Carolina Living Materials: Enhancing the Hands-On Learning Experiences of Thousands of Wisconsin Students

Carol Pearson enjoys a challenge—like working with a team that designs and maintains interactive STEM learning units for more than 60,000 elementary and middle school students each year. Carol served as curriculum director for The Einstein Project (TEP) from 1994 until her recent retirement in 2016. TEP is a Wisconsin nonprofit, begun in 1991, whose mission is to "elevate STEM education by enriching student learning and enhancing educator knowledge through interactive experiences." Twenty-five years and more than 140 Wisconsin schools later, TEP provides hands-on learning units that are loved by teachers and students alike.

Pearson and her team were able to offer a diverse selection of hands-on learning units with the help of the wide range of living materials available from Carolina. “All of our life science units include Carolina living materials, such as seeds, plants, butterflies, guppies, snails, and many more,” she reports. TEP physical science units also use nonliving materials from Carolina, such as chemical reagents, soil, rocks, and minerals. Just one look at the Carolina™ Science catalog shows the incredible selection of materials available.

With more than 1,200 different learning units, the TEP collection is as diverse as the grade levels and topics they cover. As she developed new units or updated existing ones based on teacher and student feedback, Pearson knew that Carolina was right there to help her create a customized living materials package for each unit.

Pearson recognizes that the highest quality materials may be of little use if they are not backed up by good service and support, and that is just what TEP receives from Carolina. "Carolina orders are promptly shipped, delivered on time, and are accurate and complete," she reports. And when her team or a teacher had a question about a material, they consistently received helpful and thorough support from Carolina. "Carolina responds quickly and provides help with any question or issue that arises," she says.

One memorable example was when a teacher asked TEP how to determine if the snails she received were alive. (A good question, considering snails’ low activity level.) Pearson contacted Carolina, which developed a checklist of procedures that can be used to make such a determination. In fact, the checklist has become standard with all snail shipments from Carolina.

Pearson is also pleased with "the excellent instructional guides and video tutorials" available for Carolina materials. Each living material comes with detailed instructions on its use and care. Many materials also have video tutorials. In addition, Carolina supports the Einstein Academy, TEP’s professional development training for teachers who use the learning units. "Carolina adjusts our usual living material kits to accommodate the shorter time frame of our teacher training," Pearson says. "For example, they provide each stage of the butterfly life cycle so the teachers can walk through each step of the learning unit during the training."

A nationally recognized STEM resource, The Einstein Project is having an incredible impact on science and engineering learning. A big part of that impact comes from encouraging students to "think outside the book" by including hands-on experiences with Carolina living materials. One teacher said it best: "Once a student has used an Einstein kit, they are hooked on science for life." Now that’s success!