LIS535 - Summer 2017

A. Perrault

CHOICE #3: STEM Program

LIS Goal: 1, 2,3,4
Course Learning Outcomes: 1, 2, 3, 4

Design a detailed YA STEM program. This YA program must exemplify best practices in programming! Clearly design a program
that is based on a topic in either the area of Science, Technology, Engineering or Math (or a combination of areas). How to find a program
idea? Search and explore this topic online and in the UB databases and you will find a variety of topics to use in your planning.

If you base your idea on a program found online or in a book, you MUST cite the source and be very specific about how you are
modifying the project to make it more your own idea.

The programs must include a MIX of at least 15 annotated multimodal resources – books, music, audio, technology, etc. and should
make use of your library’s collection. You must use Mackin.com to find some of your resources. A table will be provided for you to enter
your resource titles and to annotate them.

To earn full points for this assignment it must include a strong mix of multimodal resources. The finished product should be of quality that
you could include it in your portfolio for a job interview.

You’ll submit a professionally presented overview of your program accompanied by a numbered list of specific details of every aspect
for just one of your programs.

To earn full points, you must clearly articulate in your project materials links to key concepts from each of the three sources:

1) the course textbook and course readings, and

2) the YALSA Competencies and
3) the Developmental Assets.

Show clear evidence of your professional framework by integrating the language of YA literature/programming/services – let your
knowledge and developing expertise shine.

YA STEM Programming Project - Enter answers right into the table. Feedback Feedback
Met Criteria Criteria Not Met

Address the following areas (note word range for answers). Enter all answers right into this table.
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To earn full points, you must clearly articulate in your project materials links to key concepts from
each of the three sources:

1) the course textbook and course readings, and

2) the YALSA Competencies and
3) the Developmental Assets.

Show clear evidence of your professional framework by integrating the language of YA

literature/programming/services – let your knowledge and developing expertise shine.

Show and articulate best practice for each item below. For items #1, 2, 3, 4 you must integrate specific
language with cites from the textbook, YALSA Competencies, Developmental Assets in addition to any
other relevant sources.

Student Name: Shawn Sullivan

Name of Program: Bridging The Gap: Saturdays of Exciting Engineering and Hands-On Building.
1. How/why you chose the STEM topic in your thematic program series – demonstrate an
understanding of the topic along with a professional framework of YA services (1000 words with
cites).

Professional educators, librarians, and others who care about the success of Young Adults frequently
discuss preparing young people for the future. Their future education, social development, and their future
occupations. The Young Adult Library Services Association (2017) lists in their competencies for librarians
serving youth and in their core professional values for the teen services profession elements necessary to
serve teens in an educational setting using best practices. Elements such as compassion includes concern by
adults for the future educational and occupational success of Young Adults. What better way to establish
the various relationships discussed in the YALSA competencies than to provide an exciting afternoon of
hands-on learning and fun discussions? The National Research Council’s Committee on Highly Successful
Schools or Programs for K-12 STEM Education (2011) writes that the primary driving force behind the future
economy and related creation of jobs will be innovation, mainly coming from advancements in engineering
and science. Scientists and Engineers comprise four percent of the work force and disproportionately create
jobs for the remaining ninety-six percent according to their publication. Considering the frequency of
common social interactions between adults and teens in educational settings, YALSA standards for
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professionals, and published information on the importance of STEM education I conclude that helping
Young Adults develop confidence and achieve in STEM learning improves their future while preparing them
for successful roles as the next generation of American workers, something that benefits everyone.
Moreover, something that is easily achievable. When examined through a psychological lens, developing a
STEM program or series of programs creates additional benefits for the Young Adults participating in such a
program. Jeanne Ormrod (2008) states in her published educational psychology text, that beyond
connecting families with community resources, professionals should identify basic experiences that students
may not have had and work within their means to provide such experiences, resulting in increased academic
performance and student happiness.
Physical activity, positive social interactions with peers and adults, and meaningful participation are
just a few of the things in which teens ascribe value when judging a library program according to Gorman
and Sullenthrop (2009). They also claim that successful programs for teens enrich, inform, and entertain.
The STEM program planned for this project meets a great number of the criteria for successful programs as
outlined by their book. Specifically, engaging in social interactions with other Young Adults and adults is
inevitable during this medium sized group experience, taking place over four hours while working with and
near each other. The program is focused around meaningful participation with the facilitator playing the
role of “Guide on the side” and not “Sage on the stage”. Hands-on construction, which teens often find
entertaining, is the heart of this program and the initial concept or spark upon which everything else was
built. Teens will be informed and enriched in their engineering background knowledge through exposure to
various multimodal resources, hearing the prior knowledge of a guest speaker, and the opportunity to
experience building structures of their own. Added benefits of aiding in the future development of teens’
scientific literacy include advanced ability to read expository texts, improved writing skills, measuring,
recording, and improved data analysis according to Bass Contant and Carin (2009) when discussing why
science is taught in elementary school. These skills and their connection to scientific literacy continue
advancing together through formal education and into the workplace.
Additional needs of teens were identified using lists published by The Search Institute. Mainly, their
40 Developmental Assets for Adolescents (2017) including number three on the list, other adult
relationships. Stating that adolescents should have support from three or more non-parent adults. The
facilitator of this series of programs would quickly become a supportive non-parent adult for each of the
participants. This asset specifically aligns with the research put forward by John Hattie in his 195 Influences
and Effect Sizes Related to Student Achievement (2015). In which he compares the degree to which 195
influences affect student achievement. The rankings of many commonly thought of barriers such as poverty
level and parent educational level are significantly lower than others are. For example, teacher credibility
ranks near the top of the list. By developing relationships with Young Adults, the facilitator establishes

