Belonging, Exposure, and the Future of STEM
Why D.R.E.A.M.S. Teaches What We Teach
At D.R.E.A.M.S. Academy, we do not choose our lessons randomly. Our approach has always been rooted in a simple belief: access changes outcomes. When young people are exposed early to ideas, language, role models, and fields that once felt distant, those fields begin to feel possible. Research has repeatedly shown that early interest and early exposure matter. One widely cited study found that students who expected to have science-related careers in eighth grade were substantially more likely to earn science degrees later on, and University of Virginia reporting on related work has noted that interest in science by eighth grade can be strongly linked to later science degree attainment (Tai et al., 2006; Cannady et al., 2014; University of Virginia, 2019).
That matters because for many children, especially those who have not regularly been given access to STEM-rich environments, the barrier is not ability. Often, it is exposure. It is whether they have ever had the chance to imagine themselves in these spaces at all. The National Academies has emphasized that sustained, authentic learning experiences help build what it calls a personal “computing identity,” and that this identity is important for sparking interest, belonging, and persistence, especially for students from groups underrepresented in STEM (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2021).
That is why D.R.E.A.M.S. does not think of STEM access as an extra. We think of it as foundational.
STEM Access Is About More Than Academics
Too often, people talk about STEM as if it is only about content knowledge: formulas, facts, definitions, and test scores. But the research points to something deeper. STEM access is also about confidence, identity, belonging, and the development of a young person’s sense that “this could be for me.” Studies in NIH-hosted and PubMed-indexed literature have found that science identity, self-efficacy, mentorship, and belonging are closely tied to students’ commitment to science pathways and future persistence in STEM-related fields (Martin-Hansen, 2018; Chen et al., 2021; Thakar et al., 2024).
Harvard-related work on belonging has made a similar point from a broader educational angle: students are more likely to engage and persist when they feel they belong, and lower social identity threat is linked to greater interest and persistence in a field (Harvard Graduate School of Education, 2023).
That is a major part of our philosophy. We are not only trying to tell students information. We are trying to help them enter the room mentally. We are trying to help them feel that learning can belong to them too.
Why Early Exposure Matters
Early exposure matters because interest does not usually appear out of nowhere. It is often sparked by a moment, a person, an experience, a conversation, or a lesson that suddenly makes a field feel real. Research on STEM pathways has shown that out-of-school experiences, extracurricular exposure, and early science encounters can play a major role in igniting long-term interest. In one NIH-indexed study of students with strong STEM talent and interest, extracurricular experiences were reported far more often than classroom experiences as the strongest initial spark for interest in STEM (VanMeter-Adams et al., 2014).
Research also suggests that curiosity itself is central to scientific thinking. Work published through NIH’s PubMed Central has argued that curiosity and curiosity-driven questioning are important for scientific thinking and for the motivation to pursue scientific questions more broadly. Other NIH-hosted research has found that curiosity and interest can positively affect learning and memory in childhood and adolescence (Gruber & Ranganath, 2019; Fandakova & Gruber, 2021).
This aligns closely with what we have seen in practice. When students are exposed to ideas they have never encountered before, their posture changes. Their questions change. Their energy changes. The room changes.
Why We Do Not Limit Ourselves to What Is “Typically Taught”
One of the convictions behind D.R.E.A.M.S. is that students are often capable of engaging much more deeply than adults assume. We do not believe young people should only be handed watered-down ideas until someone finally decides they are old enough for the “real” material. We believe there is power in introducing students to meaningful, substantial concepts in ways they can grasp.
That is part of why we have chosen to teach topics that are not always considered standard for a child’s age or classroom stage, such as blood, blood types, and what biologically distinguishes one blood type from another. We do not do this to be flashy. We do it because challenge can communicate respect. Novel, sophisticated material can signal to students that they are capable of more than routine repetition. Research from Johns Hopkins’ Center for Talented Youth has argued that novelty helps keep learners engaged, and broader work on curiosity suggests that novelty, uncertainty, and the desire to resolve gaps in understanding can drive deeper learning engagement (Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth, 2023; Gruber & Ranganath, 2019; Fandakova & Gruber, 2021).
In other words, when students encounter content that feels real, important, and a little beyond what they expected, it can become memorable. It feels powerful because it is powerful. It makes them lean in.
D.R.E.A.M.S. has tried to build from that principle. We do not want students to leave our sessions feeling like they were merely entertained. We want them to leave feeling like they touched something larger than what they thought they were capable of understanding.
Why Representation Matters
Representation is not the whole story, but it is an important part of the story. When students see people who look like them in positions of knowledge, leadership, and technical competence, it can reduce distance between the learner and the field. A career or discipline that once felt abstract starts to feel inhabited. It starts to feel human. It starts to feel reachable.
