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We’ve published videos every month this school year from longtime STEM pen pals and LPS teachers! Check out a list of some of our favorite videos from the year below! Everyone belongs in STEM; an interview with longtime pen pal Sam Sharpe 2020 Year in Review LPS Best Practice: Include photos and …
by Jenelle Whitman 
This blog post is an extension to the annotated letter series to highlight engaging electronic letters. The goal of this blog series is to provide STEM pen pals with inspiration and ideas from real letters written by STEM professionals. Some STEM professionals have found it difficult to create engaging electronic letters for pre-scientists learning at …
by Jenelle Whitman 
I don’t remember how I came across Letters to a Pre-Scientist in 2014; maybe a friend posted it, or maybe a lab colleague suggested it as a cool outreach opportunity. I just remember that I found out too late to participate that year, so all I could do was read the newsletters and wait until …
by Jenelle Whitman 
Distance learning creates novel issues for teaching and learning while exacerbating existing issues. Non-teachers tend to focus on the remote aspect of the situation. They ask about how we engage students who are at home. They ask about amusing things they’ve heard about distance learning like how students sometimes forget to mute their microphones before …
by Jenelle Whitman 
This week’s Scientist Spotlight features Caitlin Mack, a masters student studying social behavior of animals at Michigan State University. Our Scientist Spotlight series features STEM professionals who volunteer in our pen pal program, Letters to a Pre-Scientist. More specifically, Caitlin studies the social behavior of animals, like African wild dogs, living in zoos compared to …
by Jenelle Whitman 
“Making it” – A pen pal success story Every year, we have a few pre-scientists who are hesitant to write to their pen pals. Each case is different- some pre-scientists have a hard time trusting adults, others don’t feel confident in their writing skills. We challenge our STEM professional pen pals to write back to …
by Jenelle Whitman 
This week’s Scientist Spotlight features Jakub Zegar, a soon-to-be environmental scientist in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Our Scientist Spotlight series features STEM professionals who volunteer in our pen pal program, Letters to a Pre-Scientist. Jakub is an undergraduate student majoring in environmental science with minors in geology and STEM education at Drexel University. Drexel offers a five …
by Jenelle Whitman 
Many scientist pen pals have continued to reach out to the LPS team with concern over their pre-scientist pen pals from Mr. Kessler’s class in Paradise, CA. We are in touch with Mr. Kessler, and are continuing to update our emergencies webpage as we receive updates from him, so please check there for the most current information. It …
by Aliyah Weinstein 
This was a big year for LPS. We were joined by an enthusiastic and talented team of interns, and we matched pre-scientists at two schools that were new to our program (Equitas Academy in LA and Jackson Middle School in Orlando). Of course, we can’t relax too much over the summer! We’re already thinking ahead …
by Anna Goldstein 
The pre-scientists in Ms. Madden’s classes at Equitas Academy have had a lot of exposure to new and interesting areas of science lately. Two scientist mentors from UC Irvine visited the classroom to give guest lessons. First, Kristina Lackey taught the class about the plants, animals, and climates in the main biomes using an activity called “biome-in-a-box.” …
by Anna Goldstein 
All letter-opening days are exciting for our pre-scientists. But each one is a bit different. The first day is full of curiosity. The students don’t really know what to expect. Our teachers do their best to try and set the stage, but each student will have a very different idea of what their scientist is …
by Jaleal Sanjak 
The holiday season is in full swing, with music and magic in the air, lights twinkling in frosty windows… and letters from scientists being torn open in classrooms across the US! All of our pre-scientist students have received their first letters and have enjoyed “Opening Day” with their classmates, learning about their new pen pals …
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