Full STEAM Ahead in Education
LAKE COUNTY, CALIF. (November 9, 2023) - It started with a love for science. Lake County Office of Education's Learning Support Specialist Jennifer Kelly has taken science "out-of-this-world" for Lake County students with her lessons and field trips
Kelly provides STEAM lessons through classroom visits and field trips to the Taylor Observatory.
STEAM education is an approach to learning that uses Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics as a starting point to guide student inquiry, dialogue, and critical thinking.
STEAM projects include the solar system, robotics, Clear Lake topography and water analysis, sound, engineering and so much more!
"When you look at the three dimensions of science learning, I believe the Taylor Observatory and the science lessons help build connections across disciplines and engage students with technical and engineering practices."
Kelly works with students from Kindergarten through the 12th grade. As the students learn the lesson, so do the teachers.
During the 2022-2023 school year, Kelly visited 78 Lake County classrooms and hosted 65 field trips to the Taylor Observatory. 65 educators from 18 Lake County schools participated in various STEAM activities. This includes two new activities, Arduino Robotics and the Health of Clearlake.
Arduino Robotics, sponsored by the Reynolds System, Inc. (RSI), is taught in four to six lessons by their engineers and allows students to build robots and control them with Arduino microcontrollers.
The Health of Clear Lake includes up to nine lessons and a field trip to collect and analyze water samples from the lake.
Jennifer has her Masters of Education in STEAM. She was also named California Teacher of the Year in 2011 and the Lake County Teacher of the Year in 2010 while teaching at the Middletown Unified School District.
Taylor Observatory / Norton Planetarium / STEAM Center is a facility owned by Lake County Office of Education, located beneath the dark skies of Lake County, in Kelseyville California.
The facility features a 36 seat classroom, a 16 inch research grade telescope under a dome, a 32 seat planetarium with a 6.2 meter (20 ft.) domed ceiling and an Epsilon Model Digitarium Star Projector System.
Learn more about the Taylor Observatory on our website.
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