DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln

Worlds of Connections (WoC; 2018-2023) was a University of Nebraska-Lincoln-led Science Education Partnership Award (SEPA) that was funded by the National Institutes of Health. The project’s long term goals were to 1) enhance the diversity of the biobehavioral and biomedical workforce by increasing interest in network science among members of underrepresented minority communities and to 2) promote public understanding of the benefits of NIH-funded research for public health.

WoC aimed to provide quality educational after-school activities focused on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) for K-12 students in the Lincoln Public School District. Through these efforts, this project aimed to increase interest in and understanding of STEM topics for socio-economically disadvantaged students. WoC leveraged the framework of NE STEM 4U, a successful college student run and faculty guided near-peer-led out-of-school program for underserved youth, to form a new cross-campus collaboration that adds network science activities to the existing set of STEM topics.

The resources labeled “Network Science” are part of the WoC Activity Guides, a collection of resources for engaging youth with systems thinking and network science, provided by the WoC team.

These activity guides are supported by the Worlds of Connections SEPA [R25GM129836] at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, funded by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health. This content is solely the responsibility of the creators and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health or the University of Nebraska.