Community Science WorkshopsCommunity-based non-profit program providing

opportunities for underserved youth to tinker,

make, and explore their world through science

CSWs in California

1991 - 2013

• Power tools• Hand tools• Materials

• Science Exhibits• Animal Specimens

Cheap, Free, Easy and FlexibleLocal• Accessible by walking, biking, or transit on home turf

Free (or Cheap)• Free to individual participants• Competitively priced school programs

Easy• Drop-in means no permission

slips, no chaperones, no time commitment

Flexible• Multiple entry points in time,

space, and type of program

This is My Science WorkshopFamiliarity• Everyday materials• Un-pristine: students see that nothing is off limits

Identity and Role Models• 1/3 of staff are former parents/students• Majority female staff

Language• Bilingual facilitators and labels

Agency• User-generated content• Tools at kid height

Staff: So what are you doing right now, Alex? Kid #1: We’re, I’m putting water in this, so it could go all the way there. Ready? turn it off. It’s ready. Kid #2: Now put that one up. Kid #1: Más low. So first I got a hose, first I got this, then I got this water bottle, and I made it then I glued it and I put some tape so it couldn’t fall. And that one, I found a other one of these, these, but this one’s see through, and then I got this water bottle and I just put it at the bottom and now it’s going there.

Staff: Oh, it’s watering a plant, that’s really cool. So how come you guys are holding it the way you’re holding it? Kid #1: Because, this one needs to be more like more high up so it could go like that, and if I will hold it low, the water right there it won’t go, only if I hold it up, see? It will go. The water’s through there.

Staff: Wow, you’re making it so big. So what was the thing you were doing where you could make it bigger? Girl: A bubble inside a bubble inside a bubble Staff: That is so cool!

Girl: We did it in science class that’s why he knows

Staff: Yeah, it’s a really cool thing, I’ve never seen anything like it before. Staff: So can you make that one bigger, that outside one bigger?

Girl: nooooo…..

Staff: Oh, I think he can!

Girl: It stretches.

Staff: It does stretch. Girl: It stretches, because if there is more soap around, it will stretch Staff: When does it seem to break?

Boy: When you touch it with, because the bubbles like, like, water, and when you touch it with something dry it will pop. Girl: Yeah, like if that is dry, then it’s popped.

Equity as expressed in the videos• Able to communicate understanding without using

science vocabulary• Bilingual• Science Workshop is at the housing project• Low-tech and everyday materials• Goals and challenges are generated by the kids• Free to make their own meaning, blur lines between

school, home, and the CSW• Kids are cooperating, interested in each other’s work• “What are you doing?” vs. “Today we’re going to…”