Did you have this much fun learning science in middle school? Science Club offers a new approach to urban science education, designed around long-term mentoring relationships. It integrates community expertise from the Boys & Girls Clubs of Chicago, dedicated teachers from Chicago Public Schools, and engaging scientist mentors from Northwestern University to form a powerful educational team.
On a weekly basis throughout the year, youth work in small groups with Northwestern scientists on fun, engaging curricula designed to foster creativity, critical thinking, writing, and analytic skills. Mentor-youth relationships persist from quarter to quarter and year to year, creating bonds and deeper learning that will last a lifetime.
Mentors benefit tremendously from the experience, too. They learn advanced teaching skills, strategies to design curriculum, and evaluation techniques that prepare them to be engaged scientists and informal science education leaders.
Science Club truly makes a difference:
- Each child in Science Club receives 50 hours of mentor-led, engaging, and challenging science instruction throughout the academic year. In many cases, this doubles the amount of classroom science instruction received in school
- The average student's time in the program is over one year; some students have been in the program for more than four years
- Rigorous evaluation data collected over the last three years at three separate schools show a dramatic increase of 40% in science skills compared to well-matched controls
- Science Club alumni are choosing pre-health career tracks in high school, including nursing, pharmacy, and medicine
- Mentors report significantly higher skills in science communication, teaching, and program development
Visit us online at scienceclub.northwestern.edu
Science Club is an educational research study made possible by a Science Education Partnership Award (SEPA) from the National Institutes of Health (#R25OD011033-05 IRB #STU13112)
Science Club - Inspiring Chicago Youth
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Science ClubBoys & Girls Clubs of ChicagoInformal science educationscienceeducationout of school timeNorthwestern UniversityNorthwesternChicago Public SchoolsUrban youthengineeringbiomedical engineeringprostheticsscientistmentorinquiry based sciencedesignafter school programChicagoMcCormick Boys & Girls ClubSEPANational Institutes of Healthscience education