Roger Williams Park Zoo

Roger Williams Park Zoo will adjust its entire portfolio of school programs to a new digital reality, resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. The project will support the staffing needs associated with transitioning the existing school program curricula and evaluation methodologies to meet a regional need for digital science education. High-impact programming will build on partnerships with a Title I school community, the Providence After School Alliance, and homeschooling families. Colleagues from GEMS-Net--a partnership among the University of Rhode island's School of Education, scientists and engineers, and public school districts-- will provide feedback on the relevance of the programming for the teachers in the 13 districts in which they guide science learning. The zoo will pilot at least two of the programs in three different schools in exchange for more in-depth teacher feedback.