Kenton County Cooperative Extension surveyed teachers in 3 Kenton County school districts at the end of the 2021-2022 school year requesting input for 4-H natural resource school program lessons.  4-H Council members in November 2021 also spoke at length for the need to engage school program youth in projects and other educational opportunities.  As a result of the surveys and discussion with local council members, lessons for the 2022-2023 school year, included hands-on activities/experiments were presented to teach natural resource club 4-H members about solar energy, elementary robotics, sinkholes, and magnetic energy.  Additionally, the hands-on activities served as an introductory opportunity for youth to learn about completing a process.  The natural resources solar lesson included a solar house activity that could be implemented rain or shine.  The magnets lesson included a discussion of magnetic energy and the opportunity to enter an energy poster is available.  The connections between 4-H school programs and the many opportunities that exist for 4-H members outside of school time were discussed with youth when 4-H newsletters were presented monthly.  

4-H members predominately represented (253 youth) 4^th grade urban and suburban youth in multicultural schools.  100% of the students attend schools with 100% free lunch program for the entire school population.  Less than 2% live on a farm or have exposure to production agriculture.  In the article “Perspectives of Hands-On Science Teaching” Haury and Rillero, note “Students in a hands-on science program will remember the material better, feel a sense of accomplishment when the task is completed, and be able to transfer that experience easier to other learning situations..”  The statement preceding demonstrates the value of 4-H natural resources lessons (72 Kelley) shared with local schools and providing an educational opportunity for local youth.

Dr. Cary I. Sneider, a member of the NGSS development team stated… “NGSS is …the application of science to the development of various products, processes, and systems to meet human needs…” youth members provide written statements on the worksheets developed by the 4-H agent to demonstrate cognitive outcomes, the teachers involved encourage active participation by using the worksheets and vocabulary sheets for grades or classroom participation.

Youth members repeatedly cite the eco-bots lesson which involves logic and reasoning – determining why something is working or failing, forming solutions in a limited time frame and solving the problem.  The magnet lesson and the sinkhole lesson are more challenging to describe for 4^th grade youth.  The energy source is not visible or controllable and the abstract thinking is difficult to describe.  The cognitive outcomes expressed in written comments reflect the intent of NGSS and success of the natural resource lessons in achieving the goals of the 4-H program   During the 2022 and 2023 school program lessons we are also consistently observing the hesitancy to work with hands-on materials which is directly attributed to the pandemic situation when youth experienced online school and did not have exposure to manipulatives.  .