I'd love to hear more about your STEM hubs.  Our project at the Belle Isle Aquarium in Detroit is place-based on an island in the Detroit River.  But what a great idea to bring an Aquarium STEM extension into the urban neighborhoods themselves.  What do the hubs have in them? who uses them?  We invite you to visit our ITEST showcase video and virtual field trips (https://www.biaquariumstem.org/virtual-field-trip.html, a result of COVID-19).  BTW, we love mollusks, too!  Unfortunately, our molluscan invaders, the zebra and quagga mussels, have killed off most of our native mussels.

I am so excited to view your video for two reasons: 1) I grew up on Long Island, surrounded by the Great South Bay and “Baymen.” I have always been interested in the ecology and economics of Long Island’s marine aquaculture. 2) I am currently working with a NOAA B-Wet grant at Virginia Commonwealth University that introduces students and teachers to the role that freshwater mussels and oysters play in the health of the Chesapeake Bay watershed. I would love to learn more about your project and the curriculum resources that you use. Thank you for sharing your project

Thanks so very much, Suzanne! I hope you enjoy it - New York Harbor is our passion !

Great topic serving an important population. 

Thank you for watching our video, Leslie :) !

Enjoyed your project video - thanks for sharing! I am participating in the same project as Sue Kirk above. I am just starting to explore these videos, but I am already excited to see some overlapping themes. This makes me wonder about opportunities to connect classrooms across projects and across the country on these shared topics. We have middle school classes investigating aspects of oyster and freshwater mussel biology, conservation, and ecosystem services as well. I wonder what you think about connecting some of your classes with ours through ZOOM etc in the year(s) ahead.

I agree with James's and Sue Kirk's sentiments. Very impressive efforts, and very similar to our future grant efforts as well. Perhaps indeed a zoom for students to showcase/share efforts, data, compare/contrast different issues, challenge, solutions, efforts, etc. Nicely done, impressive!

I like the real-world, experiential foundation of this program. Do you have any information yet on how the experience may have impacted and/or even transformed the students and their learning in a measurable way? Do you have data as to whether it inspired them to pursue further STEM education and/or aspire to a future career in STEM? Also, wondering if you can give more description on the teacher professional development program and any outcomes that can be reported (even if informal only).

Thanks Ann - yes all these factors are considerations as we move forward with our research.

Thanks Ann - yes all these factors are considerations as we move forward with our research.

Thanks for the video! It sounds like what started as a middle school focused project then expanded into elementary and high schools. I am wondering if there are differences in what you engage teachers and students in at those three levels. Can you describe some commonalities and perhaps differences of the engagement at these three education levels?

Thanks Hollylynne - great question! The level of engagement for all teachers is similar - the content for each level obviously varies as does the instructional content :)

Have a great day - thanks for checking out our video !

Great video!  It's so important for urban students to understand that they can play an important role in marine biology through restoration efforts.  I find students are very interested in marine biology but often don't know how to access programs; having these STEM Hub sites must be a very valuable resource.

Thanks for creating a detailed video. I enjoyed watching the students in action. I love that you are integrating this opportunity into the school day. Do you expand learning during summer programming? Working for an urban school district, we are always trying to find ways to expose and give students opportunities to learn about STEM careers. What are some of your successes thus far around student motivation to pursue STEM pathways?

Beth - thanks for checking out our video - we have been to provide students with experiential learning in various arenas of STEM, provide mentoring for students, lab trainings, field trainings, resource support, symposium and forums to provide students with a lens into various fields of study in STEM!  We continue to support students in these fields as a resource center. Thanks for the wonderful question!

I had to come check out your project.  So exciting to see where it is going!  Thanks for your video!  

Judi !!! Thanks so much for checking us out ! So good to hear from you and thanks again for all your support throughout the years ! ;) Lauren

Lauren, I wanted to circle back one more time, and second the desire expressed by my VCU colleagues, Sue Kirk and James Vonesh above. For our second year, there might be a wonderfully rich opportunity for  students to exchange findings, data. We are at middle school, but I loved hearing about the elementary level and the teacher PL related to the same) and the hubs around NY for oyster study, e-DNA and more. We will definitely circle back as we embark on future cycles of our grant! 

Can you talk more about the STEM Hubs, and how they sustain themselves financially, and via human capital?

 How wonderful Jeffery! The investigative field trips were amazing. Thank you for sharing the efforts of all in such an inspiring project. CarlaDean

I love how you are bringing together city students with teachers, professors and industry to help them understand how we can all work together using STEM to better our world.  Without these connections, student would not have a concrete pathway to enter these fields. Kudos!!

Dear Robert - thanks so very much for your kind words !!! We are so very fortunate to have such a wonderful community and project - thanks for checking out our video! :)

This looks like a great, hands-on experience for students! Have you thought about how you might expand your to other cities? Do you have comparable lessons and activities for landlocked schools?

Dear Rebecca - thanks for checking out our video !!! so great to hear from you -  ;) We only have marine based lesson at this time, but the idea is to be able to grow these experiences elsewhere and replicate the model in other environments - let me know if I can be of any assistance and always happy to collaborate. Thanks again! take care!  Lauren  :)