SPARK! Igniting Interest and Achievement in STEM through Engineering Design

“火花！“涉及100名代表性不足的费城4-8年级学生在周六和夏季OST活动的基础上解决问题和工程设计，以提高他们对STEM学科的兴趣，并激励他们在高中追求STEM课程。 设计挑战计划与科学和数学课程有关，并有以下主题：动物园栖息地，生物技术和机器人技术。 这些活动在费城动物园、iPRAXIS中心和宾夕法尼亚工程实验室进行。 参与该计划的所有教师（计划工作人员，网络学校的教师，宾夕法尼亚大学教育和STEM学生）都参与了与工程和设计活动以及文化意识相关的持续专业发展，并鼓励他们利用合作伙伴关系的正式计划，如动物园的教师学院和宾夕法尼亚大学教师提供的费城教师学院。

"SPARK!" involves 100 underrepresented Philadelphia grade 4-8 students in Saturday and summer OST activities based in problem solving and engineering design in order to increase their interest in the STEM disciplines and motivate them to pursue STEM courses in high school. The design challenges are planned to relate to the science and mathematics curriculum and have the following themes: zoo habitats, biotechnology and robotics. The activities take place at Philadelphia Zoo, the iPRAXIS Center, and Penn Engineering laboratories. All teachers involved with the program (program staff, networked schools' teachers, and Penn education and STEM students) are involved in ongoing professional development related to the engineering and design activities and cultural awareness and are encouraged to take advantage of the partnership's formal programs such as the zoo's teacher institute and the Teachers Institute of Philadelphia offered by Penn faculty.