For over 20 years, Crystal Cove Conservancy has protected and preserved the historic, natural, and cultural resources of Crystal Cove State Park. But are you aware of the important work we are doing with STEM education?
You’ve seen the headlines. Most studies have identified that students are struggling against the equivalent of up to a year of learning loss due to the impact of Covid. The most significant gaps are seen in math and science and are most stark in schools and communities already burdened by a lack of resources and limited opportunities. Schools are already working to adapt curricula to address these deficiencies and Crystal Cove Conservancy is well-positioned to advance their efforts.
All of this is happening at a time when the impacts of climate change are accelerating and can be seen firsthand at Crystal Cove. We need more young people to engage in science, math, and engineering and Crystal Cove Conservancy is the outdoor classroom that can help close the gap.
With your support, our learning programs can play a key role in helping our Southern California community thrive. Our programs are more than a field trip to a park – they offer students an opportunity to learn science by doing science – students learn alongside scientists and engineers, taking part in real field experience collecting data we need to answer important and urgent questions. Students form hypotheses, analyze data, build models, and present their solutions back to us.
Our evaluation results tell us that our approach is working.
Before participating in their field experience here, when we asked kindergartners to draw a picture of a problem in nature being solved, they most often drew grown-ups – such as park rangers or animals, like Steve the Crab, solving the problems. But after completing our programs, post-assessment surveys show students start to see themselves as scientists and engineers, drawing themselves solving the issues.
You can help empower young people to tackle problems that will define the future- theirs and ours.
We have relied on the generosity of our community to fulfill our mission for more than two decades – combining your critical support with revenue generated right here at Crystal Cove State Park to create a remarkable suite of STEM programs that not only build young people’s capacities in science and engineering but inspire their own sense of themselves as scientists.
Your support today is as critical as it’s ever been. We’ve already seen a dramatic uptick in requests for our programs, and with your gift we won’t have to turn away any school or any teacher who wants to jumpstart their students’ journeys from student to scientist.