STOMP – Student Teacher Outreach Mentorship Program
The two words of elementary and engineering don’t initially seem to go together, but combine them within the context of an outreach program at the Tufts University Center for Engineering Education and Outreach (CEEO), and it’s a natural fit.
The Student Teacher Outreach Mentorship Program (STOMP) is an eight-year old Tufts program that sends engineering undergraduate and graduate students, known as fellows, into Boston-area K-12 classrooms once a week to help teachers integrate science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) into the existing curriculum. Fifteen (15) other universities across the United States have since adopted the program model, as the desire for increased resources in STEM education has become a top priority nationwide. By supplying schools with technical assistance through STOMP fellows, not only do the teachers and K-12 students benefit, but the university students also grow from the unique opportunity to give back to their communities while simultaneously improving valuable communication and leadership skills.
Exactly how do the STOMP fellows affect the classroom through their weekly visits? The fellow works with the teacher to develop age-appropriate hands-on STEM activities that encourage students to use creativity and teamwork skills to brainstorm and construct unique solutions to a given problem. Whether a second grade class is challenged to use simple machines to create LEGO brick chomping alligator mouths, or a sixth grade class constructs egg helmets from a given amount of plastic straws, these types of hands-on challenges engage the students as they are allowed to design and build something they can call their own. The collection of stand-alone activities, as well as complete semester units are all available for anyone to download from http://www.stompnetwork.org, which is the online portal central to all nationwide STOMP sites as a resource for program implementation, management, and success.
Industry STOMP, or I-STOMP, is a derivative STOMP outreach program designed to fulfill the outreach needs of companies. Through the collaboration the CEEO, industry personnel, and K-12 classrooms, I-STOMP offers professionals an opportunity to supply local area schools with STEM expertise. I-STOMP volunteers work in a variety of classrooms and after-school programs. The CEEO assists the volunteers in their venture into the classrooms through training sessions and supplied curricula. Companies such as National Instruments in Austin, TX, and Symantec Corp in Waltham, MA are current participants in I-STOMP, and in Fall 2009 STOMP at Google will be piloted in Mountain View, CA and GE will pilot the program in Lynn, MA. Just as the University students benefit from visiting the classroom, there has been significantly positive feedback from employee volunteers about the experience as well. One I-STOMP volunteer employee from National Instruments stated, “It’s very exciting to see the students interested and enthusiastic about learning. It’s the most enjoyable hour of my work week.”
The CEEO at Tufts University continues to facilitate both university and industry STOMP programs across the nation. Since 2001, 7000 K-12 students have been impacted by STOMP in the Boston area, and if those numbers can continue to grow not only in Boston, but nationwide, STEM education will be mainstream!
| tour request | contact irobot | privacy policy | terms & conditions |  |