Designing Professional Development Resources to Meet the Needs of OST STEM Educators

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by McQueen

Designing professional development resources for out-of-school time (OST) STEM educators to enable authentic, inquiry-driven science and engineering learning for youth, including underserved populations. The approach combines evidence on OST educator needs with a NASA-funded PLANETS program, offering structured curricular units across grades 3–8 and tiered, just-in-time professional learning support. The resources aim to strengthen educators’ content knowledge, improve practices, and help programs achieve learning and engagement goals.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages10

Reading Time25 min

AccessFree to download

Introducing OST STEM Educator Professional Development

Why OST STEM Programs Need Targeted Support

Key Features of the PLANETS Curriculum and Resources

Efforts to Design High-Quality STEM Curricula and Training

Connecting Professional Development to Learning Outcomes

Designing Resources Through Needs Assessment and Case Studies

Determining the Needs of OST STEM Educators

National Needs Assessment and Interviews

Case Study Research and Observation

Designing Professional Development Resources to Meet the Needs of OST STEM Educators Joëlle Clark, Nena Bloom, Lori Rubino-Hare, Courtney Barnes, and Sean Ryan Flexibility, opportunities for exploration, and a focus on 21st century skills make out-of-school time (OST) programs an ideal environment for authentic learning in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM; Committee on STEM Education, 2013; Noam & Shah, 2014) . In addition, because OST programs serve signiﬁcant populations of young people who are underrepresented in STEM, they may be able to reduce the opportunity gap for these youth and help to enhance youth learning and engagement. JOËLLE CLARK, MA, MAST, is associate director for the Center for Science Teaching and Learning at Northern Arizona University (NAU) . Her interests include informal science learning and anthropology. She is principal investigator for PLANETS, the NASA-funded program described in this article. NENA BLOOM, EdD, is assistant director for the Center for Science Teaching and Learning at NAU. She is interested in collecting and analyzing data to help programs make evidence-based decisions to improve teaching and learning. LORI RUBINO-HARE, MEd, is a professional development coordinator/research associate for the Center for Science Teaching and Learning at NAU. She is interested in facilitating educator professional learning that enables reﬂection and improved practices. COURTNEY BARNES is a graduate student at the Center for Science Teaching and Learning at NAU. She is interested in how culturally relevant pedagogies can be implemented in out-of-school time settings. SEAN RYAN is a professional development coordinator/ research associate for the Center for Science Teaching and Learning at NAU. He is interested in building resources that promote inquiry-driven STEM learning. Efforts to design high-quality STEM curricula and The PLANETS Program educator professional development resources help to The OST STEM professional development resources increase opportunities for youth to engage in STEM in we designed are part of PLANETS, a NASA-funded OST. However, each OST educator has unique profes- OST program for educators and youth in grades 3–8 sional needs depending on their program. Therefore, that provides STEM learning with an emphasis on a strong STEM curriculum must include professional NASA planetary science and engineering, particularly learning support for OST educators. Few OST educa- for underserved audiences. The PLANETS program tors have formal education train- consists of three curricular units: ing or teacher certiﬁcations (Na- Remote Sensing (grades 6–8), tiona2006l) . AAfctecorrscdihnogoo AthsesoNciationational, [W]e noticed substantial W(gateradresin6–E8x)t, remande ESpnavirceonHmazeantrdss Afterschool Association’s national curricular negotiation at play (grades 3–5) . The units engage survey (2006), most workers had in the sites we studied. In teams of youth in the disciplinary little experience or education di- implementing the written practices and processes of scienrectly relevant to afterschool pro- curriculum, the adults tists and engineers through opengramsto pursanuedtreraiceniivnegd no paid time involved had to see to what ebnyedhe acNtaviiotineasl , aRsesreeacromchmCeonudnecdil Research demonstrates strong extent it would work in this (2009) . Learners analyze scienconnections between OST profes- time, in this place, with tiﬁc data, make and reﬁne designsional development and beneﬁts these girls. choices, reﬂect on their learning realized by program participants to solve problems set within a (Bowie & Bronte-Tinkew, 2006; NASA planetary science context, Garst et al. , 2014; Palmer et al. , and communicate what they learn 2009) . Professional development, especially in STEM with their families in a community showcase. The procontent, can improve the content knowledge of OST gram also includes professional learning resources, educ

FAQs

Why are professional development resources important for OST STEM educators?

They strengthen educators’ content knowledge and improve teaching practices, helping OST programs meet learning goals and support youth engagement in STEM.

What is the PLANETS program and how does it support OST STEM learning?

PLANETS is a NASA-funded OST program that provides STEM curricular units with an emphasis on NASA planetary science and engineering, along with professional learning resources for educators.

How were the professional development resources designed?

The team used research on STEM professional development needs, including a national needs assessment survey, interviews, and case study research to create a tiered, just-in-time support system.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by McQueen