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credibility, which Hattie proved, not only leads to greater student achievement but also is one of the top ten
defining factors of achievement. Numerous parallels can be drawn between the 40 Developmental Assets
and John Hattie’s research. Number seven under empowerment of the assets dictates that the community
should value youth. While the number one element that Hattie found affects educational achievement, was
the teacher’s estimate of student achievement. If the community or program facilitator, as is the case in this
program, shows that they value the Young Adults participating and display high expectations for participants
they are likely to foster academic achievement while modeling social skills of valuing others and gratitude to
their patrons.
In order to develop the professional partnerships with teen patrons as outlined by the YALSA (2017)
core values a program facilitator must provide a fun experience for Young Adults participants in the
program. Again, aligning with the Hattie’a (2015) research that states being a popular teacher, meaning
perceived by the students as caring and understandable, is a leading factor to achievement. This STEM
program aims to provide a fun and educational experience, which will likely have many unintended benefits
regarding relationship development. While simultaneously adhering to the YALSA (2017) competency of
professionalism by identifying the unique needs of Young Adults and advocating for their educational
benefit and entertainment.
Resources:

Bass, J. Contant, T. Carin, A. (2009) Methods for Teaching Science as Inquiry. Boston, MA: Pearson.
Gorman, M. Suellentrop, T. (2009). Connecting Young Adults and Libraries. New York, NY: Neal-Schuman
Publishers, Inc.
National Research Council (U.S.). Committee on Highly Successful Schools or Programs for K-12 STEM
Education, National Research Council (U.S.). Board on Science Education, & National Research
Council (U.S.). Center for Education. Board on Testing and Assessment. (2011). Successful K-12 STEM
education: Identifying effective approaches in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
Washington, D.C: National Academies Press.
Hattie, J. (2015). The applicability of Visible Learning to higher education. Scholarship of Teaching and
Learning in Psychology, 1(1), 79-91.
Ormrod, J. (2008). Educational Psychology. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
Search Institute (2007). 40 Developmental Assets for Adolescents. Retrieved from http://www.search-
institute.org/content/40-developmental-assets-adolescents-ages-12-18
The Young Adult Library Services Association. (2017) Core Professional Values for the Teen Services
Profession. Available: http://www.ala.org/yalsa/core-professional-values-teen-services-profession
The Young Adult Library Services Association. (2017)YALSA’s Competencies for Librarians Serving Youth:

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 Young Adults Deserve the Best. Available:http://www.ala.org/yalsa/guidelines/yacompetencies2010

