Bringing “Flavourful Science” to Youth in Rural Communities – Taylor Kuo

The goal of “Spicing Up Science” trip was to provide young students with an opportunity to be inspired, excited, and interested in STEM through engaging lessons about a variety of scientific concepts using food – a relatable medium.

Together with Flavourful Science, a team of volunteers provided interactive and educational workshops to over 200 students at two elementary schools in Lillooet, British Columbia. These rural elementary schools have students belonging to visible minorities and minorities of STEM, from members of Indigenous communities to young women.

Young elementary school students in the aforementioned communities may be unable to explore their interests in STEM; with activities provided these individuals with eye-opening, free workshops to showcase the opportunities and enjoyment that STEM provides. By going on this multi-day trip with Flavourful Science, this project’s goal was to motivate, inspire, and provide learning opportunities to rural BC elementary students about the wonders of STEM.

Flavourful Science is a nonprofit organization that aims to bring excitement and interest to STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics) and innovation by utilizing food as a relatable medium. At Flavourful Science, we hope to show that STEAM does not have to be something foreign that is done in a lab, but instead something everyone can do. With a team of renowned educators, we explore important topics of STEAM through relevant real-life applications demonstrated and taught through something everyone is connected to: food! Flavourful Science promotes STEAM and innovation by attending community events, camps, school classroom visits, and through our social media and website

– Flavourful Science

Taylor shares learnings from navigating and overcoming challenges which emerged during their project:

“During my project, the first challenge was selecting which rural city to visit. Upon sending emails to several schools in Lillooet and Cache Creek, I initially received no responses in the first months. However, I persisted by following up with the schools and received interest from two schools in Lillooet.”

“Another challenge my team and I faced was catering our lesson plans to a younger demographic. As the lesson plans were initially created for students in Grades 4-7, teachers in younger grades expressed interest in us teaching their students when it was announced that we were going to be visiting their school. To address this issue, our volunteers modified the lesson plans based on the age group of students by having some lessons in less detail to accommodate the younger students.”

“The principal also had us perform shorter lesson plans for the younger students due to their shorter attention spans which was a success. The last challenge I had was gaining media release forms from all the children, as it was difficult to get the whole school to sign the forms and return them in time for our trip to Lillooet. To combat this issue, I had children with signed forms sit together at one table to make it easier to take photos and videos of the children whose guardians gave consent.”

Taylor shares their reflections about how their project impacted local rural communities:

“There is limited access to these resources in their community and our workshops were able to give rural community students the opportunity to explore different aspects of STEM. Additionally, I think our project had a significant impact on rural youth – as some students expressed that they wanted to be like us when they grow up, while others expressed a desire to pursue careers in science following our sessions.”