STEM Guides: professional brokers in rural STEM ecosystems

ABSTRACT

We describe the research and development of an NSF-funded, five-year experimental program to strengthen informal (out-of-school) STEM learning by youth in five rural communities. The central component of the model was a cadre of community members known as ‘STEM Guides’ who were hired to work as brokers between youth and the STEM learning resources potentially available to them. These STEM Guides were respected adults with credible connections to youth, flexible schedules, the ability to travel within the community, and enthusiasm for identifying local STEM resources. The Guides were trained and supported by the project staff of an educational research and development non-profit, whose researchers studied the Guides’ experiences over several years as they reflected on the ways they could support youth to pursue STEM outside of school. This project was unusual in developing embedded rural residents to take a professional brokering role with youth aged 10–18 throughout a region of several neighbouring towns, instead of relying on parents or teachers to provide such connections opportunistically and only for their own youth. Taking an ecosystems perspective, this article highlights some of the opportunities and challenges these STEM brokers faced as they tried to catalyze connections for youth in their communities.

KEYWORDS:

• learning ecosystems
• brokering
• rural education
• community engagement

Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge the dedication and creativity of the STEM Guides, as well as their willingness to explore a non-traditional role in their communities. We are also grateful for the work of our partners, including the University of Maine Cooperative Extension (4-H), Axiom Education and Training Center, Oxford Hills School District, Science Education Solutions, Education Development Center (EDC), and the many local partners in each Hub who contributed to the vision and work of the Guides. The STEM Funders Network provided funding for technical assistance for one of the Hubs. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Sue Allen http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3213-6071

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation [grant number 1322827].