Chapel Hill, NC
Teen Science Cafés (TSC) are free out-of-school programs connecting teens to STEM experts who share their real-world STEM career pathways through in-depth hands-on science explorations and personal storytelling. The TSC model promotes meaningful interactions between teens and community experts and offers opportunities for young people to see visiting experts as role models and to learn from them how the power of STEM can be used to solve real-world challenges.
These authentic interactions and discussions happen within informal and accessible settings and promote an understanding of science and technology rarely possible in traditional classrooms. The NSF funded TSC model has been consistently evaluated over its 15-year lifespan, and evaluations have shown that youth who have participated in TSC programs often pursue STEM study and careers, join in science-related lifelong learning, and think more critically about science issues.
“I think they’ve definitely opened my eyes to a lot more careers than I thought were out there for me. And they’ve given me a lot of information on stuff I would never have had the opportunity to learn about or never had the opportunity to even just see.”
Café programs are active and include an expert presentation, activities related to the STEM topic and snacks or a light meal. TSCs usually occur about once a month, are hosted by various public or private educational organizations such as museums, libraries, nature centers, after-school care facilities, and universities. The programs are as unique as their communities. A café might focus on one aspect of STEM, like marine science, appeal to a specific demographic, such as female-identified teens, take a cultural-specific lens to their programming, such as native foodways, or be a hybrid in-person and virtual program due to their rural location. Teens are the backbone of cafés and take on significant duties. TSCs are generally led by a small leadership cohort of teens working with a café adult facilitator. The cohort’s duties include choosing café topics, researching STEM experts, helping experts hone their activity or presentation for the café’s teen audience, welcoming guests to the café, and recruiting their peers to attend.
Growth In North Carolina & Across the Country
The Teen Science Café Network (TSCN) is a quickly expanding constellation of currently 69 café programs across the country with more than 40 sites beginning training this year. There are now six active or in training cafe programs in North Carolina! Membership status in the Network is free and comes with benefits such as searchable resource databases, an annual community gathering and affinity groups. TSCs are easy to start (often dovetailing with existing teen programming) and no prior experience with STEM is needed.
TSCN Guides shepherd new adult facilitators through the process of beginning a café with free one-on-one and group learning sessions, professional development webinars, asynchronous learning modules, and the development of a café implementation plan or roadmap for each program. Guides also support new adult facilitators through their first three cafés, after which the program becomes a member of the Teen Science Café Network and a part of the family of TSCs nationwide. Interested in starting a café or want more information about the process? Contact the Teen Science Café Network at the link below!
