According
to the Massachusetts Science and Technology Curriculum Frameworks, all students
should be able "to investigate and demonstrate methods of scientific inquiry and
experimentation." To meet this objective, new ways are needed to engage young
people in inquiry-rich experiences that capture their interest and imaginations.
In 1997 the Computer Clubhouse launched Beyond
Black Boxes: Scientific Inquiry at the Computer Clubhouse, a unique initiative
supported in part by the Massachusetts Cultural Council's Science in the Community
Program. Beyond Black Boxes has had a powerful impact on nearly 200 inner-city
girls, increasing their scientific knowledge and literacy, building their self-confidence,
influencing future career plans, and expanding their horizons. A collaboration
with the Patriots' Trail Girl Scout Council (PTGSC), BBB has generated a high
degree of family involvement, suggesting the girls have inspired not only themselves
but others in their network of family and friends.
To build on the experience and lessons learned of Beyond Black
Boxes, and to reach even more young people from under-served communities
in even more compelling ways, the Computer Clubhouse Network at the Museum of
Science, with partial support from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, has launched
Beyond Four Walls: The Computer Clubhouse as Invention Studio. A collaboration
with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston (BGCB), Beyond Four Walls develops
activities that allow youth to learn through design, invention, and self-discovery.
The project aims to attract and engage youth with different interests and skills,
to offer multiple entry points and different avenues for their involvement,
and to blend the natural world with the world of design and invention. The objectives
are to:
- Introduce under-served youth to scientific inquiry and experimentation
in ways that feel relevant to them;
- Inspire and empower inner-city youth to take risks, believe in themselves,
and expand their horizons, including exploring potential career choices in
scientific and technical fields;
- Provide caring adult role models as mentors and coaches; and
- Provide educators a model for the use of technology as tools for design,
scientific experimentation, self-expression, creativity, and collaboration.
The Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston are serving as hosts for the project. It is beginning
as a pilot in one Club and will be rolled out to all five of the Boston Clubs
over time. Sessions are planned in the Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter of each
of three grant years. Each session will accommodate approximately 12 participants.
Youth will spend at least one afternoon a week in the Computer Clubhouse, in other
areas of the Club engaged in their projects, or on field trips. Participants keep
journals about their work and will document their activities on the Beyond
Four Walls Web site.
Beyond
Four Walls is designed to reach out to youth who might not think of themselves
as interested in science and technology, but who have a natural curiosity about
the things that interest them. Youth can use scientific inquiry in every area
of a Boys & Girls Club. In the gym or on the playing field, they can investigate
why a football's shape and spin enable it to travel straight for long distances,
why a curve ball curves, and why the arch on a basketball contributes to its
chances of going in the hoop. In the Games Room, youth can analyze the math
and physics of the game of pool and design a "virtual" game that simulates the
trajectories, spin, and speed of the balls as they travel across the pool table.
Youth in the Club's Arts program can design kites that not only are attractive
but also contain instruments that allow them to measure atmospheric conditions
at different altitudes. Some youth might decide to work together with a staff
member or mentor to create a garden at their Club. Some could take charge of
preparing and planting the garden, while others might film the entire process
for a documentary, which could be produced in the Clubhouse using video-editing
tools. Youth might also interview landscape designers or organize "job shadow"
days to learn about career possibilities. Over the course of the project's lifetime,
participants could monitor their garden's progress in various ways, through
data collection and analysis, scientific journal entries, photography, video,
and a Web site.
Because Beyond Four Walls takes science-based activities
outside the four walls of the Computer Clubhouse into all areas of the Club
and the physical world around it, the initiative reaches not only the youth
who participate but also members of their family, staff throughout the Clubs,
and members of the community as a whole. The Computer Clubhouse Network also
plans to document project activities and share them with other Clubhouses and
Boys & Girls Clubs, so that others can organize their own scientific design
and inquiry projects.