The University of North Texas (UNT) is using an old form of technology to bring STEM education to rural communities: radio. STEM education — which includes studies in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math — is critical in the United States, yet can be difficult for students living in rural areas to access.
This became abundantly clear during the COVID-19 pandemic when most schools transitioned to online learning.
“People say, ‘Oh, there’s broadband everywhere,'” UNT Assistant Professor Sarah Evans told NBC DFW. “The kind of broadband most rural communities have access to is expensive. It can be spotty.”
Evans, who is also the director of the Children’s and Young Adults Librarianship Program, was looking for a better way to connect rural libraries with their communities through education.
“So, we started thinking about radio,” said Evans, because radio is considered a central tool in most rural communities.
Thus was born Rise Up Radio, a locally produced STEM education program for rural communities, developed through mentorship with UNT.
The project, which began in the Fall of 2021, helps libraries, community members, and organizations to connect and create their own radio programs for STEM education. Participating libraries can provide STEM kits and even radios for anyone who needs one, according to the American Libraries Magazine.
UNT is collaborating with the University of Alabama for the two-year program, which is funded by grants. The Pottsboro (Texas) Area Library and the Tuscaloosa (Alabama) Public Library are recruiting families and local youths to develop STEM-based programming for broadcast on Rise Up Radio.
The participants will meet with library staff over a period of weeks to identify community needs and resources, choose topics for the programs, record episodes — including interviews with experts — and develop learning kits for community members to access through the library. The broadcast episodes will also be released as podcasts.
Materials, such as an incubator and eggs, in the case of the Pottsboro program, can be found at the local library.
“We really wanted for families, intergenerational groups, to get together and create a broadcast series of about four to six episodes that really revolved around their specific community,” Evans explained.
The program is intended to create a model for best practices for future expansion. UNT plans to expand the program to West and Central Texas, with the Pottsboro and Tuscaloosa libraries serving as a network for the next cohort.
