DISCOVERY SCIENCE CENTER OF ORANGE COUNTY (5)

Home Browse Search

DiscoveryCube Exhibit A ORANGE COUNTY Our vision is that this workshop will spark underserved children's life-long interest in science, applied learning, hypothesis -testing, and discovery. Fun with Colors meets the California Preschool Learning Foundations, which outline knowledge and skills that most children can achieve when provided with the kinds of interactions, instruction, and environments that promote early learning and development. The Fun with Colors field trip will foster knowledge and active participation. Students will learn about color theory during the book reading. Then they will actively apply what they learned by creating a color wheel with balls of dough with the guidance of the Demonstrator. The deliverables for Futuros Radiantes are parents and teachers will discover the benefits of reading STEM -based children's books to early learners. Participants will near that young children's interest in science and STEM can be fostered and perpetuated through early reading, As a result of Futuros Radiantes; parents and teachers will read more STEM books to early learners. In turn, the early learners will be more interested in reading and STEM subjects. Both Fun with Colors and Futuros Radiantes will spark early learners' first interest in STEM that we hope will turn into a lifelong interest in science subjects. Our programs will target STEM engagement among underserved early learners. Pre-K and kindergarten classrooms will be recruited from the Santa Ana Unified and Santa Ana early childhood development centers for the Fun with Colors field trip. To recruit our target population into Fun with Colors, DCOC's Director of Groups Sales and Partner Relations, Lianne Leiss, will reach out directly to Santa Ana schools to let them know about the availability of scholarships and programming. She will also let them know how programming will be dispensed from the Cube educational team to the school sites. Bus stipends will cover the expenses of school bus rides to and from the Cube. To recruit our target population for Futuros Radiantes, we will reach out directly to early childhood learning centers, and we will advertise on our website: https://www.discoverycube,org/orange-county/ Children from Santa Ana schools are predominately underserved and of Latinx descent. Underserved early learners are disproportionately denied a STEM education because of limited resources and the lack of teacher training in science and math subjects. The target population of Futuros Radiantes is underserved families throughout Santa Ana. Within the Santa Unified School District, California's sixth -largest district, there are 56,000 students. More than 90% are eligible for free or reduced -price lunch, 96% are Latinx, and 60% are English language learners (ELL). Futuros Radiantes encourages parents to read more to their young children to nurture early learners' interest in learning with books that keep them interested and motivated in STEM subjects. The innovation of our program is the delivery of STEM to early learners through Fun with Colors and Futuros Radiantes. A two-year research study showed that young children are capable of engaging in, at developmentally appropriate levels, the scientific practices that high school students carry out (McClure et al., 2017). Schools in the Santa Ana Unified School District are increasingly focused on providing STEM education to students (Santa Ana Unified School District, 2022). However, minority students often transfer or drop out of STEM classes (The Washington Post, 2022). In turn, individuals are minority descent are disproportionately underrepresented in STEM careers (Pew Research, 2022). 21