Girl Scouts of Western Washington (GSWW) is collaborating with Seattle University to develop an innovative new model for science learning in youth programs. The project is designed to increase the use of science inquiry among adult Girl Scout Leaders, facilitate learner-centered inquiry, change the culture of program delivery, and enhance science literacy. New parent volunteers, who are Girl Scout troop leaders, will be trained to deliver inquiry-based science to girls ages K-3 in environmental science, wildlife biology, ecology, and botany in a manner which makes scientific questioning and exploration integral to the girls' experiences. Deliverables include a training curriculum adapted from the NSF-funded Fundamentals of Inquiry, quarterly training workshops for adult volunteers in inquiry-based science methodologies and content, an enhanced volunteer support system (including online and peer networks, science activities, and resources), and a replicable model for incorporating science into community youth programs. The inquiry activities will be modified for use in an informal learning setting and may be easily integrated into the existing science activities for Brownie Girl Scouts such as community service, camping, cookies, and "Try It" events. Potential strategic impact includes the advancement of a new model for volunteer training which secondarily changes the organizational culture and expands the current understanding of how science learning occurs in community contexts. The proposal includes a comprehensive, mixed methods evaluation to be conducted by the Puget Sound Center for Teaching, Learning, and Technology. It is anticipated that this project will reach 360 women and over 1,600 girls in disadvantaged urban and rural communities in western Washington.
is a 5-year project (2008-2013) that built resources to infuse inquiry science learning into Girl Scouts. Our goal has been to increase the skill and comfort of volunteer leaders to engage in science investigations with youth in an informal, community setting. Our project is novel because it trained primarily non-science experts to facilitate science activities with youth outside of the ordinary institutional structures of school and science centers, and it took advantage of an existing afterschool program. Inquiry in the Community has focused on three major approaches to building science capacity in Girl Scouts: developing a curriculum that teaches inquiry science facilitation skills in the youth development and afterschool context; identifying ways to support front-line volunteers and staff as they implement inquiry science activities with youth; and creating tools that organizations can use to embed training and support on inquiry science into youth programs. We have documented our work in an online replication guide that describes best practices, materials, and strategies for engaging a volunteer-based organization in inquiry science: www.seattleu.edu/scieng/inquiry. We hope our products will benefit a wide variety of community-driven youth organizations in addition to Girl Scouts, who may adapt this project model and curriculum to suit their own organization’s structure. Over our four-year implementation period (project years 2-5), Inquiry in the Community curriculum, support, and capacity building reached at least: 621 front-line Girl Scout of Western Washington volunteers (troop leaders and day camp counselors) 428 experienced, support-level Girl Scout volunteers (facilitators, mentors, and regional leaders) across four implementation councils 195 volunteers (of various roles within the Girl Scout organization) attending a national Girl Scout conference 220 Girl Scout staff across four councils and GSUSA 113 science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) and informal science education professionals through conferences and professional development events Six important themes emerged that have implications for the informal science learning field, particularly for the practice of informal science in community-based organizations. In brief, they are: incentive – understand the volunteer audience and the community organization’s goals translation – use terms that resonate with the organization and its people articulation & modeling – model the techniques you want your audience to use when facilitating science with youth, and have them articulate the behaviors they observe flexibility & modularity – offer volunteer learning opportunities in flexible formats organizational readiness – assess the community organization’s ability to make changes within their program embeddedness & sustainability – take advantage of the community organization’s existing staff and volunteers, training workshops, meetings and newsletters to disseminate your curriculum, but be aware of the trade-off between integrating your message with the organization’s and your level of control over that message
