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Online Resources
Sorting out the endless amount of online content to find resources useful to
your program or learning goals is often a challenge. During our inception,
YouthLearn developed a searchable collection of online links to help
practitioners in that process. Our Annotated Database of Educational
Websites
features more than 250 recommended links sorted by subject
matter and theme. Below are just a few examples with their annotation and
link:
National Youth Development Information Center
The National Youth Development Information Center is a project of The
National Assembly through its affinity group, the National Collaboration
for Youth. NYDIC "provides practice-related information about youth
development to national and local youth-serving organizations at low
cost or no cost." This site contains links to information about research,
evaluation, and funding for youth development organizations.
http://www.youthlearn.org/resources/database/detail.asp?ID=10
Center for Inquiry-based Learning
Based at Duke University, the Center for Inquiry-based Learning features
a website with plenty of information and science projects for kids of all
ages. Each lesson plan is broken down into a synopsis of the lesson, its
objectives and procedures, suggestions on how to extend the lesson, and
downloadable Word files of student worksheets.
http://www.youthlearn.org/resources/database/detail.asp?ID=177
Mentorgirls
"Mentorgirls.org is a grass roots, community outreach website project,
fostering positive connections between women and girls and providing a
valuable resource to mentors!" This site includes mentoring resources,
links to online mentoring sites, and an electronic newsletter, as well as
resources and newsletter articles in Spanish.
http://www.youthlearn.org/resources/database/detail.asp?ID=143
National Zoo
This National Zoo site is a visually interesting and content-rich site that
can enhance many youth activities. The information about animals
might serve as idea-starters for pattern writing exercises. Young learners
can observe and monitor animals via live "Web cams" as part of a
science project, or analyze the angles used in the photographs as an
introductory activity for a photography lesson.
http://www.youthlearn.org/resources/database/detail.asp?ID=248
We are currently exploring how to make this section of our site more useful
and interactive, possibly including the ability for YouthLearn subscribers to
submit their own recommendations. Please help us in this process by
sharing your thoughts and recommendations. YouthLearn's VISTA member
Lauren Penney will be leading the redesign and is looking forward to your
feedback.
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News
McREL Study Finds Afterschool Programs Increase Achievement
Researchers with Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning
conducted a meta-analysis of studies examining the impact of out-of-school
time strategies. Among the key-and newsworthy findings-the study
determined that out-of-school time programs can enhance student
achievement in reading and math.
http://www.mcrel.org/newsroom/OSTsynthesis.asp
New Report Analyzes the Gaps in Student Achievement
Parsing the Achievement Gap: Baselines for Tracking Progress, prepared by
Paul Barton of the Educational Testing Service, examines compilations and
evaluations of research to flesh out the "conditions that help create and
perpetuate achievement gaps." Significantly, more of the fourteen factors
identified with achievement gaps between minority and majority populations
or low-income and higher income families are related to "before and beyond
school" than to the school environment. [Community Schools].
http://www.ets.org/research/pic/parsing.pdf
Guidelines Issued for Online Content for Disadvantaged Users
The Children's Partnership has recently released research findings and an
action plan for making Internet content more accessible to low-income
users. The Search for High-Quality Online Content for Low-Income and
Underserved Communities reports on the results of a survey of content
evaluation guidelines, and offers recommendations for producing "low-
barrier" content-for instance, content that is multi-lingual, multicultural,
and accessible to users with limited literacy skills.
http://www.contentbank.org/addition_research.asp
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Grants and Awards
YouthLearn Directory of Funding Resources
Created especially for the YouthLearn community, the YouthLearn Funding
page includes links to funding resources in the areas of technology,
afterschool programs, and more. This is just a reminder that YouthLearn
offers this resource as one of our services to youth development
practitioners. Please let us know if you have feedback on this directory or
additional funding resources for inclusion.
http://www.youthlearn.org/resources/funding.html
Youth Visions for Stronger Neighborhoods
Through the Corporation for National Service's Learn and Serve program,
the Community Technology Centers Network (CTCNet) is offering a new
grant opportunity for youth serving technology programs. The Youth Visions
for Better Neighborhoods (YVBN) grants are designed to empower youth and
CTCs to engage in local community building and decision-making through
media production. The current proposal deadline is December 23, 2003.
http://www.ctcnet.org/youthvisions/
Microsoft Grants for CTCs
A global initiative that supports community technology and learning centers,
Microsoft's Unlimited Potential program provides grants and in-kind
donations to eligible organizations in the United States and throughout the
world. Applications are accepted year-round. [Foundation Center]
http://www.microsoft.com/mscorp/citizenship/giving/apply/
AAUW Community Action Grants
The American Association of University Women is offering start-up funds to
support projects that promote girls' achievement in math, science, and/or
technology in years K-14. Two-year grants ranging from $5,000 to $10,000
are available to individual women applicants or their community-based
nonprofit organizations. Deadline is January 15. [Foundation Center]
http://www.aauw.org/fga/fellowships_grants/community_action.cfm
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Conferences
With cold weather moving in, now's an ideal time to plan for a winter get-
away professional development opportunity. This year, YouthLearn will be
presenting at two national conferences in late February that are ideally
suited for the after-school educator looking to hone their skills:
NSACA Annual Conference
The National School-Age Care Alliance holds its 16th Annual Conference
in Tampa, Florida from February 26-28. Around 3,000 after-school
practitioners are expected to attend this event, which offers a variety
of professional development opportunities. Discounted registration for
NSACA members ends December 31.
http://www.nsacaconference.com/
Foundations, Inc. "Beyond School Hours" Conference
The Beyond School Hours VII conference led by Foundations, Inc. takes
place February 15-18 in San Diego, California. As always, the gathering
promotes the expansion of quality extended-day programs that provide
safe havens for children, improve academic achievement, and offer
positive social interaction in a healthy environment. Join those with
experience in building a brighter future for children, families, and their
communities through quality extended-day educational programs!
http://www.foundationsinc.org/EventsFolder/beyond7/beyond7.asp
More information about YouthLearn conference sessions will be posted on
the discussion list in the coming weeks.
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Ideas
Picture yourself
The Literacy Through Photography® project shares a thought-provoking
lesson plan on taking self-portraits. The goal is "to motivate students to
reflect on who they are and to think of ways to capture that in a
photograph." Detailed steps, discussion questions, and teacher commentary
are all included in this user-friendly lesson plan.
http://www.fotofest.org/literacy_curric10.htm
Make a book
Invite your learners to put their creative writing and artistic skills to work on
their own stories, their own illustrations, and ultimately their own books. If
it is of interest, Scholastic, Inc. holds an annual competition, "Scholastic's
Kids Are Authors Contest," for K-8 students who work in teams of three with
the support of a project coordinator. The entry deadline is March 15.
Scholastic Book Fairs will subsequently publish and distribute the winning
books. Of course, organizations can always hold their own contests, book
fairs, or, simply, celebration of authors nights to recognize the creative work
of the young people in their programs. [PEN]
http://teacher.scholastic.com/fairs/kaa/
We welcome your feedback!
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YouthLearn
http://www.youthlearn.org
This newsletter is produced by the YouthLearn Initiative at EDC especially for
members of the YouthLearn discussion group.
YouthLearn is a project of the nonprofit Education
Development Center, Inc.
Designed for youth-development professionals, teachers, educators, and other
caring adults, YouthLearn provides resources and tools for developing effective
learning programs enhanced with technology, particularly in out-of-school settings.
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Go to http://www.youthlearn.org/join/subscribe.html
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Copyright 2003 Education Development
Center, Inc. All rights reserved.
YouthLearn was created by the Morino
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