Since its creation by founder Santiago Martin in 1996, the Nutty Scientists children’s learning center has rapidly expanded across the United States and beyond--thanks in part to a rapid increase in global interest in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) learning.
Education World spoke with Sr. Vice President Shery Christopher about how Nutty Scientists provides the world’s youngest learners with a global scientific perspective throughout the STEM craze.
For those unfamiliar, Nutty Scientists is a children’s learning center that has franchises in over 40 countries and reaches over 7 million children per year through after school, in school, camp and party activities.
It belongs to the USA National Science Teachers Association, is aligned with the Next Generation of Science Standards, and has a network of prestigious Yale and Oxford science professors helping out.
So how does Nutty Scientists help children best understand science concepts?
For one, Christopher discussed the three different methodologies it uses to teach science to children to provide some insight into how it benefits all learners:
Nutty Scientists also is committed to teaching students about the correct science behind climate change, which recent studies have confirmed is not being taught appropriately in all schools.
Nutty Scientists has "activities that will create awareness among students about the impact of global warming and instructs them as to how to contribute to lessen the effect of climate change,” Christopher said.
"We want them to understand what these climate changes are and how the outcome of these changes is largely due to the activities of man, to know which gases cause global warming, to be able to detect what human activities generate pollution and emissions that cause these alterations in the climate, to understand the consequences of global warming at the poles, and to learn what they can do individually to ensure sustainable development and not contribute to global warming.”
Aside from inconsistent teachings of climate change science across the country, U.S. students are generally struggling with science as a whole.
“...a recent Department of Education study reveals that approximately two-thirds of fourth-graders and four-fifths of high-school seniors in the U.S. fail to reach proficiency levels in science,” Christopher pointed out.
"This makes learning STEM subjects at an early age all the more important to ensure that children are provided with an early understanding of the sciences in order to succeed, and Nutty Scientists aims to spark that early interest by making science fun and enjoyable to learn.”
Nutty Scientists, Christopher said, has proven to live up to Martin's dreams of making "a true impact on the way children learn and to create a career that was worth having for him and the franchisees."
Article by Nicole Gorman, Education World Contributor
3/16/2016