Advancing the Conversation on Scaling National Informal STEM Programs

Challenge

STEM programs in libraries, afterschool programs, and other informal learning settings offer unique opportunities to introduce young people to STEM and improve STEM learning. Yet scaling up those programs is no easy task, and program developers often struggle to expand their initiatives to new and larger audiences.

EDC and the National Girls Collaborative Project (NGCP) partnered to examine the issue of effectively scaling up informal STEM education programs. The work aimed to help funders, program developers, researchers, evaluators, and program implementers better understand the contexts within which scaling takes place, and to engage the field in addressing the challenges and opportunities of scaling.

Key Activities

The project carried out the following activities:

• Convened a national conference on scaling informal STEM programs
• Created a white paper describing essential elements for effective scaling
• Developed a self-assessment tool to help individuals effectively implement approaches to scale
• Highlighted stories from individuals within the informal STEM education ecosystem

Our Impact

• 45 practitioners, including librarians, afterschool providers, funders, and STEM program developers, attended the conference
• Resources containing best practices and considerations for scaling were disseminated in the spring of 2024 and are available on the NGCP website.