STEM Education Programs – Fall 2020 Recap – Adapting and Thriving

2020 has been a year where everything has changed and we have had to redefine what is “normal.” The COVID-19 pandemic closed the doors of our partner Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) schools and our University and we all transitioned into the virtual learning environment. We had to rethink all aspects of our program, including supply distribution to both staff and students, and how to teach hands-on science remotely. We adapted our curriculum for all of the JEP STEM programs to be more at-home-friendly. For example, the YSP third grade curriculum usually does an activity about forces, gravity, and potential and kinetic energy using Hot Wheels (toy cars).  This was adapted into a lesson on “rolling” where students made their own ramps at home using things like cardboard boxes and toilet paper rolls. With funding we received this year from the USC Good Neighbors Campaign for the Community Applying Systemic STEM Education to Schools (C-ASSETS) Initiative and we were able to send STEM supply kits home with families with the support of some of our local Los Angeles-based staff and some of our amazing partner teachers.

Capacities fluctuated for each of the varying STEM programs. 65% of our partner teachers were able to host Young Scientists Program TAs in their live Zoom classrooms this semester but we still wanted to provide a  modified version of our program to the teachers that were not able to participate. For these teachers, we recorded weekly science experiment videos that corresponded to the live lessons and disseminated the videos through email and youtube. 68% of our student staff returned this semester, as well and  introduced two new coordinators: Sabrina Mir and Angelina Crittenden. The Medical STEM Program maintained it’s capacity and worked with the same amount of teachers and Wonderkids completely altered its program model from a 2 week module to a one week module.

This semester, JEP’s STEM Education Programs–including the Young Scientists Program, WonderKids, and the Medical STEM program–are generously supported by the following individuals and organizations: the USC Good Neighbors Campaign, Raytheon, the Winn Family, the North Area Neighborhood Development Council  (NANDC), Union Bank, and  the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center. We are grateful for their ongoing support.