2024 Programs: Evaluate and iterate
On the face of it, In4All appears to deliver the same programming every year. Water gets filtered, marbles cross the line, and creative ideas get presented.
But behind the scenes, our programs are constantly changing as the needs of our staff, students and community evolve. That’s why we do what we teach our students to do: Evaluate and iterate!
During the school year, In4All gathers feedback from teachers, students and co-learners using debrief sessions, evaluations, and student surveys. Then, we use the summer break to evaluate those results and iterate the programming to better serve the community the following year.
We receive input on everything from how well we prepare co-learners to visit the classroom, to the quality of the materials and resources we provide, and how well the programs connect to the teachers’ goals. All of this is taken into consideration as we prepare for the following school year.
Since we are asking members of our community to take the time to provide this feedback, we thought it might be useful to learn what we do with it. So, here is some feedback we received after the 2022-23 school year that we factored into the work we are doing this year.
Elementary School: STEM Connect
The 2022-23 school year was the 11th year of the STEM Connect program and there is still no shortage of input and change that happens. This is also our largest program serving more than 2,600 fourth and fifth grade students in 100 classrooms so we must consider a wide range of needs.
We had roughly five percent of students respond to our program evaluation survey, which is quite a bit lower than previous years. This alone identified an area for improvement. We realized we need to allow more time to complete the survey at the end of the class period and make it easier to finish it while the experience is fresh.
Our feedback from everyone – students, co-learners and teachers – identified several other areas for iteration in the current school year including:
• Providing more materials for the activities, from bridge building to water filtration.
• Reduce the time presenting content and increase the hands-on time for students where the real learning happens.
• Better prepare first-time co-learners for the classroom experience since most have not been in a classroom since they were students themselves!
• Provide dual-language resources in our kits.
Middle School: Design Thinking
The design thinking program was in 14 classrooms serving 435 middle school students in the 2022-23 school year – nearly twice as many as the previous year. This is still a relatively new program, so we are always learning and iterating.
Through a combination of debrief sessions with co-learners and evaluations from students, we learn many had a very positive experience creatively solving problems using the design thinking process. One co-learner shared “We had very limited time with them, but we were still able to connect with them – it was an amazing experience.”
The feedback also identified several areas for improvement which we are incorporating this year including:
• Condensing presentation materials to better reflect the engagement model and leaving more room for the activities and exercises.
• Increasing the time training co-learners in design thinking to they are more comfortable teaching and leading the sessions.
• Scheduling the 8 sessions to start earlier in the school year and better work around school breaks, statewide testing, and other key events.
High School
In the 2022-23 school year, In4All piloted a design thinking program with two alternative high schools where seven co-learners worked alongside 40 students in a 6-week sprint. We are still very early in understanding the needs at this this level, but everyone involved gave very positive feedback about the experience.
The main lesson we learned from co-learners is that it can be difficult to form connections with students if class attendance is inconsistent, which is a characteristic of the alternative school setting. Here are a few other areas for change this year:
• In our training, discuss the systemic barriers encountered by alternative school students that led to inconsistent attendance.
• Provide resources to co-learners that can help them build relationships with students quickly if needed.
• Mirror the middle school program changes to reduce presentation time and maximize hands-on learning time.
Our goal is to continuously improve the program experience for students, teachers, and co-learners alike as we seek to make an impact in our community. If you would like to learn more about our impact, you can read our most recent impact report on our website here.
And for those of you who are in the classrooms this winter and spring, we encourage you to provide open and honest feedback about your experience when we do evaluations. You are our inspiration!