Despite new standards and programs, overall student STEM interest has not meaningfully increased in the past 20 years.
EiE®, the curricula division of the Museum of Science, develops evidence-based, classroom-tested programs that empower children to become lifelong STEM learners and passionate problem solvers. Their Pre-K-8 curriculum encourages all children to see themselves as engineers and aims to grow children’s engineering practices and mindsets through flexible print, online, and blended hands-on programs.
From 2019-21, EiE added onto their classroom and afterschool curricula by creating family STEM engagement resources that encouraged STEM learning to occur at home. The team created five at-home engineering activities, nine “on-the-go” engineering games, an engineering-focused family STEM event, and three videos to support learning, allowing resources to be accessed both online and off.
Eighty-eight percent of families that used the resources agreed that the STEM activities made them feel like they were engineering together as a family. Eighty-four percent were inspired to look for more engineering activities to do at home, and 83 percent were inspired to find more community/school sponsored STEM opportunities for the future.
Overdeck Family Foundation funding supported the prototyping and testing of EiE’s family STEM resources and the scaling of the product to 106,335 children ages four to 11. The funding also supported a Harvard Strategic Data Project fellow, increasing EiE’s ability to conduct in-house formative and summative assessments and to publish results of their research, making learning more actionable for both the internal curricula and professional development teams and external collaborators.
Enhancing each stage of childhood learning, from birth to high school.
Overdeck Family Foundation focuses exclusively on education, providing funding across four focus areas that encompass the whole child from birth through high school both inside and outside the classroom.