Project Exploration STEM Facilitators are outstanding mentors who share their STEM passions with PE students. In pulling from multiple established curricula, collaborating with our partners, and catering their lesson plans to the interests of students, STEM Facilitators provide students with hands-on, authentic experiences which build scientific skills, fuel curiosity, and encourage students to develop their STEM identities.

In addition, Project Exploration leverages the talents of STEM Facilitators to lead field trips, plan special events, develop STEMbook pages and videos to engage students and families outside of programs, and prepare students for PE’s annual culminating event or Reflection of Knowledge, in which students showcase their talents.

The goals we collectively seek to achieve include:

• Strengthen students’ connection to learning by engaging them in a community of practice that includes STEM Professionals, educators, and each other;
• Build scientific skills, fuel curiosity, and encourage students to identify themselves as scientists with hands-on science experiments that demonstrate the power and versatility of scientific inquiry;
• Equip students for long-term achievement by challenging them to develop their perseverance, emotional resilience, interpersonal skills, and leadership ability;
• Work with communities to create a more equitable, authentic, and engaging STEM environments, in school and out.

Student outcomes made possible by our STEM Facilitators include:

• Increased self-confidence in STEM competencies, skills, and abilities.
• Increased self-confidence in critical 21st century skills, such as leadership, communication, and collaboration.
• Increased STEM aspirations or pursuits, including careers.