Posted on by CALS Communications

STEM Showcase 4.0 Provides Hands-on Workshops for Youth

A group of thirteen male and female college students standing together for a photo and wearing bright green shirts.
A group of UVM undergraduate students majoring in STEM were ambassadors for the April 15, 2023 STEM Showcase. Photo credit: Margaret Coan.

The STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) Ambassadors program is a collaboration between UVM Extension 4-H, the UVM College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and the UVM College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences. On April 15, 2023, they presented the STEM Showcase 4.0 for 40-plus youth ages 8 to 14, on the UVM campus in Burlington, VT.

The STEM Ambassadors are undergraduate students majoring in STEM fields. They spend time each semester creating unique, hands-on workshops to spark interest in and excitement about STEM. The hands-on workshops included:

  1. Sustainable Plastics: Safe Enough to Eat.
  2. Edible Anatomy: Crafting with Candy.
  3. Waterworks: How Nature Cleans Our Water.
  4. Build a Better Bird: How Animals Adapt to Habitat.
  5. Let’s make robots GO: Intro to Scratch Coding.
Many pieces of colored paper with outlines of human anatomy are laid out on a table.
Products of the edible anatomy workshop.

Parents provided great feedback. One parent stated, “they enjoyed it all but talked the most about water filtration in waterworks. They were surprised at how challenging it can be to filter water and commented on facts pertaining to water percolating into the water table.” Another parent comment that “the best part? That she had a great time and wants to go back next semester!”

A group of girls and boys are participating in a workshop and mixing together ingredients for an experiment.
Students participating in the sustainable plastics workshop.

The STEM workshops will be back during future semesters with a new roster of creative, fun and experiential activities. Stay tuned!