Moroney. Q: Your brief emphasizes the importance of relational settings. Can you describe what you mean by this? A: I do think there is a lot to unpack in that term. First, we all can agree relationships are important – even primary to learning and development. No one disagrees with that, but we need to first make them explicit and define actionable strategies to bolster relationships to be meaningful, reciprocal, and mutually respectful. Many of us have had that one teacher or youth worker that changed our lives in some really big way. I certainly did – he was a counselor at a camp where I had a made-up apprenticeship after I aged out of the program. Not only did this counselor create an age appropriate way for me to engage in the camp, but he provided opportunities for me to be a leader in a scaffolded way, try new things, and build skills in areas I was interested in. We spent time daily reflecting on these experiences. The first idea here is that relationships are intentional – and not the result of happy accidents. Secondly, relationships are more than a set of interactions. They take place in settings that offer the conditions for those relationships to thrive. Key characteristics of relational settings are those that offer both physical and emotional safety, where people’s cultures and identities are defining elements (as opposed to being acknowledged, at best), and that celebrate people’s strengths. High-quality afterschool settings are set up in their design to be relational settings. My friend David Osher and colleagues in the SoLD Alliance wrote a great paper on this – everyone should read it.  Source: earlylearningnetwork.unl.edu Q: One of your findings is “context is the defining influence on development.” Can you say more about what you mean by “context”? A: The SoLD Alliance describes context as the world around us – our experiences, environments, and cultures (SoLD Alliance, 2019). I am not sure I can do any better than that in a paraphrase. In our brief, we pay special attention to cultural competence and responsiveness as a part of context – not because other parts are less important but because a) through our quality efforts we check a lot of the context boxes, and b) because this is an area where I think we all (not just afterschool but people who work with youth) can improve as culturally responsive settings are key to establishing and maintaining contexts that are equitable for all young people. Q: What do you believe are the greatest opportunities for afterschool programs and systems implementing these important qualities you discuss in your brief? A: First, I think we have an opportunity to capitalize on the afterschool systems we have already invested in. These systems were designed to support afterschool programs in implementing the design elements articulated in SoLD. Some of these gold star systems include the intermediaries involved in the Every Hour Counts partners and cities (including California’s Partnership for Children and Youth), the National Afterschool Association Affiliates (which includes CalSac) and the 50 Statewide Afterschool Network (such as the California Afterschool Network). The federally funded 21st Century Community Learning Centers to have the potential to adopt and implement components of SoLD as they have other innovations in afterschool. Again, I think California has a shining example of a statewide system that partners successfully with other intermediaries to provide valued services to local programs to promote quality implementation. So we need to learn from these systems and ensure that all afterschool programs are high quality, which is foundational to the other components of SoLD. Second, we need to use these systems to promote the other aspects of SoLD where we need to grow (e.g., partnering with other service systems, developmental fit, cultural responsiveness) through professional development for staff. Third, we need to support staff by providing them with stable career pathways and incentives for professional learning. We cannot continue to innovate as a field if we cannot support the adults who are so critical to fostering youth learning and development. We have an opportunity to up our game here on behalf of young people, but we have to start with staff.  Source: Temescal Associates ............................
