While the DIGITS name, brand and set of activities are designed to capture students’ attention, the mechanism for delivering the message is the corps of STEM professionals or STEM Ambassadors who visit sixth grade classrooms across the state.
The STEM Ambassadors, recruited from all six industry sector trade associations, bring the DIGITS program to life by injecting their own personalities into the telling of their stories – who inspired them, what they find interesting/fun/creative about their jobs, and why they like what they do. STEM Ambassadors work to counteract the negative stereotypes associated with people who like math and science and help students understand that STEM professionals are interesting, engaging, fun and socially ‘cool’.
The Project matches STEM Ambassadors to a school near where they work or live and connects them to the teacher who will host them at their assigned school. Then, STEM Ambassadors sign up for a one-hour training session (via conference call) and are given all the materials they need for a successful classroom visit, including a guide that highlights the Project’s research on middle school students and how they relate to STEM, best practices for conducting a classroom visit, and a proposed script for use in the classroom.
Click here to download the STEM Ambassadors Guide.
Click here to sign up to be a STEM Ambassador.
STEM Ambassadors can click here to fill out an Evaluation Survey after each classroom visit.
