Public Libraries and Higher Education Combining Efforts to Create Quality Stem Children’s Programs

Abstract

Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields are a major component of our society and student success in STEM can lead to important opportunities and future careers. STEM education programs are important components to get children and youths interested in STEM fields and to instill in them STEM concepts. This paper describes two successful Ohio urban STEM programs, produced as collaborations between public libraries and higher education institutions. Cleveland's Mean Green Science Machine focused on middle and high school-aged children while The Ohio State University (OSU) Science Café in Columbus focused on preschool and elementary school-aged children for its summer sessions. Recommendations for best practices for creating children's programming using STEM is provided.

The economic value of library services for children: The case of the Czech public libraries

“…• The library as a place for children and young people (Chandrasekar & Sivathaasan, 2016) and the use of library services by disabled readers, including the adaptation of the library and its services to meet their specific needs (Bushman, 2018); • The relevance of libraries in the field of education and their involvement in the preparation of high-quality educational programmes for children and young people (Overbey, Dotson & LaBadie, 2018 illustrates two successful Ohio urban STEM programs, produced as collaborations between public libraries and higher education institutions); • Support to increase children's reading motivation with the help of new technologies or media such as the reality story library (Goulding, Shuker, & Dickie, 2017;ChanLin, 2018), new apps to find books using smartwatches (Wang, Chen, & Wu, 2017), mobile libraries (Bamkin, Maynard, & Goulding, 2016), mobile technologies (Bowler, Julien, & Haddon, 2018) and augmented reality tools (Meredith, 2015); • The perception of libraries and services by children and young people (Kanazawa, 2018 illustrates the importance of libraries and their services for children and young people in Japan); • The changes in the structure of library services that have expanded children's digital literacy (Tang, Wu, & Pan, 2016). For example, Robertson and McMenemy (2018) discussed changes in UK library services for children in 2010 and 2016, finding that the hollowing out of public services for children had occurred.…”

Assessment and social change: Empowering underserved students to reimagine their future through STEM outreach

“…Studies indicate that exposing youth to STEM through hands-on activities teaches young people the art of problem-solving and the value of perseverance. 6 Using hands-on l e a r n i n g m a k e s STEM edu c a t i o n more attractive to s t u d e n t s . Every student introduced to STEM at these conf e r e n c e s is allowed to explore o p t i o n s they never t h o u g h t possible.…”