February is Black History Month: Do you know about........

As we celebrate Black History Month with our students, let us also take time to highlight these hidden STEM figures:

Lewis Howard Latimer

1) Lewis Howard Latimer - Though Thomas Edison is recognized as the inventor of the light bulb, African-American inventor Lewis Latimer played an important role in its development. In 1881, Latimer patented a method for making carbon filaments, allowing light bulbs to burn for hours instead of minutes.

Dr. Jane Cook Wright

2) Dr. Jane Cooke Wright - After earning her medical degree in 1945 from New York Medical College, Dr. Wright went on to do pioneering work in cancer treatment. In 1949, she took a position at Harlem Hospital, where her father was the director of Cancer Research Foundation. After his death in 1952, she took his position at just age 33.

Ray Gilstrap - Electrical Engineer

3) Ray Gilstrap - An electrical engineer at NASA Ames Research Center. He has helped set up an maintain satellite internet services for different scientific expeditions. His work has taken him all over the world, including to an island in the Arctic where he helped with communications at a climate change research station.

Nancy Douyon - Human Factors Engineer

3) Nancy Douyon - A human factors engineer and user experience research program manager at GOOGLE. Among other projects, she works on making Android phones user-friendly, intuitive and adaptive to different users.


Here are some STEM / Black History Month Resources for you and your staff:

a) Build a Light Bulb - Circuits Activity

b) Engineering Activities

c) 28 Ways to Celebrate Black History Month (Scholastic Activities)

d) Black History Month Lessons and Resources (National Education Association)

e) 28 Days of Art Activities for Black History Month (Creative Child)

f) PBS Learning Media Black History Month Resources (PBS)

g) Black History Month Celebration (Crocker Art Museum)
    (Date: February 18, 2018) (Time: 12:00 pm to 4:00 pm)

h) CSUS Black History Month Events (CSUS)

i) U.C. Davis Calendar of Events (U.C. Davis)

j) Famous Black Engineers Throughout History (How Stuff Works)

k) 12 Women Whose Names You Should Know (Refinery 29)

Now let us check-in on Region 3 Expanded Learning Programs and see what STEM / STEAM activities they have been engaging youth in:

Name of Expanded Learning Program Provider: 
Sacramento Chinese Community Service Center

Name of District: Twin Rivers Unified School District

School Site: Frontier Elementary School

Grade Level of Activity: 5th and 6th Grade

Number of Students who took part in the activity: 21

Type of Activity: "Inspire Tree"

Learning Outcomes - Students were able to: 

• Work collaboratively to engineer an "Inspire Tree" from scratch using basic office supplies
• Practice SEL themes of Social Awareness and Relationship Skills by writing inspiring statements on a paper leaf for the Inspire Tree
• Construct an art piece, using their creativity and talents; and learn that art can serve a meaningful purpose through which they can express their thoughts and feelings 

For more information on this project please feel free to contact Lily Nedeoglo 

at lily@sccsc.org.

Name of Expanded Learning Program Provider: 

Sacramento Chinese Community Service Center

Name of District: Twin Rivers Unified School District

School Site: Madison Elementary

Grade Level of Activity: Grades K-6

Number of students who took part in the activity: 23

Type of Activity: STEAM

Learning Outcomes - Students were able to:

• Create a design for a foosball, football, hockey table
• Problem Solve any issues that arose during the construction process
• Use random materials to create their foosball, football, hockey prototype
• Use the Engineering Design Process to create their foosball, football, hockey table
• Create a functioning foosball, football, hockey table
• Reflect on how they would improve upon their design

For more information on this project please contact Jafahri McCrimon at jafahri@sccsc.org.

Expanded learning students testing their foosball tables.

Expanded learning students testing out their football board game.

Expanded learning students testing out their hockey board game.

Name of Expanded Learning Program Provider: 

Sacramento Chinese Community Service Center

Name of District: Twin Rivers Unified School District

School Site: Harmon Johnson Elementary

Grade Level of Activity: Grades 3-6

Type of Activity: STEAM Club

Learning Outcomes - Students were able to:

• Work collaboratively 
• Understand the importance of communication
• Understand that they all have strengths and that they can use these strengths to solve problems
• Understand how to work together while given certain barriers (such as pretending they didn't speak the same language, only being able to use one arm each, etc.)
• Engineer the tallest structure using pipe cleaners

For more information on this activity please feel free to contact Tanya Velasquez at tanya@sccsc.org.

