scholarly journals STEM Professional Development for Youth Workers: Results of a Triangulated Study

2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 178-196
Author(s):  
Melissa Pearman Fenton ◽  
Leslie Hawley ◽  
Saundra Wever Frerichs ◽  
Kathleen Lodl
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Youth Development ◽  
Program Director ◽  
Youth Workers ◽  
Youth Engagement ◽  
Stem Learning ◽  
Frontline Staff ◽  
Development Professionals ◽  
Youth Development Professionals ◽  
The Impact

To increase the quality of informal science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) learning opportunities, many youth development professionals working in out-of-school time (OST) programs need professional development focused on facilitating these types of activities. Nebraska Extension developed an open-access repository of resources that support an ongoing, blended approach to STEM professional development for youth workers. The current study evaluated the impact on staff, programs, and youth achieved by implementing Click2Science resources in sites at a large youth serving organization. Data sources included site or program director/coordinator and frontline staff perceptions about their experiences during the professional development events, observations of staff facilitating STEM learning with youth, and youth interest in STEM. Findings demonstrated an increase in STEM program quality, as measured by the Dimensions of Success (DoS) Observational Tool (n.d.). Site or program director/coordinators and frontline staff found the professional development eye-opening and user friendly, and noted increased youth engagement following the intervention. Youth reported positive perceptions of STEM learning experiences. Triangulation of these three sources confirmed the promising utility and effectiveness of this professional development approach. Further research is needed to extend the preliminary findings and support the case for increased investment in STEM professional development for youth development professionals.

scholarly journals Youth Workers’ Role in Engaging Youth in Health Advocacy for Community-Level Change

2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 12-23
Author(s):  
Maureen Toomey ◽  
Carol Smathers ◽  
Anne M. Iaccopucci ◽  
Karen Johnston ◽  
Elaine Johannes
Keyword(s):  
Youth Development ◽  
Health Impacts ◽  
Youth Workers ◽  
Health Issues ◽  
Positive Health ◽  
Environment Change ◽  
Level Change ◽  
Development Professionals ◽  
Youth Development Professionals ◽  
Policy Systems

Youth development professionals and volunteers, here referred to collectively as “youth workers,” need to be prepared to engage young people as health advocates. Youth workers need an understanding of public health principles; policy, systems, environment change approaches; and effective youth–adult strategies to move from viewing youth as participants to engaged leaders in community health issues. Embracing youth as partners will create effective partnerships and yield substantial positive health impacts for the youth, adults, and their communities.

The Kids are Alright

2015 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-110
Author(s):  
Almeda M. Wright
Keyword(s):  
At Risk ◽  
Youth Development ◽  
Positive Youth Development ◽  
Spiritual Maturity ◽  
Development Theory ◽  
Youth Workers ◽  
Youth Engagement ◽  
Contemporary Research ◽  
Religious Lives

Discussions of adolescence and youth spirituality often focus primarily on the problems that need to be fixed in youth or their context. This essay draws upon positive youth development theory, which asserts that youth are much more than problems or at-risk. It affirms that all youth have resources that can be developed and contributions to make to their communities. This essay reviews the pervasiveness of problem-based approaches in the larger society and contemporary research on the religious lives of youth. It also calls theologians and youth workers to contribute to the shifting perspective of youth by re-imaging youth spiritual maturity as more than “adult like” and to offer a theology of adolescence which explicitly affirms youth engagement as partners with God, right now.

scholarly journals Leveling Up: Connected Mentor Learning in a Digital Media Production After-School Space

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-54
Author(s):  
Nathan C. Phillips ◽  
Virginia Killian Lund
Keyword(s):  
Digital Media ◽  
Youth Development ◽  
Digital Design ◽  
After School ◽  
Public High School ◽  
Development Professionals ◽  
Learning Labs ◽  
Video And Audio ◽  
Youth Development Professionals ◽  
Urban Public High School

