To increase the resilience and self-efficacy of girls, KEW LEARNING ACADEMY provides connections between nontraditional subjects such as Fashion Design, Technology and Arts with academic concepts in S.T.E.A.A.M. to promote an environment that challenges students and creates a love for learning while developing critical thinking skills. This educational approach allows the students to develop Learning and Innovation skills, Information, Media and Technology Skills and Life and Career skills.

This educational approach uses the above-mentioned concepts as access points for guiding student’s inquiry, dialogue, and critical thinking. The overall goal of the program is for students to be thoughtful in risk taking, engaging in experiential learning, persistent in problem solving, embracing in collaboration, and diligent in working through the creative process. Therefore, to empower the girls to be fearless and confident in their capabilities the program is titled, I AMMM…ENRICHMENT AFTER-SCHOOL PROGRAM. Which stands for “I ASPIRE TO MOTIVATE MY MIND TO …”

The learning objectives for the after-school program are: • Utilize the Engineering Design Process to promote critical thinking skills, • Utilize integrated concepts to show connections between various disciplines to train the mind how to think, • Provide projects that emphasizes self-reliance and a love of discovery and learning, • Recognize various technologies used in the fashion industries; and • Increase knowledge to make informed decisions and promote healthy lifestyles.

Therefore, the Engineering Design process involves: ASK the right questions, IMAGINE how to solve them, PLAN out each and every move, CREATE a solution to the problem, then see what works and then IMPROVE is the framework for instruction.

Our primary focus is working with the average student (C’s and D’s) to increase their interest in non-traditional engineering careers. These courses were chosen because they are based in the female’s social experiences. Social trends in fashion and food technology are used to engage students in meaningful conversations that lead to project-based learning to get them interested in academic concepts to increase their problem-solving capabilities.

“The social experiences of teenagers can be a bridge to contextualizing content and instruction in a science classroom. The opportunity to bear out the students' curiosities about their environment and the world exist when the curriculum in its design departs from the norm of using Standards only. This departure helps to drive new approaches to content and instruction. Metaphors and analogies that bespeak the real events in students' lives can promote discourse and understanding that traditional instructions miss. Social trends that manifest in clothing, dress, hairstyle, and grooming do serve as a springboard to engage students in the dialogue of science with a social lens.” YALE NATIONAL INITITIVE