Bringing STEM to the Table: The STEM Test Kitchen at ADVENTURE-LEGGERS 2023 in Miami, FL

Dr. Jillian Powers (right) and Erika Snowbridge (center) dressed in space-themed costumes to teach children how to code the Dash robot to visit different planets in the solar system.

Dr. Susannah Brown (seated right) and Robert Bogle (standing left) guide children through the planet painting activity.

In October 2023, FAU instructional technology faculty Dr. Jillian Powers and Dr. Ann Musgrove and art education professor Dr. Susannah Brown led the STEM Test Kitchen informal STEM learning activities at the non-profit Bookleggers Library in Miami, FL. The activities were implemented at ADVENTURE-LEGGERS, a family festival that offers interactive experiences focused on comics, graphic novels, music, artist-led workshops, technology, creative-professional workshops, and more. The theme of the event was the Solar System and Drs. Powers and Musgrove created a learning station where children coded robots to explore different planets. Dr. Brown led an activity that integrated visual arts with STEM and the solar system theme, where children painted watercolors over crayon, and applied salt to explore the science concepts of water resistance and dissolving through art. Several FAU graduate students also volunteered to assist at the event, including Robert Bogle from the Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction program and Danielle Brown, Melanie Cheda, and Erika Snowbridge from the M.Ed. in Instructional Technology program. The collaboration led to the publication of the article Bringing STEM to the Table: A Taste of Informal STEM Learning in a Community-Based Literacy Festival in the Journal of Literacy and Technology.