Expanded learning students showing off their tower.

STEM / Expanded Learning and Other Pertinent Articles:

1) The Importance of Collaboration in STEM
    (LIAS Blog Post by Sam Piha January 10, 2018)

2) Education Week STEM Spotlight
    (Education Week January 6, 2018)

3) Most Americans evaluate STEM education as middling compared
    with other developed nations
   (Pew Research Center article by Cary Funk and Kim Parker January 9, 2018)

4) How many Grace Hoppers have been lost from the innovation pipeline?
    (Brookings article by Jay Shambaugh and Becca Portman January 8, 2018)

5) Leveraging the Power of Partnerships to Impact Environmental Education at Scale
    (NTA article by Laura Herszenhorn, Katie Levedahl, and 
     Suzi Taylor January 16, 2018)

6) What Do Asthma, Heart Disease and Cancer Have in Common? 
     Maybe Childhood Trauma
     (NPR Education article by Cory Turner January 23, 2018)

7) America's SchoolsAre "Profoundly Unequal," Says U.S. Civil Rights Commission
    (NPR Education article by Cory Turner January 11, 2018)

8) 5 Things To Know About Screen Time Right Now
   (NPR Education article by Anya Kamenetz January 3, 2018)

9) How One District Cut Student Homelessness by 25 Percent
    (Education Week article by Kerry Wrenick January 10, 2018)

10) Can Afterschool with a Foundation in SEL Help Disrupt the 
      School - to - Prison Pipeline?
      (LIAS Blog Post by Sam Piha January 17, 2018)


STEM / STEAM / DACA / Educational etc.  Resources: 

1) Discover Engineering Website Activities (Grades 2-8)

2) Sci Girls Citizen Science Projects (Grades 6-9)

3) Sci Girls Real World Female Scientist Videos (Grades 6-9)

4) Building Fun: 5 Civil Engineering Activities for the Classroom (Grades 9-12)

5) Hands-on Engineering Activities for Your Classroom (Grades K-12)

6) Take Learning from STEM to STEAM (Grades 2-6)

7) Diversity Lesson Plans and Activities from Around the Web (Grades K-8)

8) Team Building Physical Educational Games (Grades K-8)

9) Resources to Help You Protect Immigrants

10) Guide for Teachers Helping Dreamers

11) The WEL -World of Expanded Learning (Videos)

12) PBS Learning Media Webinars (Free)


STEM / Non-STEM Grants:

1) The Big List of Educational Grants (Updated on January 3, 2018)

2) Bank of The West Grants (Grant Page)

3) Wells Fargo Community Grants (Grants Page)

4) CAN Grants Page (Grants Page)

5) The Impact Foundry (Grants Page)


Professional Learning Sessions / Contest / Conferences / etc.

1) Region 3 Expanded Learning Winter Conference 
    (Date: February 6, 2018) (Fee: Free)

2) STEM Through the Lens of Quality Standards
     (Date: February 26, 2018) (Fee: Free)

3) Solar Schoolhouse Solar Primer (SMUD Workshop)
    (Date: March 10, 2018) (Fee: Free)

4) Abstract Art Exploration (Crocker Art Workshop)
    (Date: March 20, 2018) (Fee: Free)

5) State Parks in Your Classroom (SMUD: Grades K-12)
     (Date: April 4, 2018) (Fee: Free)

6) Expanded Learning Through Improv (B Street Theatre)
    (Date: April 12, 2018) (Fee: Free)


Thanks again for all that you do in the field. Please keep us posted about STEM 
events / activities in your area. Please feel free to contact us at any time.

Monica Gonzalez-Williams (SCOE: Region 3: After School Regional Lead):
mgonzalez@scoe.net

Phil Romig (SCOE: Science Curriculum Specialist): promig@scoe.net

Mark Drewes (SCOE: Project Specialist II: Expanded Learning) mdrewes@scoe.net