Grant Awarded to Improve Accessibility and Inclusion for STEM Outreach Activities
“Turn your mic on please, we can’t hear you.”
“Oh, very cool catapult design, what made you use that material?”
The COVID-19 pandemic may have altered the way the NE STEM 4U program traditionally provides out-of-school time programming, but the program quickly pivoted to tackle this challenge head-on. Staff are working to develop ways to better serve students in a remote setting, and for those without an internet connection via the NE STEM 4U “Train-the-Trainer”: OST Staff PD and STEM Programming grant awarded by Collective for Youth for $48,228.00.
The grant initiative is spearheaded by the program’s faculty advisors, Christine Cutucache, Ph.D., Department of Biology, College of Arts & Sciences, Neal Grandgenett, Ph.D., Department of Teacher Education, College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences, and William Tapprich, Ph.D., Department of Biology, College of Arts & Sciences. Additionally, Nik Stevenson, M.S., STEM TRAIL Center, functions as the Program Coordinator on the project.
“With primary school students in their home settings, we have been forced to pivot on providing programming to the middle school students enrolled in our program, but our NE STEM 4U undergraduate mentors have risen to the challenge” says Nik Stevenson. “I really think the innovations that our mentors are coming up with is helping propel this program onto another level.”
The NE STEM 4U program created an Innovation and Development team focused on ways to take the authentic lessons of the program and make them engaging in a virtual context. Currently, ideas are being generated to include virtual escape rooms and a spin on the popular TV show “MTV Cribs,” but with a focus on STEM labs throughout the disciplines.
One mentor team utilized a video from a Forensic Scientist to raise awareness to the career field, and further expanded to include lesson plans to investigate a crime scene using biological principles on the virtual call. The team-based approach to solving the “who done it?” fostered collaboration skills in real-time.
“We give it a 5 out of 5 stars,” said one student. “I think it was a 4.9 out of 5,” said another. “Wow, our fingerprints are so cool, I didn’t know about that,” said a third.
The sky is the limit and these undergraduate mentors are being challenged to think up new ways to consider STEM Programming for youth. And, whether students have access to Zoom, the internet, or experts, shouldn’t preclude them from seeing the excitement in science. NE STEM 4U is working to continue to expand the range of resources for students in the out-of-school space.