To help spark elementary school students’ interest in learning about science and technology, the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering invited elementary school students from Pineview, Woodville, Bond, Oak Ridge, Riley, and Hartsfield to the College’s Challenger Learning Center IMAX movie theater to watch the “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” movie and to discuss science, technology, engineering, and math.
When fifth-grader Destinee Pompey watched the titular character Shuri she saw a person using science and technology to solve problems and help her society — the work of an engineer.
“It’s cool,” she said. “She was leading her country to be better and to protect herself and the people in her community.”
The Challenger center is the K-12 outreach facility for the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering.
The movie is a sequel to the 2018 film “Black Panther,” and it features Shuri, the sister of T’Challa, taking on her brother’s role as the hero Black Panther and protector of Wakanda.
By making a young Black scientist its hero and showing examples of women of color mastering technology, data and science, the film expands students’ ideas about who can work within STEM fields.
“We want you to take this movie and the previous movie and think about what you might want to do, what you might want to be, using math and science. Take your imagination, fuel it with what you see in this movie, and then use education to reach that dream,” the Center’s staff told the students.
“It’s cool to see all that stuff in action in the movie,” said student Peter Comas.
Field trips like this one help bring classroom lessons to life, said Leon County Schools Superintendent Rocky Hanna. He thanked school board member Darryl Jones for helping organize the initiative.
“It’s really cool when we can get kids to step outside of the classroom and see science in action, science in motion,” Hanna said. “We’re tying this experience back to STEM and to things they talk about in their classroom.”
“Our mission at the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering is to help train the next generation of engineers, and the Challenger Learning Center is an important part of that work,” said Dean Suvranu De. “By showing students the excitement and potential of STEM education, the center is helping to fulfill that mission. I hope some of the fifth-grade students who attended today will be students in our college in the future, and I can’t wait to see what they’ll be learning and creating.”