According to Center for Strategic and International Studies,” early STEM education provides the necessary foundation for those pursuing degrees and careers in the field later on. STEM education centers around programs designed to help students gain skills required to succeed in the innovation-focused twenty-first century job market. Typically, this includes critical thinking, problem-solving, teamwork, adaptability, and digital literacy- all important for future careers. However, many students lack the resources and opportunities to pursue a career in the STEM field, and even earlier on, students across the country are not receiving adequate education in these subjects to begin with.”

To provide a learning opportunity for students who do not get exposed to Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math, the CES decided to think outside the box to create such opportunities. The CES are involved in the local school system and is a resource for the schoolteachers; however, one group of students have been missing out on those same STEM lessons.  Furthermore, to use all reasonable efforts the CES decided to pick an audience that normally gets overlooked; and those students would be homeschoolers. 

The CES created a temporary club that was held during the day at the Extension Office specifically for homeschoolers to offer STEM lessons.  The CES and the Coop Director decided to use dissection lessons to involve the students in hands-on learning. The CES order diverse specimens to start off with simple anatomy and then work our way up to compound internal structures. The CES provided worms, grasshoppers, crayfish, owl pellets, cow eyeballs, and even a fetal pig for the students. Each lesson involved a 4-H lesson whether it was 4-H Entomology, Project Wild, Project Wild Aquatics, and even 4-H agriculture.

The CES hosted 30 students ranging from ages 5-17 every meeting we had.  The students were split up into groups where the older students could help and mentor the younger students. The Homeschool Director was concerned that the students would not be engaging or participating, but the CES used methods and his teaching style to get all the students to participate in the lessons. Each meeting was filled with awe and the CES allowed the students to showcase their knowledge after every lesson.  100% of the students involved said they were interested in learning more about STEM.  80% of the students also indicated that they would love to seek out a career in STEM.  60% of the students said 4-H is a place where they had a chance to be a leader.