This article introduces mirrored practice of leveling up as a model for educator learning grounded in connected learning and the connected mentor framework. Our purpose is to introduce this model and share examples of how it can be enacted. We argue that the model is a rich and successful way for youth development professionals to expand their capacities as educators and to support expansive possibilities for young people’s learning. The model supports all educators’ learning and growth, but it is particularly applicable to mentors working in interest-driven, informal learning environments like makerspaces and YOUmedia learning labs. The model is drawn from our analysis of 2 years of ethnographic observations in an after-school digital design studio housed in an urban public high school in Chicago. We describe mirrored practice as the mentors using the same principles and tools to learn that their students utilized. In the model, leveling up means that both students and mentors are supported in constantly moving towards progressively complex tasks, knowledge, and understanding. Methods of data collection include video- and audio-taped observations and interviews with digital media mentors.

scholarly journals Resource Review: Clearinghouse for Military Family Readiness

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (5) ◽  
pp. 220-230
Author(s):  
Kirk Bloir
Keyword(s):  
Youth Development ◽  
Positive Youth Development ◽  
Military Families ◽  
Technical Assistance ◽  
Information Resources ◽  
Military Family ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Development Professionals ◽  
Youth Development Professionals ◽  
Family Readiness

Youth-serving professionals have unique opportunities to help support military families in promoting positive youth development. The Clearinghouse for Military Family Readiness provides information, resources, and tools on effective programs and practices youth development professionals, schools, and communities can use to help support military families. It is a comprehensive, trusted, easy-to-navigate source of evidence-based and evidence-informed resources, technical assistance, and support that helps professionals who support military families do that work more effectively.

scholarly journals Informed Decision-Making in Exploratory Factor Analysis

2008 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 170-177
Author(s):  
Melissa Cater ◽  
Krisanna Machtmes
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Factor Analysis ◽  
Youth Development ◽  
Exploratory Factor Analysis ◽  
Instrument Development ◽  
Informed Decision Making ◽  
Program Outcomes ◽  
Development Professionals ◽  
Youth Development Professionals ◽  
First Time

As the field of youth development grows, evaluation of program outcomes has become more embedded in the program process. It is incumbent on youth development professionals to understand more clearly the process of instrument development. One phase of the process involves taking a closer look at the data to determine if an instrument measures one overall construct or if items cluster together to reveal underlying constructs. Exploratory factor analysis is a technique used to determine the underlying constructs, or subgroups, of an instrument. While professionals may use a variety of decision-making steps, researchers have identified some commonly agreed upon considerations when conducting an exploratory factor analysis. This article seeks to make the decision-making steps of this process more transparent while also offering guidance to youth development professionals who may be seeking to use this procedure for the first time.

scholarly journals Understanding the Culture of 4-H

EDIS ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 2006 (9) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marilyn N. Norman ◽  
Joy C. Jordan
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Youth Development ◽  
Development Professionals ◽  
Youth Development Professionals ◽  
The Invisible

Webster defines culture as the concepts, habits, skills, arts, instruments, and institutions of a given people in a given place. Basically, the culture within a group is what everybody knows that everybody else knows and includes the visible expression as well as the invisible roots of the culture. Most groups have spoken or unspoken expectations for member’s behavior. These may include rules, rituals, language, demonstration of support for commonly held beliefs, etc. Youth development professionals know the importance of helping young people discover quickly the norms of the group they have joined. This document is 4-HS FS101.1, one of a series of the Florida 4-H Program, UF/IFAS Extension. Published May 2006. 

scholarly journals Programming Ideas for Youth Experiencing Homelessness

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (6) ◽  
pp. 252-271
Author(s):  
Leslie Forstadt ◽  
Sarah Yuan ◽  
Kerri Ashurst ◽  
Melissa Scheer ◽  
Stephanie Myers ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Youth Development ◽  
Cooperative Extension ◽  
National Level ◽  
Cooperative Extension System ◽  
Extension System ◽  
Development Professionals ◽  
Extension Professionals ◽  
Youth Development Professionals