2. The need you feel the programs will fill in the YA community (1000 words with cites).
A number of Young Adults in many communities may have needs that are not met by their current
educational experience. A school or public library will likely never be able to meet all of the personal and
professional needs of all of its patrons. These realities can be viewed with optimism or pessimism, when
focusing on the good that can be done it is difficult to avoid noticing the ways that project based learning
meets the needs of Young Adults. Engaging STEM programs directed towards Young Adults will certainly
meet some of the needs of some participants while providing additional educational experiences to a
population in need of and deserving of such services. Academic, social, and entertainment needs were the
focus elements used when creating the series of programs outlined for this project. Many of the suggestions
for Young Adult programs in the ninth section of the text published by Gorman and Suellentrop (2009)
contained those same elements. Similarly, those needs, held by many but examined here through the
Young Adult lens, will be the focus of this narrative as well.
Academic needs: High academic performance eludes many Young Adults for a multitude of reasons.
Some of which may be no fault of anyone. If a teacher has a mostly effective teaching style, they are unlikely
to change it often. If a pupil does not learn well from that style of teaching it would benefit them to be
exposed to others. Hefty writes in his article in the journal Teaching Children Mathematics (2015) that
integrated engineering units allow students to apply math skills in real-world contexts, which remove
engagement barriers and enhance development towards mastery of standards. When student achievement
is a major focus, as it is in virtually all school settings, community members and teachers work most
efficiently when they find new ways, like engineering units, to foster achievement rather than expending
energy and time on developing consequences to be dealt out when the old ways, like chapter review
questions and tests, do not work. Promoting the development of academic skills throughout the engineering
program also ensures that the facilitator is honoring the YALSA core professional values for the teen services
profession (2017) of innovation, integrity, professional duty, and social responsibility. Of Search Institute’s
40 developmental assets for adolescents (2007), number 22 school engagement, aligns with experiences
provided by this program. It states that the young person is actively engaged in learning. Which is what
would be expected when young adults are building model structures with their peers in a relaxed academic
setting and testing them against each other. One of the YALSA core professional values for the teen services
profession (2017) instructs the professional to advocate for the recreational needs of teens adding further
reinforcement that this proposed program is following best practices.
Social needs: Social needs being as unique as their owners cannot be filled by a one-size-fits-
all approach. Synthesis of the raw definition of social development with professional guidelines for librarians

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proves fruitful when attempting to develop social skills within a program. Ormrod defines social
development in her publication Educational Psychology as a process “in which young people come to better
understand their fellow human beings, develop productive relationships with adults and peers, and
gradually internalize their society’s standards for behavior” (2008). Better understanding of other human
beings comes from experience and exposure to proper modeling. Through my experience and as stated by
Gorman and Suellentrop (2017) in the section of their text on the skills needed by librarians serving teens,
some teens can be prickly and difficult. Keeping an open mind, taking the high road, being the adult, setting
an example, or however rationalized in the mind of the professional, is modeling proper societal
expectations and adhering to professional standards and best practices, while meeting a social modeling
need of Young Adults. The virtue of empathy could be applied professionally as well as personally. Number
three of Search Institute’s 40 developmental assets for adolescents (2007), states that teens should receive
support from at least three non-parent adults, a role which would be filled by the program facilitator for
each participant. A caring school climate and neighborhood are other assets that would be met with a
program where teens interact with their peers in a relaxed space with an activity on which to focus.
Entertainment needs: Recreation and entertainment are not always the same but at times are. For
example, a library program where young adults are attending with peers with whom they are friendly will be
entertaining and the teen would have the perception that they were having recreation time, their needs
being met. Sitting around without a focus activity or form of entertainment can be called recreation and can
lead to negative behavior, bickering, and hurtful speech from young adults, in my experience. Search
Institute’s 40 developmental assets for adolescents (2007) reconciles with that school of thought with
number 20-time at home. Where it is said a young person is out with friends with “nothing special to do”
two or fewer nights per week. Unstructured time while necessary can produce negative results when
applied in large doses. Structured activity time with the aim of entertaining has unintended benefits of
development in a myriad of areas while additionally meeting the entertainment or recreation needs of
Young Adults patrons.
YALSA core professional values for the teen services profession (2017) lists the value of social
responsibility, which has a sub element that states that the library professional should advocate for the
educational, developmental, and recreational needs of teens. This guideline was a guiding academic
principal during the infancy stages of program planning and greatly assisted in the development of a
program that can meet some of the academic, social, and entertainment needs of Young Adult participants

Resources:

Gorman, M. Suellentrop, T. (2009). Connecting Young Adults and Libraries. New York, NY: Neal-Schuman

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 Publishers, Inc.
Hefty, L. J. (2015). STEM Gives Meaning to Mathematics. Teaching Children Mathematics, 21(7), 422-429.
Ormrod, J. (2008). Educational Psychology. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
Search Institute (2007). 40 Developmental Assets for Adolescents. Retrieved from http://www.search-
institute.org/content/40-developmental-assets-adolescents-ages-12-18
The Young Adult Library Services Association. (2017) Core Professional Values for the Teen Services
Profession. Available: http://www.ala.org/yalsa/core-professional-values-teen-services-profession
The Young Adult Library Services Association. (2017)YALSA’s Competencies for Librarians Serving Youth:
Young Adults Deserve the Best. Available:http://www.ala.org/yalsa/guidelines/yacompetencies2010
3. Your goals for the outcome of the programs (what do you hope participants will learn or
experience (250-500 words).

