STEMulate Change for At-Risk Youth

Forum to Advance Minorities in Engineering’s (FAME, Inc.) STEMulate® Change Outreach Initiative provides educational experiences for students by exposing them to STEM learning opportunities. This program is designed to motivate young students to enroll in higher level classes and build their confidence and capacity to be successful. During the Fall/Winter of 2017 and 2018, STEMulate® Change students at Silver Lake Elementary School have been engaged in rigorous Problem Based Learning (PBL) lessons that promote hands-on activities and STEM learning.

Fall/Winter 2017 and 2018 sessions at Silver Lake are being held from November 28, 2017 in through January 10, 2018. During this time, participating students are learning about the STEM Icon Gerald Lawson who was an electronic engineer and famous video game pioneer who helped develop the first cartridge-based home video game console system.

STEMulate® Change Program Coordinator, Ms. Rose Porter said, “Students began to engage and learn about coding through a hands-on project working with kid friendly computer kits called KANOs. They learned how to build, utilize, and code the KANO computers. We did this activity in teams to allow students to acclimate themselves to some of their peers they aren’t always around or familiar with. As they continued, one student noted how both of her parents were engineers, so the task at hand would come as second nature to her. Working with another young man, he began to express his lack of understanding to what an engineer even was. They began to work and as she went right into building and talking him through it, her partner began by reading the instructions with the manual provided. It wasn’t until half way through the project they hit a road block in their progress. The young lady was stumped with no answers and it wasn’t until the young man interjected that she exalted, ‘Wow! You could be an engineer too. I don’t know how you figured that out.’ To his surprise, he smiled and replied ‘I can!’.”

FAME, Inc., one of the nation’s oldest non-profit STEM education organizations, helps motivate students to succeed in the science and math required for acceptance in colleges of engineering and prepares them to succeed in technical careers.  Donald L. Baker II, CEO of FAME, Inc. said, “FAME has 42 years of proven success. Alumni have been successful in education and corporate jobs and that is why parents put their trust and faith in our programs.” Additional STEMulate® Change sites are slated for Winter/Spring 2018 including Thomas Edison Charter School and others!

Links:

• FAME, Inc.'s Website