Dr. Deborah Moroney is the Managing Director, American Institutes of Research (AIR). She specializes in bridging research and practice, having worked as a staff member for out-of-school programs early in her career. She's written practitioner and organizational guides; co-authored the fourth edition of “Beyond the Bell®, A Toolkit for Creating High-Quality Afterschool and Expanded Learning Programs,” a seminal afterschool resource; and co-edited Creating Safe, Equitable, Engaging Schools: A Comprehensive, Evidence-Based Approach to Supporting Students and Social and Emotional Learning in Out-of-School Time Foundations and Futures. Presently, Dr. Moroney serves as the principal investigator on national studies of afterschool initiatives.  By Sam Piha There has been a great deal of effort in research, policy, and practice to promote systems and settings that support whole-child efforts, including the Science of Learning and Development (SoLD) Alliance. While many of these efforts are geared toward K–12 education, the youth development field is translating the learnings for afterschool systems and settings. Dr. Deborah Moroney is the Managing Director at the American Institutes for Research (AIR), and she recently authored a briefing paper entitled, “The Science of Learning and Development in Afterschool Systems and Settings.” This brief includes: • Select findings from the SoLD Alliance’s efforts; • Relevant, actionable key takeaways for the youth development field in afterschool; • Suggestions for practical ways to support high-quality afterschool systems and settings; and • Outlines the elements of developmentally rich contexts that foster learning and healthy development.  Many of the practical applications of SoLD findings for afterschool systems and settings will be familiar to students of youth development frameworks (see the YD Guide 2.0). The emphasis on the need for systems to invest in professional development (PD) opportunities and tools is particularly important as funds for PD are drying up. Dr. Moroney will serve as our featured speaker at an upcoming Speaker’s Forum. She will be joined by Jeff Davis (California Afterschool Network), Dr. Femi Vance (AIR), and a youth worker and an afterschool participant from the All Stars Project of the San Francisco Bay Area.  Dr. Deborah Moroney
Below Dr. Moroney responded to some of our interview questions. In Part 2, our next blog post, we will share the rest of Dr. Moroney's responses to our questions. Q: What can you tell us about SoLD? A: The SoLD Alliance is a partnership of leading education research, practice, and policy organizations dedicated to using the lessons learned from SoLD to drive equity and excellence in the education system. The SoLD Alliance does this by identifying and translating key lessons from SoLD. The governing partner organizations of the SoLD Alliance include AIR (this is where I work), EducationCounsel, Forum for Youth Investment, Learning Policy Institute, Populace, and Turnaround for Children. The SoLD Alliance began working together in 2016 based on the hypothesis that the emerging lessons from SoLD could provide important insights on the best ways to educate and support young people. Since then the SoLD Alliance has convened leading scientists and education experts across fields to triangulate and translate those insights for education practice and policy. It is a significant and important contribution to our field(s) and one that I am humble to have a peripheral role in my position in the youth development practice area where that work “lives” at AIR. At AIR, we work together to ensure we are supporting the positive development of young people both in and out-of-school. As the SoLD work evolved, I was eager to ensure that the valuable contributions from the SoLD Alliance would be applied to the fields where young people live, play, and learn that are outside of the traditional school day- community based and summer programs, afterschool, juvenile justice, and child welfare to name a few. Q: Why did you think it was important to focus on afterschool settings and systems? A: The SoLD findings and related initiatives have the potential to meaningfully inform – and perhaps even change – the ways educators create conditions for teaching and learning. Children and youth spend more than 80% of their time outside of school (Afterschool Alliance, 2019) – and we know that afterschool settings provide key developmental opportunities for young people. It only made sense to apply the SoLD learnings to afterschool. Plus, my afterschool friends were asking for it. They saw themselves in the work. To be continued in Part 2. ADDITIONAL RESOURCES TO LEARN MORE: • The Science of Learning and Development Alliance • The Science of Learning and Development: Initial Findings • The Science of Learning and Development (video) • Meet the Expert: Deborah Moroney • Afterschool and Expanded Learning at AIR ............................ Dr. Deborah Moroney is the Managing Director, American Institutes of Research (AIR). She specializes in bridging research and practice, having worked as a staff member for out-of-school programs early in her career. She's written practitioner and organizational guides; co-authored the fourth edition of “Beyond the Bell®, A Toolkit for Creating High-Quality Afterschool and Expanded Learning Programs,” a seminal afterschool resource; and co-edited Creating Safe, Equitable, Engaging Schools: A Comprehensive, Evidence-Based Approach to Supporting Students and Social and Emotional Learning in Out-of-School Time Foundations and Futures. Presently, Dr. Moroney serves as the principal investigator on national studies of afterschool initiatives. |
AuthorSam Piha is the founder and principal of Temescal Associates, a consulting group dedicated to building the capacity of leaders and organizations in education and youth development. Archives
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