Education-focused Nonprofit Reaches Incredible Milestone as they Engage Students in STEM Experiences
WASHINGTON, D.C. (September 23, 2021) — Learning Undefeated has achieved a milestone of serving over one million students through its mobile and hybrid STEM education experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. These interactive STEM programs served children when many programs were cut, notably as more than 55 million children were deprived of in-person learning for at least a few months.
“In a year when students needed interactive learning experiences more than ever, Learning Undefeated has reached the incredible milestone of inspiring more than one million students through hands-on STEM education,” said Brian Gaines, Learning Undefeated CEO. “When schools were closed due to COVID-19, our culture of innovation led us to develop hybrid learning resources that kept students connected to STEM subjects, even without access to the specialized tools they might normally have in the classroom. Our new digital learning program has amplified Learning Undefeated’s impact in ways we couldn’t have imagined, and the demand just continues to grow.”
To date, Learning Undefeated’s hybrid learning program has reached 1,193,064 students in all 50 states plus Washington, DC, and Puerto Rico. The nonprofit’s new back-to-school hybrid learning suite offers free STEM resources for K-12 schools and teachers across the country, along with in-person fall programs in Texas, Maryland, and Delaware. Long known as a trailblazer in mobile STEM education, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the education organization developed a comprehensive, free curriculum with dozens of standards-aligned activities on topics including biology, chemistry, engineering, earth and space science, genetics, physics, and environmental science.
Learning Undefeated’s flagship mobile STEM laboratory program began in 2003 with a trailer laboratory that brought cutting-edge science education right to the school parking lot. In 2019, the organization launched Drop Anywhere Labs, custom-built shipping containers that combine game-based learning with augmented reality to teach students about chemistry concepts, bringing the total mobile lab fleet to six traveling laboratories.
Some of the programs from the past year include:
- Emerging Leaders in Biotechnology, Learning Undefeated partnered with the Department of Defense to create a hybrid mentorship program for Black and Latina women ages 14-22 that combines advanced laboratory techniques with career-focused sessions where students gain exposure to a wide range of military and biotechnology jobs.
- Anywhere Labs digital lesson bundles, standards-aligned lesson plans for grade 6-12 teachers that include laboratory investigations, multimedia STEM resources, collaborative assignment tools, and interactive assessments.
- Texas Mobile STEM Lab, where students across the state of Texas solved engineering design challenges on board an expansive tractor-trailer lab.
- Mars-themed Explorer Lab, a custom-built motor coach bus that combines movie-quality video, special effects, and hands-on educational gaming to provide a jaw-dropping 360-video experience before landing on Mars.
- At-home Science, short video experiments are designed for K-12 students to do at home, using household materials, including DIY lava lamps and DNA extraction experiments.
All of Learning Undefeated’s programs focus on building & reinforcing STEM identity, a student’s belief that they can be successful in a STEM job, and there is a place for them in these fields. STEM identity is formed through a series of positive, fun experiences that increase student confidence, and lead them to seek out additional interactions with STEM subjects and activities. When students have a fun, hands-on learning experience, it strengthens their faith that they can be successful and brings them one step closer to imagining a career path that involves STEM.
