The words “Marshmallow Launcher” popped up on the projector screen at the Rancho Bernardo Library, and the room erupts in cheers, April 4. Elementary students eagerly grabbed at the marshmallows and sticks laid out in front of them and began to build their marshmallow launchers, while volunteers beside them guide them through the physics behind how the launcher works, and walk them through the physics terminology in a simple way.
This is one of the many activities hosted by the PQ STEMsters, a chapter of the non-profit international organization STEMsters. The program and its leaders design and teach interactive science lessons for different age groups. Jordane Ambrose (11), president of the PQ STEMsters, said she started the chapter because she wants to foster enthusiasm for STEM.
“Raising awareness about STEM is something that I’ve grown to love,” Ambrose said. “I’ve always really liked science, and giving the kids the opportunity to have STEM learning that’s just not a part of school would make a difference in our community. Each lesson is geared towards interactive science projects, whereas in school, during science lessons, kids may do labs and things like that, but much of the time they aren’t really making anything, just testing and recording.”
A University of Chicago study found that students who learn scientific concepts through hands-on experience develop a deeper understanding of the concepts and perform 7% better on exams. Ambrose said she decided to work with the STEMsters organization to support more innovative and interactive forms of learning, different from the typical science lesson taught in science classes.
“Regular science learning is already taught in schools,” Ambrose said. “STEMsters are designed to stimulate creative thinking and allow kids to create different projects to help them learn more about science in a way that they’ll remember. STEMsters don’t try to replace regular teaching, but instead it supports the kids’ love for STEM, and shows them a different way in which they can experience science.”
Similar to many other student-run community-based organizations, Ambrose said consistent volunteer participation can be challenging to maintain, especially when starting a new organization.
“At first, we had only three to four volunteers, which is difficult to run with a class of 30,” Ambrose said. “As we progressed, we’ve gotten new volunteers. We try our best, we tell our friends to come, raise awareness on social media, [make] posters, and [use] connections.”
Ambrose said STEMsters play a key role in increasing the amount of hands-on participation in similar programs.
“A specific reason as to why I want to bring STEM education to our community is because currently, at least in my opinion, most free STEM opportunities aren’t as hands-on as STEMsters projects,” Ambrose said. “Though there are similar programs like Stem For Others, a lot of our projects deal with motors and electrical currents too, which expands the different types of science we’re able to do.”
In the past month, the group has begun branching out from working with after-school programs, such as Educational Support Systems at schools like Canyon View Elementary, to working for free at libraries. Ambrose said that the chapter wants to work to branch out and contribute to the amount of free K-5 STEM education in PQ.
“Bringing it [to libraries] helps foster a love for STEM in children, which leaves a lasting impact on their interpretation and understanding of science.” Ambrose said.
Ambrose said working with STEMsters has shown her how creative kids can be, especially when they divert from the typical lesson.
“They go a little bit different from what we [teach], but then they’ll still get it right,” Ambrose said. “It’s taught me that kids are very resourceful, and they can adapt to many different ways of teaching. Even if we’re maybe a bit off [when teaching], which we usually aren’t, they’ll still understand the basis of what we’re teaching them, and still be able to [deviate from] the lesson and get their own takeaways from it.”
