MONET's Outreach Program

Share informal science discovery through engaging activities! MONET's Outreach Kit Program brings the excitement of scientific research to informal learning environments, from K-12 classrooms to camps, homeschooling, and adult education. Experience the wonders of polymers, materials science, and more through hands-on activities and interactive resources.

Share informal science discovery through engaging activities!

MONET's Outreach Kit Program brings the excitement of scientific research to informal learning environments, from K-12 classrooms to camps, homeschooling, and adult education. Experience the wonders of polymers, materials science, and more through hands-on activities and interactive resources.

Engaging, Accessible, & Impactful

Engaging Content -
Our kits connect science to art or sports to increase its relevance in students' lives, identities, & communities.
Accessible Format - K
its can be adapted to a wide variety of audiences, mediums, and locales. Our editable templates make for easy customization.
Impactful Outcomes -
Feedback and assessment strategies have been integrated into the development of each kit to support our facilitators in evaluating their impact.

Available Outreach Kits

Each kit contains editable resources, a guided activity, materials for conducting the activity, and a mechanism for assessment and feedback.

Click here to request a free Outreach Kit including instructions and manipulatives.

Learn More

On October 14, 2023, MONET researchers from Rebekka Klausen's group at Johns Hopkins University conducted two engaging outreach events through DC Way, reaching a total of 200 young soccer players aged 4-7. Herbert Wakefield IV and Kelsie Wentz led hands-on activities exploring the materials science behind soccer balls, sparking curiosity and enthusiasm for STEM among the participants.

On February 15, 2024, MONET trainees Grace Yao, Annika (Alex) Foret, and Jafer Vakil from Stephen Craig's lab at Duke University led an engaging materials science outreach event at Olive Chapel Elementary School's STEM Night. Approximately 200 participants attended the event, which highlighted the need for age-appropriate, intuitive activities to effectively engage younger students aged 7-10.

On April 19, 2024, MONET Senior Investigator Dr. Juana Mendenhall led a highly successful STEM Day outreach event at the Barack and Michelle Obama Academy Media Center, engaging a cohort of 13 fourth graders. The activity received overwhelmingly positive feedback, with 100% of participants reporting enjoyment and one student expressing a strong interest in pursuing chemistry.

On May 15, 2024, MONET postdoctoral researcher Jorge Leganés Bayón and his team engaged 30 girls aged 12-18 in a two-hour interactive materials science outreach event at the Fleet Science Center in San Diego, California. Feedback from the 21 participants surveyed revealed high engagement with hands-on activities, with 52.4% enjoying seeing the soccer ball cut open and testing water interactions with materials.

MONET's Director of Innovation Outreach Diversity and Education (DIODE), Dr. Vanessa Rosa, led an engaging hands-on science activity for 60 students at Section Elementary School's High-Interest Day on May 22, 2024. Through interactive experiments and teamwork, students discovered the materials science behind soccer balls, fostering curiosity and scientific thinking.

In May 2024, MONET graduate students Christina Hemmingsen, Emmanuel Alejandro Garcia Villatoro, and Steven Chapman from the Julia Kalow lab at Northwestern University gained valuable experience in science communication, content creation, and outreach by assembling and delivering summer science activity kits to 178 3rd-grade students at Hayt Elementary School in Chicago. This SPDE aimed to enhance the graduate students' career readiness while fostering curiosity and engagement in STEM among elementary students during school closures.

Through a partnership with Science Olympiad and the Carole Robertson Learning Center, MONET graduate students delivered 6 engaging outreach events to approximately 15 inner-city Chicago students, aged 5-17, during the summer of 2024. This initiative not only increased public scientific literacy, with 80% of participants reporting an increased interest in science and a better understanding of basic concepts, but also provided valuable professional development opportunities for the graduate students involved, enhancing their science communication and outreach skills.

We strategically partner to:

Create new content in high-value tailored outreach experiences
Assess these activities and use that knowledge to identify
Refine components that especially effective.
Expand the reach and impact of our creations by deploying them in public outreach events across the country.

Through this framework, we aim to reach non-specialist audiences of all ages, interests, and backgrounds.

To propose an outreach partnership, please contact us here.