Archaeology Education for Children

2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 441-453 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeanne M. Moe
Keyword(s):  
Science Inquiry ◽  
Program Assessment ◽  
After School Programs ◽  
After School ◽  
Learning Centers ◽  
School Programs ◽  
Understanding Of Science ◽  
Inquiry Program ◽  
Informal Settings

AbstractIn the past 30 years, archaeologists have taught children and youth about the processes of archaeological inquiry and the results of archaeological research. Hundreds, if not thousands, of education programs have sprouted up over the last 30 years; some have endured, while others have faded away. Some efforts and programs are aimed at formal learning in school classrooms, while many others are based in informal settings, such as museums, outdoor learning centers, after-school programs, and many others. A few of these programs have been assessed for learning outcomes, but many others have not. For example, all Project Archaeology education materials are intensively assessed in classrooms and peer reviewed prior to release for their efficacy in teaching predetermined goals or enduring understandings. Additionally, the Project Archaeology curriculum was assessed for its efficacy in teaching conceptual understanding of science inquiry. Program assessment is critical for the long-term success and sustainability of archaeology education.

Making Volunteers

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nina Eliasoph
Keyword(s):  
After School Programs ◽  
After School ◽  
At Risk Youth ◽  
Policy Reforms ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Mandatory Training ◽  
School Programs ◽  
Grassroots Support ◽  
Adult Volunteers

Volunteering improves inner character, builds community, cures poverty, and prevents crime. We have all heard this kind of empowerment talk from nonprofit and government-sponsored civic programs. But what do these programs really accomplish? This book offers an in-depth, humorous, wrenching, and at times uplifting look inside youth and adult civic programs. The book reveals an urgent need for policy reforms in order to improve these organizations and shows that while volunteers learn important lessons, they are not always the lessons that empowerment programs aim to teach. With short-term funding and a dizzy mix of mandates from multiple sponsors, community programs develop a complex web of intimacy, governance, and civic life. The book describes the at-risk youth served by such programs, the college-bound volunteers who hope to feel selfless inspiration and plump up their résumés, and what happens when the two groups are expected to bond instantly through short-term projects. The book looks at adult “plug-in” volunteers who, working in after-school programs and limited by time, hope to become like beloved aunties to youth. It indicates that adult volunteers can provide grassroots support but they can also undermine the family-like warmth created by paid organizers. Exploring contradictions between the democratic rhetoric of empowerment programs and the bureaucratic hurdles that volunteers learn to navigate, the book demonstrates that empowerment projects work best with less precarious funding, more careful planning, and mandatory training, reflection, and long-term commitments from volunteers. The book illustrates what these programs can and cannot achieve, and how to make them more effective.

scholarly journals Active Play in ASP –A matched-pair cluster-randomized trial investigating the effectiveness of an intervention in After-school programs for supporting children’s physical activity

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kirsti Riiser ◽  
Kåre Rønn Richardsen ◽  
Anders Lund Hage Haugen ◽  
Siv Lund ◽  
Knut Løndal
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
Sedentary Behavior ◽  
First Graders ◽  
After School Programs ◽  
Matched Pair ◽  
After School ◽  
School Programs ◽  
Cluster Randomized ◽  
Sedentary Behavior Time

Abstract Background: Interventions directed at after school programs (ASPs) have the potential to support physical activity (PA) in young children. Research has indicated that interventions that emphasize competence building among the ASP staff can lead to increased PA among the children. The present study evaluates the effectiveness of the Active Play in ASP intervention—a program for ASP staff aimed at supporting physical activity physical activity among first graders in ASP. Methods: We used a matched-pair cluster randomized design and included 456 first graders from 14 schools in Norway. From these, 7 ASPs received the intervention (N = 229), while 7 acted as controls (N = 227). Measurements were taken at baseline, immediately post intervention (7 month follow-up) and after a year (19 month follow-up). The primary outcome was moderate and vigorous physical activity (MVPA), which was estimated with predefined cut points of counts per minute (CPM) and expressed as minutes/hour. Secondary outcomes were vigorous and light intensity physical activity (VPA and LPA) and sedentary behavior. The analyses of intervention effects were based on between-group differences in outcome changes between the 3 measurement points and were conducted using a mixed-effects model for repeated measures using categorical time. In separate models, we investigated gender, baseline body mass, and baseline CPM as potential effect modifiers. Results: The intervention yielded no significant short-term or long-term effects in mean MVPA 0.55 min/hour, (95% CI -0.29: 1.38), VPA, LPA, or sedentary behavior. However, subgroup analyses showed that the intervention group had a significant long-term reduction in sedentary behavior time -1.67 min/hour (95% CI -3.12: -0.21) among the 50% of children who were least active at baseline in comparison to the controls. Conclusions: Although the intervention did not significantly increase the mean MVPA among the children in the intervention ASPs compared to controls, it did seem to have an effect by reducing sedentary behavior time among the least active children. An even stronger emphasis on how to identify less active children and support their activity may be needed in order to increase their PA and further reduce sedentary behavior time.

Expanding after School Program Access for Vulnerable Students: Examining the Efficacy of Federal Policy and Funding

2021 ◽  
pp. 001312452110045
Author(s):  
Susan K. Klumpner ◽  
Michael E. Woolley
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
Binary Logistic Regression ◽  
After School Programs ◽  
Lower Percentage ◽  
After School ◽  
School Program ◽  
Logistic Regression Models ◽  
School Programs ◽  
After School Program ◽  
Low Income Families

After school programs provide low income students and students of color with learning opportunities across both academic and non-academic domains that such students would otherwise not get. In this study, we examined the intersection of school characteristics (e.g., enrollment size, percent minority enrolled, and percent eligible for FARM) and the types of after school programming schools offered (e.g., fee-based, 21st CCLC, and other types) using binary logistic regression models. I n a sample of schools ( n = 1,601) surveyed by the National Center on Education Statistics 2008 FRSS, we found that under-resourced schools had lower odds of having a 21st CCLC program and higher odds of having a fee-based after school program (than schools with a lower percentage of students receiving FARM). That is counter to the stated goals of the 21st CCLC program. These findings highlight the need for a re-prioritization of 21st CCLC funding such that financial assistance provided to schools to support after school programs is allocated to schools serving students from low income families and communities.

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