Our Collective believes that kids learn best in small groups under caring mentors doing hands-on work in the classroom.
To that end we develop and deliver exciting, mentor-fueled, hands-on, STEAM programming in K12 classrooms in Northern New Mexico. We recruit and train college-age mentors, encourage K12 students to recruit mentors into their lives, and support K12 teachers through focused Communities of Practice.
In this brief video you'll meet our students, teachers, and mentors and learn from community and state leaders why this work matters.
The effectiveness of our approach is touted in Expert Mentors: A Professional Development Model for STEM and Maker Education Implementation. We won a STEMY in 2019 from AFRL for best Outreach in NM Higher Ed.
Our key partners are STEM Santa Fe, Los Alamos National Laboratory Foundation, The Computer Science Alliance, and Moving Arts Espanola.
Our work has been funded by the National Science Foundation, Santa Fe Community Foundation, Encantado Foundation, Anchorum Health Foundation, Indian Resource Development, and New Mexico Public Education Department.
Recent Activities
Weekly Lunchtime Robotics club at Carlos Vigil Middle School.
Building vibrating gloves for Parkinson's patients at Espanola Valley High School and Northern New Mexico College.
Building Heart Drums at the Santa Fe Indian School.
Building Smart Bridges (mBlock hard-drive Version, Tinkercad cloud Version) at The Masters Program at SFCC, Espanola Valley High School, El Camino Real Academy, Desert Sage Academy, Santa Fe Indian School, Capital High School. Responses from students, teachers, parents, and principals.
Building Laser Guitars at Capital High School, Milagro Middle School, and Santa Fe Indian School. Responses from students and teacher.
Mentor/Leadership Seminar, a 16 week one-credit discussion based college course on the foundations of effective youth mentoring.
Expand Your Network of Caring Adults, a 7 week program that provides youth with strategies for valuing and acquiring caring mentors.
Contact steve.cox@nnmc.edu to learn more. Visit his webpage to see the courses he is teaching.
Allied Mentoring Efforts
Scratch Story Making Zoom Hour STEM Scaffold Santa Fe STEAM Salazar