MAKING SCIENCE COOL: A LOOK INTO THE RUGM'S SUMMER STEM PROGRAM

The Rutgers Geology Museum (RUGM) is a free museum that serves as a home to relevant collections in the fields of geology, anthropology, and natural history. Local families and K-12 students visit the RUGM for tours and special events throughout the academic year. During the summer months, museum staff participate in the New Jersey Libraries' “Summer Reading Program” through a traveling presentation. In addition to local libraries, other organizations such as community groups and daycares also participate. As part of this traveling program, students learn about various geoscience topics through hands-on activities that are aligned with the annual library summer reading theme. Activities such as ‘Crater Creations,’ ‘Mars Rover,’ ‘Drilling into Science,’ ‘Fun with Fossils,’ and rock and mineral identification are a few examples. All of these activities were developed in alignment with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). Furthermore, the activities are not only educational and relevant to school work, but also encourage students to learn about the most current scientific issues that may affect them in an informal way.

The traveling summer program was informally initiated in the summer of 2014 at the request of local libraries. Over the years, an increasing demand for STEM content led to the development of an official summer program. The RUGM has an array of established educational activities in which visitors can partake and the local libraries were keen on making these lessons available to their local communities. This program not only provides STEM content to a wide range of audiences in a friendly format, but also provides vital teaching experience to undergraduate and graduate students leading the activities. In the summer of 2018, the RUGM visited 8 local libraries with a total of 228 participants. In 2019, the visits increased to 13 libraries and saw a total of 378 participants. In just two years, museum staff have noticed an increase in the number of visitors attending special events and field trips at the RUGM coming from the communities impacted by this program. Similar traveling programs could be developed at other locations to increase research impact. The RUGM expects to continue this summer program and further expand its impact through collaboration with more libraries and interest groups in the future.