Breakfast Club Blog

The BOOST Breakfast Club Blog is a curated space where bloggers from around the world contribute content on a continual basis about a variety of topics relevant to in and out-of-school time. The BOOST Breakfast Club blog is at the heart of an ongoing dialogue where expanded learning and education professionals share their personal thoughts and stories from the in and out-of-school time field. They also tell us what they ate for breakfast!

The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any other agency, organization, employer, or company. Enjoy the brain food.

The BOOST Breakfast Club Blog is Brain Food for In and Out-of-School Time Leaders!

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On-Site Staff / Opinion / Partnerships and Building Relationships / Staff Leadership and Management

Youth Development Showdown: Nature vs. Technology

Carlos Santini No Comments

Take a moment to reflect on the last time you went on a hike, a camping trip, or any other type of outdoor experience. What was your mindset? How would you compare your attitude and outlook to your typical 9-to-5 self? I would bet there’s a stark difference. I experience this consistently with my two girls. The last time around was a Spring Break trip to Mammoth Lakes, a mountain town nestled in the Eastern Sierras. As much as my family loves the outdoors, my kids are not immune to their own 9-t...Read More

engineering hands on engineering hands on
On-Site Staff / Partnerships and Building Relationships / Program Design, Development, and Quality / Staff Leadership and Management

How to Start the Afterschool Engineering Club You’ve Always Wanted

Eric Iversen No Comments

For all the popularity of STEM activities outside of school time, engineering remains something of a neglected stepchild. “Full STEM Ahead,” an America After 3 PM survey, found that the favored siblings in the STEM family, science and math, feature in a preponderance of available programs, 60 and 45 percent, respectively. Technology and engineering share the table scraps, named in less than a third of program offerings. And with the greater share of these programs focused on computing and progra...Read More

On-Site Staff / Program Design, Development, and Quality / Staff Leadership and Management / Sustainability

Books to Help Build Elementary Students’ Understanding of Engineering

Eric Iversen No Comments

Thoughts Turn In Springtime … For the last several weeks, the view from my office on the third floor has been of treetops filling out with leaves. Looking down to the ground, I can see flowers coming into bloom, bushes becoming green, and animals of all kinds scurrying, hopping, or flying about, urgently concerned with their appointed, springtime tasks. It’s a delight and a wonder to see the natural world coming to life in such vivid fashion. … To Tech? But here’s what I have been touching and u...Read More

scannables scannables
Program Design, Development, and Quality

BOOST Master Class: Program Transformation: Rethinking Scannables

breakfastclubguest No Comments

I’ve very excited to host a Master Class on Scannable Technology at the BOOST Conference this April. My new book Deeper Learning with QR Codes and Augmented Reality: A Scannable Solution for Your Classroom includes lots of ways teachers can use #ScannableTech with students. Many of the ideas and activities I share are perfect for educators working outside of the classroom or in nontraditional learning spaces. Here are three ways to use #ScannableTech in after school programs. Let Kids Desi...Read More