Exposing kids to STEM is important, even during a pandemic

One challenge for educators in the new reality of remote learning and physical distancing is how to engage youth in hands on learning and get them engaged.

Parents are increasingly looking for ways to promote an interest in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) to their children, especially as access to traditional learning environments has been made more challenging.

For UBC Okanagan Professor Jennifer Jakobi, exposing young people in the Okanagan to the STEM fields is critical as COVID-19 changes the way students and parents think about education. “The university is in a unique position to help bring knowledge and resources to the community.” Jakobi said.

Jakobi is a researcher in UBC Okanagan’s School of Health and Exercise Sciences. She leads the integrative STEM Team Advancing Networks of Diversity (iSTAND) program and is the associate chair of Westcoast Women in Engineering, Science and Technology (WWEST) where she is working to improve participation of women and other underrepresented groups in STEM.

“Its important to inspire and motivate at an early age. One reason why young teens, especially girls, do not pursue STEM—or worse yet indicate a dislike for the sciences—is a lack of connection.” Jakobi said. “Children need to understand that science is not an equation or fact, it is real and part of their everyday life. Do this early and in a fun way and it blossoms—it might even withstand the test of teenage years, where friends and ‘fitting-in’, which is typically not associated with liking science, are challenged daily.”

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The Okanagan has some amazing community resources, like the Okanagan Science Centre in Vernon. There are also programs and services offered through UBC Okanagan. For instance, the STEM UBCO group includes individual faculty members that conduct specialized outreach in areas like chemistry or computer science, and formalized programs on campus actively engaged in classroom and community outreach events. The iSTAND program, developed at UBC Okanagan, GeeringUp Vancouver and Let’s Talk Science have divisions in Kelowna that are actively leading hands-on STEM experiences in the community, schools, on campus and now online.

These programs offer family learning and activities that are enabling intergenerational understanding of the evolution of STEM and how these fields are part of our everyday life—from sport to toothpaste.