2023 Education & Outreach: Anteater Science: inspiring a lasting interest in STEM in K-12 students in Southern California
Innovative activities and workshops are being implemented to excite and inspire students, as well as foster creative learning and teach the fundamentals of materials science and engineering.
• Each workshop teaches participants to implement the scientific method and apply what they learn by observations to understand materials in the world around them.
• Topics are crafted to focus on materials that kids see in their everyday lives – food, bubbles, natural materials, etc.
CCAM Junior Research Fellows and Materials Science Graduate Student Association participate in this effort to reach students at:
• Discovery Cube Santa Ana science museum: small tabletop activities as well as larger workshops, ~400 students per activity
• Graduate Student Family Resource Center (GSFRC), ~30 students per activity
• Santa Ana and Los Angeles School Districts. ~300 students per activity
Sierra Gross-Juntado,1 Jacob Norman,1 CCAM JRFs,2 Regina Ragan,1,2 Stacy Copp1,2
UC Irvine 1Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering, 2Center for Complex and Active Materials