This story is part of a series exploring how parks serve as engines of exploration, education, play, and equity. It is made possible with support from Huron-Clinton Metroparks and the City of Detroit.
Emani Lawson, a rising ninth grader at Widening Advancements for Youth (WAY) Academy in Detroit, says she used to think science was "so boring." But since she started taking science classes taught by
Huron-Clinton Metroparks staff in her school, she's changed her mind. Now, Lawson says she wants to be a forensic scientist when she grows up.
"I love how intriguing [science class] is and how hands-on it is, because I don't like reading stuff and not being able to do it," Lawson says, adding that her Metroparks instructor "makes it so much fun and makes me want to learn more."
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Nick HagenSupplemental Science student Emani Lawson shows off a circuit glove she made that can be used to control an RC car.
Lawson is just one of many students across several Detroit-area schools who have started seeing science in a new way thanks to the Metroparks'
Supplemental Science program. Through the program, Metroparks staff work with school staff to offer science lessons in schools, usually multiple times a week throughout the school year. Jill Martin, the Metroparks' community outreach interpretive services supervisor, says the program is an extension of the field trip programs that Metroparks staff regularly offer to schools.
"We just really wanted to reach schools that are in communities that maybe have barriers ... coming out to field trips and doing programming on an in-person basis in the Metroparks," she says. "We're happy to bring that out and reach other communities where they're at in a way that works for them."
The Metroparks launched the Supplemental Science program during the 2022-2023 school year at John R. King Academic and Performing Arts Academy in Detroit. Staff provided weekly lessons that year to fourth, fifth, and eighth graders at the school.
"The Supplemental Science lessons were really built based on conversations we had with the teachers, so that they would just kind of dovetail right in with the curriculum that the school was doing," Martin says. "So we would bring in hands-on examples and experiments and activities and stuff that would make the lessons come more alive for the students."
In the same year, Metroparks staff also began programming afterschool science clubs at Riverside Academy West in Dearborn and Weston Preparatory Academy in Detroit. WAY Academy joined the program the following school year. In its first two years, the Supplemental Science program
served 798 students over 357 hours of in-school instruction.
Hands-on, real-world science
Shana Totten, a community outreach interpreter at the Metroparks who serves as the main Supplemental Science instructor at WAY Academy, says her goal is to make science feel more accessible to her students.
"A lot of students have said that they thought science was out of reach, that it was hard, it was big, it was complicated, it was expensive," she says. "And [they've said] that they don't think that anymore, that they think that they can do it. ... I love that."
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Nick HagenHuron-Clinton Metroparks Community Outreach Interpretive Services Supervisor Jill Martin and Community Outreach Interpreter Shana Totten at WAY Academy in Detroit.
Totten says there are a few unique components to Supplemental Science lessons that make the program appealing to both teachers and students as an alternative to traditional science class. One key element is a hands-on approach, which Totten credits with creating a fun learning environment that drives "buy-in" from students.
"The kids actually do love it," Totten says. "... They have specifically said, 'I show up on Thursdays just for you. Otherwise, I would not show up.'"
Totten also endeavors to make Supplemental Science lessons relevant to students' lives. For example, she taught a lesson about water filtration in the context of a creek near WAY Academy. She showed the students how the creek drains into the Rouge River, which drains into the Detroit River, which drains into Lake Erie. Totten also discussed water filtration in the context of the Flint water crisis, which had impacted many of the students' families.
"We make it very local, very community-based to them," she says. "And so it makes a bigger impact. And one of the things that the students mention is [that] their regular classes [are] so broad."
That approach has helped Karter Dixon, a rising 11th grader at WAY Academy, rekindle his interest in science. Dixon says he loved science when he was a little kid, but he'd lost interest as he got older.
"[Totten] made me like it again," he says. "... She makes science more fun. She doesn't always have to use all the big, humble-jumble science words. She likes to make it easier for people to understand."
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Nick HagenSupplemental Science student Karter Dixon shows off his exhibit about the impacts of artificial intelligence during a science fair at WAY Academy.
Totten also ensures that students have a sense of how science might play into their professional futures.
"Every lesson comes with careers related to it," she says. "The students are very concerned about their futures, very concerned about money, very concerned about job aspects. When I first came in, they started with the 'Why bother? Why do I need to learn this? Why am I here?' And I really listened to that. So then I started coming in with, 'Here's what this job does, or here's how this lesson could help you with jobs. Here's where this applies to the real world.'"
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Nick HagenSupplemental Science student James Johnson's exhibit on how ultraviolet light affects yeast cells.
James Johnson, a rising 11th grader at WAY Academy, recently decided he wanted to pursue a career as a biomedical engineer thanks to Totten's guidance. Johnson is fascinated by nanotechnology and wants to study nanobots' potential to improve the human body. When he shared his passion with Totten, she suggested biomedical engineering as a future career for him and gave him information about the field.
"I was a big science kid back when I was young. I used to build little experiments in my room all the time," Johnson says. "[Totten is] very informative. When I didn't understand something, she didn't get mad at me. She taught it to me ... very kindly, with understanding."
Facilitating more science in schools
Martin says she'd "love to be able to expand [Supplemental Science] to all the schools," but bringing Metroparks staff to lead lessons in additional schools is unlikely right now due to staffing and funding limitations. However, the program has begun to grow in other ways. For example, staff at Riverside Academy West have forged ahead on their own with the afterschool science club they co-created with Metroparks staff through the Supplemental Science program.
"They've been able to ... make their own really cool club based on some of those beginnings that we had with them, which is really great," Totten says. "The teachers have gained a lot of confidence after working with us the first couple years to be able to get more experience and feel confident taking the kids outside."
The Metroparks have also begun offering boxes of hands-on materials for science teachers to borrow from the parks system and use in class. Martin says the boxes were created in part to respond to schools' high interest in Supplemental Science lessons. Totten says parks staff "know that having those resources makes a big difference," so the boxes "provide some of those resources that we commonly use with the students and those lessons that teachers can take with them."
In the meantime, students at WAY Academy are continuing to have eye-opening new experiences in Supplemental Science lessons. They recently took a field trip to Wolcott Mill Farm Center to see firsthand how milk is collected and processed – Totten's response to a student debate on the topic.
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Nick HagenSupplemental Science student Madison Taylor shows off her exhibit on soil samples at a science fair at WAY Academy in Detroit.
Madison Taylor, a rising 11th grader at WAY Academy, sums up the appeal of Supplemental Science in simple terms.
"I never had a science class like this," she says. "I never really did science projects, but I like it a lot."