The milwaukee public museum (MPM) will develop and implement a new out-of-school program for underserved high school students in central city neighborhoods in milwaukee. In partnership with the boys &…

The milwaukee public museum (MPM) will develop and implement a new out-of-school program for underserved high school students in central city neighborhoods in milwaukee. In partnership with the boys & girls clubs of greater milwaukee (bgcgm), MPM will introduce high school students to planetary science by immersing them in the process of producing a planetary show, from researching topics to writing script to final production of a 4 5-minute videos that will be seamed together into a planetary show. Those students will then become mentors, presenting their final product to peers and middle school students, as well as their families. Each year, 20 students will be immersed in astronomical educational programming. Each week, students will explore a different astronomical-based topic guided by staff from mpml, s planetarium and education department. Also during this period, two outside experts from NASA (scientist, engineer or astronaut) will visit MPM to share their expertise and experiences with students. Bgcgm staff will reinforce the lessons learned, teach communication skills and provide instruction on media presentations once a week in the bgcgm NASA club. To further immerse the youth in science and astronomy, students will travel to other observatories which will provide additional programming. These institutions include yerkes observatory, and the adler planetarium in chicago. All education materials will be aimed at making earth and space science more real and inviting to the students and their audiences. Create will promote an awareness of and interested in stem (science, technology, engineering and math) careers. At the end of the immersion program, students will be divided into two groups. Each group will choose one of the topics that they learned about in the previous weeks. With guidance from project leaders, students will further develop their topic into a five-minute video production. Working with create staff, students will develop their own work outline, budget plan, video storyboards, music backgrounds, and narration. An emphasis will be placed on teamwork and creativity. The emphasis on video production aligns with the experience and expertise of the museum's planetarium staff. At the end of the two-years, the four 5-minute videos will be seamed together into a full dome planetary show. Bgcgm staff will continue to provide regular bgcgm club activities to reinforce skills, concepts and project components, as well as ensuring continued engagement and retention of participants. Create's goal is to increase participation of high school youth from central-city neighborhoods in science, technology, engineering and math education. The objectives are to 1) engage underserved high school students with demonstrated interest in stem activities to leverage NASA resources and actively do research and produce relevant astronomy and science educational programming; 2)become mentors for peers and younger students inspiring themselves as well as their mentees to continue their educational paths in scientific fields; 3) build interest in NASA programs and in stem careers with creation and presentations of the educational programs created by the students; 4) expand the project's impact by making the educational programs available via a website and the national distribution of the planetarium show.