The research supports this. NIH-hosted literature on mentoring underrepresented students in STEMM notes that mentors who share key identities with students, such as race and gender, can provide particular psychosocial benefits, including support grounded in shared experiences of being underrepresented in STEM spaces. Reviews on STEM role models have also concluded that role models can be powerful motivators when they are presented in ways that help students see genuine pathways for themselves (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2019; Gladstone & Cimpian, 2021).
There is also evidence that science identity and belonging matter especially strongly for minority students. NIH-hosted research has found that a strong science identity can bolster belonging in science courses, and belonging itself is associated with perceived preparation for future STEM careers in youth programs (Chen et al., 2021; Boyce et al., 2023).
That is one reason our volunteer team matters. Having a team made up fully of students of color is not incidental to the impact of the work. It is part of the educational environment itself. Students are not only hearing about science, medicine, engineering, and technology from a distance. They are seeing young people who look like them actively teaching, explaining, demonstrating, and inhabiting those spaces. That does something important. It subtly but powerfully challenges the idea that STEM belongs to someone else.
Why Belonging Matters as Much as Information
A student can understand a lesson and still quietly believe that a field is not for them. That is why belonging matters so much. The goal is not just exposure to information; it is exposure that changes self-perception.
Research on social belonging in STEM has found that belonging interventions can improve persistence and performance, and that sense of belonging predicts success and persistence in STEM learning environments.
The National Academies has likewise emphasized that authentic experiences should not just mimic professional practice in a narrow way; they should also be designed so underrepresented learners can access them meaningfully and thrive within them.
How We Teach
Our method has always been more intentional than it may look from the outside. We try to combine substance with accessibility. We take serious ideas and make them understandable without flattening them. We aim for rigor without coldness, and challenge without exclusion.
That means we often teach through storytelling, verbal explanation, active discussion, and embodied demonstration. Especially in settings where resources are limited, we have learned how much can be done through voice, movement, analogy, and participation. There is evidence that authentic STEM learning does not depend solely on expensive materials; what matters is whether students are engaged in inquiry, creation, experimentation, problem solving, and personally meaningful activity over time.
We also teach with an eye toward relevance. Students are more motivated when material feels connected to real life and to their own possible futures. Research on relevance and motivation in STEM learning has found that when learners experience content as relevant, important aspects of functioning and motivation can improve.
So when D.R.E.A.M.S. introduces topics like blood typing, medical science, engineering design, robotics, or coding, we are not only delivering content. We are trying to create a moment of recognition. We are trying to let students feel, sometimes for the first time, that advanced knowledge is not reserved for someone else.
Why Our Approach Is Deliberate
What we do is not accidental. It is researched, intentional, and tactically designed.
We chose to focus on exposure because the literature shows that early interest can shape later pathways. We chose to emphasize belonging because the literature shows that identity and inclusion affect persistence. We chose to teach material that feels substantial because curiosity, novelty, and meaningful challenge can intensify engagement. We chose a visible, student-led, diverse volunteer model because role models and representation can help learners imagine themselves in STEM. And we chose to teach in a relational way because mentorship and authentic connection have repeatedly been shown to matter for underrepresented students’ STEM identity and career development.
In short, our model is not just about teaching kids facts. It is about building the conditions under which those facts can become part of a child’s future.
What We Have Seen for Ourselves
Research matters, but so does lived observation. We have watched students move from hesitation to curiosity, and from curiosity to confidence. We have seen what happens when learners are treated as capable of grappling with serious ideas. We have seen the effect of students being taught by young people who reflect them. We have seen the difference between a lesson that merely fills time and a lesson that makes a student sit up straighter because something suddenly feels possible.
In one venue, when students were asked at the beginning about STEM, only one child initially said it felt like something for them. By the end, every single student said they were interested in it or wanted to know more. That is not the whole of educational transformation, of course, and we would not pretend one moment answers everything. But it is the kind of shift that helps explain why this work matters. It is exactly the kind of shift the research on exposure, identity, belonging, and role models would lead us to hope for.
Why This Matters for the Future
When a child begins to think, “Maybe I could do this,” that thought has consequences. It can affect what they pay attention to, what they ask for, what they pursue, what they persist through, and what they someday become. A single program does not guarantee a future scientist, engineer, physician, or inventor. But it can open the door to the possibility of one.
That is why STEM access matters. It is not only about workforce pipelines, though those matter. It is not only about test scores, though those matter too. It is about whether children are given a fair chance to imagine themselves in fields that shape the world.
At D.R.E.A.M.S. Academy, we believe they should be.
And that is why we teach what we teach, how we teach it, and who we teach it with.
Because access matters. Exposure matters. Belonging matters. Representation matters. And when all of those come together, possibility begins to look a lot more real.
If you want, I can turn this into a cleaner website-ready version with a title, subtitle, pull quote, and a shorter closing call to action.
Comments