This article provides an overview of some of the demographics of youth experiencing homelessness and examples of how Cooperative Extension is working with this population around the country. A discussion of the needs of this population is provided, along with strategies for how Extension can connect with current efforts to reach youth experiencing homelessness to build resilience. Data are summarized from a webinar for Extension professionals. Education in this area is worthwhile to youth development professionals who may be interested in designing new programs, expanding current programs, finding new program partnerships, and using programs to support youth experiencing homelessness. Local and national-level programs that are designed to reach youth experiencing homelessness are highlighted. The structure and resources of the Cooperative Extension system nationwide are ideal to provide supplementary support to youth experiencing homelessness in a variety of settings. This article is an invitation to expand this conversation and further explore the needs of youth experiencing homelessness and Extension’s capacity to respond.

scholarly journals A Narrative Systematic Review of the Mental Toughness Programme Offered by the National Youth Development Agency

2022 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 280
Author(s):  
Thulani Andrew Chauke ◽  
Khashane Stephen Malatji
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Youth Development ◽  
Development Programme ◽  
Mental Toughness ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Youth Workers ◽  
Development Agency ◽  
Youth Service ◽  
Research Division ◽  
The Impact

The rapid increase of poverty, crime, and unemployment in South Africa results in youth vulnerability. Youth not in employment, not in education, and not in training are most vulnerable to life setbacks, find it difficult dealing with criticism, rejection, and failure. Thus, youth workers responsible for the coordination of youth service programme need to design an autonomy-supportive programme that can prepare youth mentally before youth are placed in a youth development programme that seeks to enhance youth employability. The National Youth Development Agency in South Africa under the National Youth Service Programme has developed a mental toughness programme curriculum that NYS volunteers undergo before participating in youth skill development programme or community service programme for a minimum of five days. The aim of the study is to explore the impact of the Mental Toughness Programme on the positive development of youth through youth lived experience in the Western Cape Province, South Africa. This study made use of a qualitative research approach, non-probability sampling to sample eight youth who participated in the Mental Toughness Programme offered by the National Youth Development Agency. In this study, we recommend that the National Youth Development Agency knowledge and research division should conduct a longitudinal study that can evaluate the impact of the Mental Toughness Programme on positive youth development in South Africa. The National Youth Development Agency should revise the mental toughness programme curriculum in a way that the programme goes beyond five days and physical toughness should be cooperated in the curriculum to enhance social cohesion.   Received: 27 July 2021 / Accepted: 6 October 2021 / Published: 3 January 2022

scholarly journals Model Youth Programs: A Key Strategy for Developing Community-University Partnerships Using a Community Youth Development Approach

2008 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 102-112
Author(s):  
Yolanda Anyon ◽  
María A. Fernández
Keyword(s):  
Youth Development ◽  
San Francisco ◽  
Youth Programs ◽  
Community Context ◽  
Youth Workers ◽  
University Partnerships ◽  
Social Good ◽  
Academic Field ◽  
Transformative Experiences ◽  
The Impact

Universities across the nation face the charge of enhancing their intellectual capital as a learning institution while also contributing to the greater social good. While there is great potential for university-community partnerships to generate lessons for youth workers and policy makers, create powerful new knowledge for the academic field, and provide transformative experiences for community members, partnerships often fail to produce such meaningful results. In the San Francisco Bay Area, community residents who have been involved in such unsuccessful initiatives frequently perceived that university partners spent insufficient time learning about the community context, prioritized research objectives over community needs and did not make long-term commitments. Despite these challenges, community-university partnerships can be useful strategies for advancing the field of youth development by strengthening research and practice in local contexts. This paper presents how the design and implementation of model youth programs served as an effective strategy in developing a partnership between a university-based center and two local communities over a 5-year period. It also describes essential lessons that other communities, research institutions or universities may use to launch, implement, expand and sustain their own successful partnerships to build local capacity to implement youth development practices, promote positive outcomes for young people, and generate knowledge about the impact of youth development approaches.

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