Advancing the Conversation on Scaling National Informal STEM Programs

STEM programs in libraries, afterschool programs, and other informal learning settings offer unique opportunities for introducing young people to STEM. They can also empower young people to see themselves as changemakers in their communities. Yet scaling up those programs is no easy task, and program developers often struggle with issues of context, power, and equity when expanding their initiatives to new and larger audiences.

With funding from the National Science Foundation, EDC and the National Girls Collaborative Project (NGCP) have partnered to examine the issue of equitably scaling up informal STEM education programs. The work aims to help funders, program developers, researchers, evaluators, and program implementers better understand the contexts within which scaling takes place, and to engage the field to address the challenges and opportunities of scaling with equity in mind.