Pacific Life Gift Supports New STEAM Literacy Program for Local Elementary Educators

May 6, 2025

Thanks to a generous $15,000 gift from Pacific Life—now in its third year—the UC Irvine Science Project and UCI Teacher Academy are launching a new initiative to strengthen STEAM literacy in local schools.

Titled Literacy is STEAM: Books for Science Inquiry, the program will bring together UC Irvine faculty and a cohort of teacher leaders to design interdisciplinary, inquiry-based science lessons for TK–6 educators. Each lesson will be built around grade-level picture books and aligned to Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), Common Core State Standards (CCSS), and California’s Environmental Principles and Concepts (EP&Cs).

The program will culminate in a summer 2025 symposium hosted at UCI, where participating teachers will explore these new resources and strategies. They’ll then pilot the lessons in their classrooms and return in fall 2025 to share feedback and implementation insights with peers.

By blending science, literacy, and real-world problem solving, this initiative aims to give young students meaningful tools to explore and understand the world around them.