The Expanding Repertoires project included three interconnected activities:
The National Needs Assessment, an online survey science and children’s museums to address the following questions:
- What are science centers and children’s museums currently doing to improve science learning experiences and school readiness for preschool dual language learners?
- What are the empirical and theoretical bases on which their efforts are based?
- What are informal science institutions’ priorities with respect to reaching and serving this population?
- What needs do they identify in their communities and within their own organizations?
- The Convening + Virtual Activities, a series of online and in-person meetings of teams from 8 museums currently engaged in innovative work with dual language learners and families in order to discuss
- What museum partners are doing to leverage current practices and develop new practices to improve the science learning experiences and school readiness of dual language learners
- Frameworks that guide partners’ efforts to reach and serve preschool dual language learners
- What museum partners identify as the areas of difficulty in serving dual language learners
- Findings of the national needs assessment
- The most promising areas of local work that museum partners would be willing to further investigate
- Methods for studying and evaluating the effectiveness of these focal practices
- Directions for future research
The Exploratory Study of COSI’s programs and practices related to the support of access, participation, and learning for preschool dual language learners and their families in order to
- Gain insight into the experiences and perspectives of participants and stakeholders in COSI’s early childhood programs that serve preschool dual language learners – that is, children, their families, community organizations, early childhood professionals, and COSI team
- Identify needs, challenges, and opportunities related to reaching and serving preschool dual language learners in Central Ohio
- Establish an empirical basis on which to develop new and/or adapted programs and practices to improve science learning experiences and school readiness for dual language learners
