Supported by a five-year, $7.4 million National Science Foundation grant, experts at the Johns Hopkins University are partnering with teachers and administrators in Baltimore City Public Schools on a program to enhance teaching and learning in science, technology, engineering, and math in city elementary schools by making STEM a community affair.
The program, called STEM Achievement in Baltimore Elementary Schools—SABES for short—not only will benefit more than 1,600 students in grades three through five in nine city elementary schools, but could also become a national model for science, technology, engineering and math education.
“Our aim is that this partnership will build excitement around science, technology, engineering and mathematics in our communities and empower children and families to engage their world through these activities,” said Michael Falk, associate professor of materials science and engineering at Johns Hopkins’ Whiting School of Engineering, and principal investigator for SABES. “Our hope is that this model could eventually be extended to other school systems around the country to foster STEM educational achievement among all students, including those of different ethnicities, language proficiencies, and income levels.”