STEM Program
Saint Ann School offers a Science, Technology, Engineering, & Mathematics (STEM) program for students in Grades K to 8th. Saint Ann School uses its unique location in Ridgecrest to enhance its STEM program. The scientific background of the local community is used to support the school's STEM curricula through the formal Educational Partnership Agreement with the local Navy Installation, the Naval Air Warfare Center, China Lake. This agreement allows scientists and engineers from the Navy base to provide STEM classes during their normal work day. These scientists and engineers may also be parents or family members of current and past students. STEM project ideas from teachers are tailored to the interests of students and each grade's curriculum. Examples of past STEM events and presentations are building catapults and trebuchets, desert tortoise by Base biologist, Native American ancient artifacts by Base archaeologist, chemistry of light sticks, thermodynamics demonstration by making ice cream, and portable planetarium by Maturango Museum docents. Additionally, a working garden with a plot for each grade is located on the play ground and is used for STEM projects.
"If your experiment needs statistics, you ought to have done a better experiment."
-- Ernest Rutherford, Father of Nuclear Physics, 1871 to 1937