Miami Dade College’s STEM Preschool To Reopen This Fall
Does your child have a fascination with science? Miami Dade College has the perfect place for them.
Exploration Station—a state-of-the-art preschool laboratory focused on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics)—is scheduled to reopen on Aug. 23 after being closed for more than a year due to the pandemic.
Sponsored by the School of Education, the facility is located in building 600 at North Campus. It was founded in 2011 to provide a well-rounded curriculum for the development of cognitive, psychomotor, social and communication skills during early childhood.
Before becoming a preschool, Exploration Station was focused on conducting research that proved young children learn most through interactive experiences—especially through outdoor active free play.
“It’s important to understand the importance of STEM and how it aids in the early stages of development,” said the program’s newly-appointed preschool director, Judith Gampel.
To protect children from the coronavirus, the Exploration Station will use various safety guidelines upon their return to campus.
The staff will take children’s temperatures before they enter the classroom and kids who are older than two must wear face masks. Students will also be required to wash their hands after every activity.
To limit the number of people in the building, student drop-off and pick-up will take place outside the preschool.
During class, children will be taught lessons through math graphs, tablets, computers, Legos (or Duplo blocks) and a garden. Students are free to choose from activities relating to science, art, housekeeping or reading.
There is also a 30-minute minimum of outdoor playtime, breakfast and lunch, access to the preschool’s library and science laboratory, and more.
Exploration Station is open from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. as a way to accommodate working parents, as well as faculty and students at MDC. Class sizes average from 10-15 children in the pre-K courses and six students in the infant level.
The preschool has a monthly attendance fee of $890. However, MDC students receive a $300 monthly discount so they only pay $590 for their children.
Exploration Station has been deemed as a five-star preschool by the Early Learning Coalition and is one out of two STEM-focused preschools in the United States.
“I am excited for the reopening and we want to continue our interactive curriculum in the safest way possible,” Gampel said.
Click here to apply for enrollment. For more information, contact Gampel at (305) 237-1733 or jgampel@mdc.edu.
