The Museum’s successful Young Women’s STEM Leadership Initiative (YWSLI), launched in 2015, expanded in the 2018-2019 school year to become the Youth STEM Initiative (YSI). The extended initiative now targets both girls and boys, grades 3rd-12th, in Title I schools in Dallas County. Current partner schools include: Young Women’s Leadership Academy at Bill Arnold, K.B. Polk Center for Academically Talented and Gifted, Larry G. Smith Elementary, and Dallas ISD’s NAF Academies. The development of the Museum’s STEM Initiative to include elementary students is particularly significant as studies have emphasized the importance of capturing elementary-aged students’ interest in STEM. Research has shown that by the time students reach the fourth grade, a third of students have lost interest in STEM-related subjects (Anthony Murphy, STEM Education-It’s Elementary, U.S. News, 2011). YSI will continue to provide top-quality educational opportunities that stimulate interest in STEM studies and lead to careers in STEM fields.
YSI's goals are to generate interest and sustained participation in STEM disciplines through hands-on, experiential learning and 21st Century Skills development. YSI currently provides multiple exposures for under-represented students through onsite and outreach programs, museum tours, SPOC Portable Planetarium programs, STEM camps, special events/programs (i.e. Engineer’s Week Student Day), and a high school youth volunteer and internship program. Overall, through our initiative, we will encourage more students to enter industry-related careers and/or STEM- focused postsecondary education.
YSI’s educational programs are designed to apply science, technology, engineering, and mathematics principles to the area of aviation and space flight. Our classroom, auditorium, and SPOC Planetarium programs are specifically TEKS-aligned. All programs that our partner schools participate in are evaluated using certified data collection methods. We are certified through the Center for Non-Profit Management (CNM) who analyzes and publishes the data collected.
