$2.9 Million Infrastructure Grant Will Create Fleet of Nine Mobile STEM Labs For 2025/26 School Year, Serving Over 250 Schools Each Year
SAN ANTONIO, Sept. 10, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — STEM nonprofit Learning Undefeated has received a grant to build eight mobile laboratories for the Texas Mobile STEM Lab fleet, thanks to a $2.9 million infrastructure investment from the Texas Education Agency. This new funding expands the program from one mobile STEM lab to nine regionally based labs, capable of visiting over 250 schools annually.
“Since 2020, thousands of Texas students have experienced hands-on STEM learning onboard our one Texas Mobile STEM Lab, but Texas schools deserve a Texas-sized program,” said Brian Gaines, Chief Executive Officer, Learning Undefeated. “The proof is in the data – these STEM labs are crucial in providing equitable access to STEM careers, opportunities, resources, and technology for Texas schools across all regions of the state.”
For the 2024/25 school year, more than 500 teachers requested a visit from the Texas Mobile STEM Lab, which currently serves 30 schools per year with one vehicle. “I was so excited to have the lab visit our school. We are small, and having our students get to have this experience was priceless,” said Tabitha Perdue, a teacher at Whiteright Elementary School following a mobile lab visit. “I loved seeing the smiles on their faces when they knew it was their day to go and the excitement it created for STEM.”
Operated by Learning Undefeated, the Texas Mobile STEM Labs are custom outfitted STEM learning spaces that offer engaging, immersive, hands-on STEM experiences for students and teachers. During the 88th Legislative Session, the Texas Mobile STEM Laboratory program received additional funding to expand the fleet to nine mobile units. The first two laboratories are currently being built and will begin service in January 2025; the full fleet is expected to launch for the 2025/26 school year. Each Mobile STEM Lab will annually serve at least 30 schools in one of nine geographic regions, ensuring access to schools in all of Texas’ 20 education service regions each year.
The current Texas Mobile STEM Lab program serves approximately 30 schools per year, with hundreds of requests going unfilled each year due to limited capacity – a shortage that this new funding will solve in the upcoming school year. “It was amazing to see our students excited and interacting with STEM projects and activities. I wish every student in Texas had this opportunity as we did,” said Amanda Jeter, a teacher at Rule ISD, after the Texas Mobile STEM Lab visited her campus last school year. Ninety-eight percent of teachers wanted a return visit from the Texas Mobile STEM Lab, and 97% of teachers expressed that experience met or exceeded their expectations. The Texas Mobile STEM Lab program models TEA-approved STEM activities that teachers can easily perform in their classrooms. 90% of teachers surveyed felt confident that they could replicate the activity they observed independently.
Launched in 2020, the Texas Mobile STEM Lab has served over 24,000 Texas K-8 students in each of the state’s 20 educational service regions. The custom-outfitted traveling learning space offers engaging, immersive, hands-on STEM experiences for students and teachers.
