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STEM education, at its best, integrates science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, equipping students with the tools to tackle contemporary challenges. Research indicates these interdisciplinary and applied learning experiences bolster scientific reasoning, critical thinking, problem-solving, and more. While an interdisciplinary framework is essential to preparing students for 21st century proficiency, an understanding of the tenets and knowledge within the disciplines is essential for students to effectively connect and apply them. Covering the full scope of these principles and their interdisciplinary applications within a comprehensive curriculum isn’t possible within today’s K-12 classroom. Achieving STEM proficiency requires going beyond the formal classroom and building a community of formal and informal practitioners committed to providing synergistic experiences. This network includes partnerships between K-12 schools and institutions such as planetariums, museums, and institutes of higher education (IHEs).
Partnerships between IHEs and K-12 have immense potential to broaden access to pivotal STEM experiences. However, there are many obstacles, such as funding duration, fluctuating volunteer interests, and misaligned goals, that result in programs that are short-term, thus blunting the anticipated benefits. The K-12 students most negatively impacted by these shortcomings are the underserved students in STEM—precisely the ones who stand to gain the most from successful programs. This demographic encompasses students from historically marginalized racial and ethnic backgrounds, non-native English speakers, and those facing economic disadvantages. More recently, the COVID-19 pandemic further unveiled the structural and cultural barriers to equitable STEM education, prompting higher education partners to reassess their outreach frameworks critically.
Starting in 2020, the STEM Center at James Madison University began re-examining the impact of its K-12 outreach programs. We reviewed research on STEM learning and education equity, consulted with K-12 teachers and former volunteers, and leveraged the expertise of STEM colleagues. From our analysis, a central question emerged: How can institutions build enduring partnerships that overcome equity barriers, spark and maintain STEM interest, forge meaningful connections to school STEM, incentivize college students to persist, and ensure frequent interactions? Over the course of four years, we developed a new approach for university-community partnerships that demonstrates what is possible when these two partners use reciprocal engagement practices to achieve shared goals.
"JMU’s STEM Corps is a replicable model that points the way toward more holistic, mutually beneficial interactions and mentoring that builds STEM skills and knowledge, engages underserved students, and builds cultural competency, all while participants learn and have fun."
The centerpiece of this framework is an interdisciplinary model of undergraduate engagement that we've dubbed STEM Corps. This cadre consists of more than 100 students representing 20 majors across seven colleges who serve as mentors and learning facilitators for 90 K-5 students in our partnership with the Boys & Girls Club of America chapter in Harrisonburg, VA. In addition to their affiliation with a national organization that serves families of all socioeconomic levels, these young students belong to a diverse school division representing 75 birth countries and over 60 spoken languages. The disciplinary diversity of the STEM Corps and the cultural diversity of our community partners allow for tremendous mutual benefit. By working with this diverse community of students, STEM Corps is exposed to and can learn from a much broader cultural spectrum than they encounter on campus. Likewise, the interdisciplinary quilt of STEM Corps offers young students both an array of role models and the opportunity to learn from a team of individuals with a range of skills and perspectives, thus modeling real-world STEM problem-solving.
The curriculum for this program is divided into 10 one-hour lessons. Over 60 STEM Corps members participate in each lesson, maintaining a low student-to-facilitator ratio. This raises the question: ‘How do you ensure your wide range of majors can effectively facilitate understanding of STEM principles and practices, especially considering how susceptible young learners are to information that is inconsistent with what they learn in school?’ To address this challenge, we co-developed the curriculum with pedagogical content knowledge materials for each lesson and are partnering with local K-5 teachers to review this information. These coaching materials enable STEM Corps to be effective with 30-45 minutes of preparation.
To address the sustainability challenges, we had to figure out how to incentivize college students to dedicate this time to preparing each week while also persisting over multiple years. After testing different incentives, we discovered the best approach is simply garnering mutual respect. For example, we build students' trust that their time will not be taken for granted and that prioritizing health and academics above volunteering will be respected. We do this by scheduling more students than needed each week, creating a buffer for last-minute availability changes. This flexibility is possible due to the growth of STEM Corps resulting from active recruitment of all majors. We also demonstrate mutual respect by maximizing interactions that foster the development of skills and competencies for the volunteers that are attractive to employers across all sectors. We help students communicate how they practiced these skills and demonstrated core competencies, positioning them to be more competitive on their career path.
JMU’s STEM Corps is a replicable model that points the way toward more holistic, mutually beneficial interactions and mentoring that builds STEM skills and knowledge, engages underserved students, and builds cultural competency, all while participants learn and have fun.
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