Students Board the STEM Shuttle

The STEM Shuttle. Photo by Rachel Lukas.

Regular math and science classes don’t often inspire cheers. But on the STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) Shuttle – a repurposed bus filled with interactive experiments geared toward fourth- through eighth-graders – such reactions are much more common.

According to Sharon Ryan, a retired Wausau elementary school teacher and the founder of the STEM Shuttle program, it’s not unusual for students to celebrate once they figure out a particularly tricky experiment on the bus. Often, she said, “You’d think they had just won the lottery,” judging by all the cheering.

The one-of-a-kind space-themed shuttle has been visiting schools in Wisconsin and neighboring states since 2006, and on May 24 and 25, it paid a visit to Gibraltar and Washington Island schools, respectively. During the visits, groups of 10 students had the bus to themselves for 50-minute blocks, moving among workstations in pairs. 

Along with other activities, students balanced a fulcrum with washers, built a stable arch by balancing precut pieces of wood, watched pony beads change color under a UV light to demonstrate the dangers of a damaged ozone layer, and maneuvered a robotic arm similar to those used by astronauts and surgeons (a fan favorite, according to Ryan). 

More than just a break from the traditional classroom setting, the STEM Shuttle is a way to show kids how STEM is used in real life, get them interested in STEM careers and help them realize how many different jobs and skill sets are involved in STEM fields.

“For every five astronauts up there, there are a thousand people down here working with them,” Ryan said.

And the cheering and high-fiving when an experiment goes smoothly? That’s part of her goal, too. 

“I want to get kids excited about STEM,” she said.