Sport + STEM
The Sport + STEM program teaches Science, Technology, Engineering and Math concepts on the sport court through active engagement. 6 months after launching, the 200 youth who have completed the program demonstrate a statistically significant increase in comfort with STEM topics and are more likely to believe that they could have a career in a STEM field.
The program breaks new ground by addressing barriers to STEM engagement through exciting curriculum that uses sports to teach concepts in ecosystems, block chain coding, design thinking and geometry. One of MLSE’s four core sports is linked to each of the four academic concepts and the entire curriculum is active and delivered on court.
Our results are extremely positive. 89% of our participants found it easier to learn new concepts through sports than in a classroom, and the percentage of participants who were comfortable with each STEM concept more than doubled from pre- to post-program. Congratulations to our full and part-time staff for this truly innovative and collaborative effort, and Bess Lennox, Patrick O'Connell, Tharsheka Natkunam and Brittany Mathison for leading the charge.