Science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) exposure encourages children to explore further STEM education. It helps children discover what they enjoy and what they are skilled at to help increase knowledge of what they want to pursue. STEM activities can help children narrow down what path they want to take in high school and beyond. Shelby county has seen a decrease in their healthcare employment; a career focused on STEM. They are at a 6% healthcare employment rate compared to the average 12% across the state.

I incorporated STEM into a class style that has already been successful in Shelby County: cooking classes. I created and implemented a food science cooking class for children to participate in hands-on learning. For each child to get the most out of the program, I created a unique curriculum for each age group. I separated the classes into three different age groups: 5-8, 9-11, and 12-14 years old. The goal of the class was to teach about STEM in cooking and then complete “experiments” to see how the science comes to life in the kitchen. I wanted 4-H’ers to realize that STEM can be fun and can be found in everyday life.

The youngest group focused on the three states of matter and made ice cream in a bag. The middle group learned about baking ingredients and made cookies using different recipes. The final group learned about pH and got to make color changing pasta. All three groups learned about STEM and how each aspect can be found in the kitchen. The two oldest groups heard about some career opportunities within STEM including a food scientist and a dietitian.

A total of 16 children aged 5-13 participated in the food science classes. Six children aged 5-8 and seven children 9-11 attended the program. Three 13-year-olds participated, which is the most impactful age since they are starting to think about what they might want to focus on in high school. The oldest group only had females, which is great, but more gender diversity would be beneficial to support STEM education for everyone.

Before the class with 9–11-year-olds, 2 people said they would be more interested in STEM activities. By the end, 4 children said they would be interested in more STEM activities. The food science class doubled the number of children interested in STEM programming. At the start of the teen class, all three girls said that they kind of knew how science plays a role in the kitchen. By the end, they all said they did understand how science plays a role in the kitchen. At the end of the youngest class, everyone said that they liked learning about science. The classes helped students realize that science can be fun.

My hope is that children who participated learned that STEM is not boring, and that it is incorporated into so much of our everyday lives. Long term, the goal is that they will seek out more opportunities to learn about STEM. Ideally, the children who attended these classes will encourage STEM exploration among their peers. Hopefully, the children will pursue more STEM careers since they have had exposure from a young age. Exposure to STEM activities will help children discover their interests and educate them about different career opportunities.