Extension
4-H STEM Education
Over the past year, some 2,500 grade school students and educators throughout Somerset, Wicomico, and Worcester counties benefitted from programming provided by UMES Extension’s 4-H STEM faculty. Youth, ages 5-18, participated in hands-on, research-based projects and activities in science, health, agriculture, and citizenship in a positive environment. The 4-H STEM faculty also trained other educators to offer programs utilizing the experiential learning and targeting life skills models. Educators in UMES’ 4-H STEM program, Bradley Hartle (Wicomico County) and Lisa Murphy (Worcester County), worked closely with public and private schools and boards of education in their respective counties. A sampling of school-based programs include: inschool enrichment such as vermicomposting in the classroom, the STREAM Afterschool Program, the Summer Scientist Academy, the AgDiscovery Summer Program, and STEM Saturdays. Activities designed to spark STEM interest in young minds included: learning about shark biology by handling a preserved specimen; dissecting squid and worms to learn about internal and external anatomy; extracting DNA from a strawberry to learn the importance of our genetic code; learning about edible insects and the field of entomology; experiencing physics principles such as projectile motion by building paper, straw, and stomp rockets; learning engineering concepts by taking part in building bridges, towers, and paper pop up books; building beginning robotics concepts through LEGO WeDo Robotics; learning about sustainable innovations by studying nature’s structures and functions; and discussing climate change and human involvement. They also strengthened partnerships with over 30 local organizations who work with youth programming such as Future Farmers of America, the Ward Museum, Assateague and Pocomoke state parks (Meaningful Watershed Education Experience), and Maryland Coastal Bays. New programming like the 4-H Chesapeake Bay Adventures summer residential
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UNIVERSITY of MARYLAND EASTERN SHORE
Tashe Williams, the Next Generation Scholar Program coordinator in Wicomico County for the Maryland Business Roundtable for Education, helps a summer camp participant identify organisms she found while snorkeling in the Chesapeake Bay as part of the 4-H Chesapeake Bay Adventures.
camp has helped create new partnerships with entities like the Maryland Business Roundtable for Education’s Next Generation Scholars Program. Last summer in the camp’s first year, 20 youth were immersed in nature and STEM activities while exploring the northern end of the Chesapeake Bay. Another new collaboration was formed with UMES’ School of Pharmacy as a result of its being awarded a 5-year, $1.3 million grant for a project: Drug Discovery and Biomedical Research Training Program for Underserved Minority Youth. The grant provides for a summer camp for Somerset County high school students where they gain biomedical lab training by pharmacy faculty and staff. Murphy trained the faculty on “The 4-H Way: Learn by Doing,” which demonstrated team building techniques and the application of the 4-H Experiential Learning Model through hands-on activities.
UMES School of Pharmacy faculty and graduate students participate in a team building activity building marsh mellow towers to learn how to teach using hands-on activities.
Sixth grade students in Worcester County learn about wetlands and animals living in the Maryland Coastal Bays as part of programming led by Assateague State Park’s Meaningful Watershed Educational Experience.