The goals of the STEM program are based on three focus areas that educational pedagogy and library
services best practices frequently discuss. Social development, academic achievement, and engagement. By
presenting a variety of resources with information on engineering concepts related to various structures
gains are made towards academic goals of research and synthesis of information. Further developing
scientific literacy within the participant population is inevitable as they take part in the hands-on design and
build of model structures. Social development between adults and teens and teens and their peers is
important to the YALSA (2017) competencies and core values of compassion and outreach. A relaxed
educational atmosphere where the facilitator’s only goal is promoting enjoyable learning and where they
are not tasked with collecting grades or assessment of skills is the perfect environment for social
development. Students will have self-regulated breaks and time to socialize aiding their peer-to-peer
relationships. Engagement is created initially by giving everyone attending the program a short time to talk
about what they know about structural engineering and why they think it is or is not important. Throughout
my experience with Young Adults and according to the YALSA (2017) core values, a professional should
validate and listen to the ideas and knowledge presented by their teen patrons. Teens feel validated when
they take part in adult conversations. The opportunity to ask questions of a structural engineer during the
guest speaking section of the program will keep their interest while allowing them to socialize with each
other and adults.

The Young Adult Library Services Association. (2017) Core Professional Values for the Teen Services
Profession. Available: http://www.ala.org/yalsa/core-professional-values-teen-services-profession
The Young Adult Library Services Association. (2017)YALSA’s Competencies for Librarians Serving Youth:
Young Adults Deserve the Best. Available:http://www.ala.org/yalsa/guidelines/yacompetencies2010

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 4. How you will get teens involved in the planning and execution of the programs – be specific and
offer purposeful activities (300-500 words). This is a very important aspect of your program to
address and you must integrate the concepts we’ve covered related to teen engagement.
In researching best practices to foster teen involvement of programs one resource could be
developed and applied to this series of programs and future programs. Time and effort would be required to
develop the resource but it could be an additional enriching experience for Young Adults and the
professionals serving them. The teen advisory group as described by Gorman and Suellentrop (2009) in their
section on best practices for youth involvement would foster teen interest and provide participants with
ownership over library programs. Working within the school system provides an advantage of having
preexisting social relationships with many students. Using the relationships, students who are responsible
and enthusiastic would be asked to serve in the advisory group. Student recommendations from teachers
could also be considered. Teens in New York State are required to provide hours of community service,
which are logged and submitted with their Regents Exams before graduation. With guidance and approval,
the promise of service hours for the teens serving could be another motivator to encourage teens to serve
in the advisory group. Having the ability to understand youth participation is one of the core competencies
outlined by YALSA (2017). The attempted development of a Teen Advisory Board would, if nothing else,
inform the professional about the challenges and limitations of such an undertaking. “Teens as Teachers” is
another best practice outlined by Gorman and Suellentrop (2009) in regards to development of youth
involvement. During the advisory group meetings, materials and resources would be reviewed with the
group by the library professional. This practice time with the program would give the board members
preloaded experience with concepts and materials so they could play the role of guides during the real
program date. The group would be given ample time to practice the projects and the meetings would allow
the library professional to share some small pieces of education advice such as, make them try on their own
before you help them. The Search Institute’s 40 Developmental Assets for Adolescents (2007) names
number 24 “Bonding to School” stating that a young person cares about his or her school. Participants
developing an investment in their school because of their role in the advisory group could make them care
more about their school and model that quality for others, with an aim of encouraging more students to
play an active role in development and promotion of library programs.

Resources:

Gorman, M. Suellentrop, T. (2009). Connecting Young Adults and Libraries. New York, NY: Neal-Schuman
Publishers, Inc.
Search Institute (2007). 40 Developmental Assets for Adolescents. Retrieved from http://www.search-
institute.org/content/40-developmental-assets-adolescents-ages-12-18
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The Young Adult Library Services Association. (2017) Core Professional Values for the Teen Services
Profession. Available: http://www.ala.org/yalsa/core-professional-values-teen-services-profession
The Young Adult Library Services Association. (2017)YALSA’s Competencies for Librarians Serving Youth:
Young Adults Deserve the Best. Available:http://www.ala.org/yalsa/guidelines/yacompetencies2010

5. Your programming plans should include engaging at least 1 guest speaker/performer/ community
organization to help you execute at least one of your programs. You must provide an actual
NAME and CONTACT INFORMATION for a real person with whom you would communicate
to make these arrangements. You must also include details of any performers' fees that they would
require to be paid.

