“What did I miss last week?” asks young Sirus Zandfard ’23, tapping the arm of teacher Javier Garay.

“We made army man parachutes,” says Javier. Sirus’s disappointment is palpable. “Listen," Javier promises, “next week, I’ll bring in the materials for the parachutes so you can build one as well, okay?”

“Okay!” shouts Sirus. He quickly covers his mouth, mindful of noise in the hallway, and the deal is sealed with a silent high five.

Javier teaches several after school Encore Clubs for “Engineering for Kids,” presenting science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) to students in age-appropriate, hands-on ways to kindle children’s natural curiosity about how things work. And he escorts them through the problem-solving process using real world issues to encourage discovery and exploratory learning.

Sirus is in the Junior Aerospace Engineering Program, a group geared toward second through fifth graders. The Aerospace Engineering Program demonstrates how engineers use STEM to help design and build aircraft, such as planes, helicopters, hot air balloons, and anything else that flies. “The curriculum is designed according to national STEM guidelines,” explains Javier.

In the first class, the students make air-powered straw rockets. Javier takes students through the same design process professional engineers go through. “First,” says Javier, “we ask, 'What problem we are trying to solve?' Second, we brainstorm. Third, we design—it’s time to put pen to paper. In the fourth step, we build our designs. In the fifth step, we test the designs. Finally, in the sixth and most important step, we improve. We go back to the drawing board. We see what worked and what didn’t, and discuss ways to change our designs.” Javier makes sure to build time into the curriculum so that kids have time to work through several iterations to improve their models.

The grand finale of the Aerospace Engineering Program represents the culmination of everything the students have learned and done: they make their own water-pressured bottle rockets. “The rockets go several hundred feet into the air. It’s very exciting. The kids really see how much they’ve learned,” comments Javier.

Javier also teachers Junior Chemical Engineering Crazy Concoctions, another STEM program geared to children ages four to six years old. “These guys are a little bit young to truly comprehend everything an engineer does, but they know there are people out there who make everything they enjoy.”

The focus of Crazy Concoctions is to use things children see in everyday life and relate them to the lessons. The children learn the difference between solids, liquids, and solutions. “We see what happens to solids when they reach certain temperatures," explains Javier, “then we see what happens to them when the heat source is removed.”

Other experiments involve making various bubble solutions, play dough, and flub. “And the kids get to take their work home, which they enjoy,” says Javier.

As in real labs, safety is a priority. “We establish good habits early on,” says Javier. During the bubbles lesson, the kids wear safety goggles. “Engineers work with chemicals and sharp objects, and they’re extremely careful about how they handle them. The class we’re teaching is no different.”

“It’s kind of interesting,” observes Javier, “Kids find such simple things fascinating. First, you show them how to do it, and then you actually have them be the engineers throughout the class.”