WIRED TO WIRELESS: NAVIGATING K-12 GEOSCIENCE EDUCATION DURING THE PANDEMIC TO FOSTER ENGAGEMENT

The WIRE Summer Math and Science Camp and subsequent Saturday Academy are youth development programs housed in the Lewis Walker Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnic Relations (LWI) at Western Michigan University. For 10 years the WIRE program has impacted over 1,000 youth in grades 3-8 from marginalized populations to strengthen their gap in academic knowledge through STEM activities. In 2020, during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, there were many obstacles that interfered with normal youth outreach programing offered through the LWI. Despite the challenges presented, the goals of WIRE remained, as the WIRE program was uniquely positioned to immediately respond to meet those challenges. This presentation will address how the WIRE program leveraged technology to design innovative curriculum to provide the opportunity to engage with the students remotely, transitioning from WIREd to WIREless.