Robert Fliegel Jr. (PE) is a personal acquaintance who works as a Professional Engineer with a discipline in
Civil Engineering. He works for an engineering firm in New York, NY. He has agreed to attend and speak
during this program when it is implemented. He has promised to speak free of charge contingent upon his
involvement regarding scheduling. His contact phone number is (***) ***-****. He has been notified of this
project and is prepared to accept a phone call. For clarity, I did tell him that at the current stage this was a
fictional program I was creating for a graduate school project.

6. Samples of contract(s) that will be used to secure performers / guest speakers, etc. Does your guest
have a standard contract that they use? If your guest doesn’t provide a contract, find a general
contract that you can adapt for your use. You should always have a contract – even if your
performer is providing their services free of charge.

Attached*

7 Where the program will be held (in the ‘reading room’ of the library, in a meeting room, on the
lawn, etc.). What is the capacity of the room? How many participants do you plan on allowing?
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 What kind of furniture or equipment will you need? How should the furniture or equipment be set
up? (Feel free to include a drawing)

The program will be held in the school library and in the industrial arts room of a local intermediate school.
The capacity of each room is 150 persons, which will easily meet the needs of this series of programs that
aims to have 15-18 Young Adults in attendance during any given session. The furniture in each room is
ideally set up for such a program. The library has 9 tables that sit 4 each with a large projector screen
connected to a computer with internet access. The tables provide a perfect place for Young Adults to
communicate, research, and design their projects. Additionally there are research stations with computers
for individual use. The Industrial Arts room has 9 large shop tables equipped with the necessary equipment
for the construction and testing of teens’ projects. There are also computer stations in the Industrial Arts
room for participants who require more time to research.

8. What supplies / refreshments / giveaways you will need for the program. (Will a special item be given
to any teen that attends all of your programs? Are there any supplies that must be provided to
participants in order to successfully carry out the program activities? Etc.).

Supplies include:
● 20 hot glue guns and glue
● 20 packages of square balsa wood dowels
● 20 Xacto knives (small razor knife)
● Graph paper
● Pencils
● Erasers
● Rulers
● Scale
● Weights

Refreshments include:
● Fruit and/or Vegetable platters for snack (Participants are encouraged to bring a bagged lunch)
● Bottled water

Giveaways include:
● Jolly Ranchers
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 ● Certificates stating (Name graduated the Bridging the Gap Program)

9. Will you require participants to sign-up ahead of time? If so, how will that be handled?

Participants will be required to sign up ahead of time in the library of their intermediate school or during
lunch. Since I am involved in the school community, I would be able to cross-reference the sign up list with
students who are on academic probation or have athletic responsibilities, who could be notified of their
scheduling conflict. The sign up procedure is an integral part of the publicity plan outlined in the next
section and includes a permission slip for a parent or guardian who is responsible for transporting the
participant to their intermediate school library on a predetermined Saturday.

10. A publicity plan. You MUST give details of how you will promote your program to the YA
community (flyers in the library? Emails? School librarians? Etc.). Include a copy of at least one flyer
that you will post/hand out in order to generate interest in your program. The flyer must include a mix
of graphics and text. It must be targeted to teens and include ALL relevant information and it must be
eye-catching, creative and informative.

The STEM Saturday program would be promoted through classroom newsletters, the school website, flyers
throughout the school in common areas, flyers on the community center bulletin board, flyers on the public
library bulletin board, emails to parents, and through the Teachers’ Union Facebook page. Word of mouth
spread by giving selected students the chance to be in charge of the sign up list at lunch will boost student
interest in this program. Working within the school system has the added benefit of prior relationships with
other teachers who could extend the opportunity to their students.

Flyer Attached*

11. Create a professionally designed handout with BOTH print and online resources of interest to teens
relevant to your program. You must carefully select these resources using best practices in collection
development. Your handout must contain useful and appropriate content and be well designed with a
mix of content and graphics. Include a minimum of 15 annotated multimodal resources.

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Handout Attached*

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