We propose to enhance our ongoing activities involving stem research by using the saturday model. These stem activities have been successfully delivered for several years include rocketry aerodynamics…

This federal contract award, identified as NNX15AW28A, was granted to the Research Foundation of the City University of New York (RFCUNY), doing business as RFCUNY - York College. The $420,000.00 Cooperative Agreement is aimed at enhancing Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) research and education activities through the NASA Science, Engineering, Mathematics and Aerospace Academy (SEMAA) program.

The objective is to develop engaging, hands-on STEM curricula and educational resources for K-1 through 9th grade students, particularly those from underserved and underrepresented groups. The award also seeks to provide experiential training for pre-service teachers and empower parents through STEM-focused workshops. This project is part of the Minority University Research and Education Project (MUREP) initiative, which aims to increase STEM participation and achievement among underrepresented populations. The contract does not have a set-aside designation, and the work will be performed in Jamaica, New York.

We propose to enhance our ongoing activities involving stem research by using the saturday model. These stem activities have been successfully delivered for several years include rocketry aerodynamics flight simulations space chemistry wind tunnel 3D printing and more conducted largely through our NASA science engineering mathematics and aerospace academy (semaa). Semaa targets underserved and underrepresented K1-9 students in stem fields. We plan to engage K1 through 9 students in these activities and to strengthen our stem educational component associated with murep (minority university research and education project) which supports the aerospace academy project. The overall objective of our proposal is to develop an attractive up-to-date and hands-on program to improve K1-9 students content knowledge create K1-9 stem educational resources and engage semaa cafe families in using NASA core stem contents. Piloting of the resources and experiential training for our prospective teacher participants will be facilitated by the extant highly successful NASA educational program at the york college semaa site. Since 1999 semaa at york has served over 17000 children largely from groups underrepresented in the sciences. We offer saturday and summer classes for 1ST through 9TH grades that engage them in exciting fun and instructive NASA activities. Our experienced staff of over 100 certified public school educators already frequently serves as supervisors to numerous pre service teachers from the york college teacher education program. The semaa classrooms are ready arenas for piloting and developing our proposed resources for a variety of grades and for providing experiential training for the teacher participants. An added component to this proposal is to offer climate change education (CCE) to grades 7 and above by strictly adhering to NASA resources. Recognizing the importance of parental involvement the unique semaa family cafe offers weekly saturday workshops for the parents on afterschool programs college admissions NASA stem K1 through 9 projects health and safety. Our effort toward educating and empowering parents in stem contents and NASA resources will also be conducted through this project. Yorks family cafe is nationally known to successfully reach out numerous parents many who are ESL speakers and provide vital stem resources that would not have been possible for parents to find on their own. We will develop resources to provide hands-on field-based and technology oriented education to K1 through 9 math and science pre service educators to build their skills and expertise with cutting edge concepts and state of the art NASA resources pertaining to the NASA murep. Providing stem education to pre service or inadequately prepared teachers we can contribute to revitalizing the math and earth system science program in new york city public schools. Effective K1 through 9 stem education offered through murep will allow US to increase the number and proportion of involved individuals particularly from groups that are traditionally underrepresented in stem fields who complete teacher pre service and in service programs with an ability to enhance students understanding of stem. Utilizing NASA resources for training will increase awareness and appreciation of NASA among teachers students parents and the general public. With our high retention rate of around 80 percent semaa also potentially creates a vital opportunity for longitudinal studies to gauge the effects of the proposed program on the understanding and attitudes of the participants. Empowering cafe parents by providing critical and strategic stem information is the central thrust of this endeavor. Through the murep initiative we seek to expand the availability and coherence of investments that increase program interest involvement and value placed on stem by K1 through 9 aged individuals especially from traditionally underrepresented groups.