Welcome to the STEM Center!
1200 Building (Campus Map)
509-793-2306
Description
The Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) Center is a large collaborative study area with glass walls and abundant light that is open for approximately 62 hours per week to all BBCC enrolled students, including GED/DVS. Here you will find a variety of tutoring and instructional support for STEM courses. Specifically, the STEM Center offers students drop-in tutoring, Supplemental Instruction or SI (group tutoring), support from full-time faculty, access to Wifi, computer work stations, printing and scanning, white board tables, private study rooms, and various items for checkout. These diverse activities create a healthy, vibrant, and collaborative environment, which is not quiet. We encourage all BBCC students to take advantage of our space and technology to engage with peers, receive help from a tutor/SI Leader/instructor, or relax between study sessions.
More on the history of the STEM Center here.
Hours of Operation — Closed until the beginning of Fall Quarter (September 24th)
- During the academic year (Fall, Winter, & Spring Quarters)
- Monday – Friday 8 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.
- Closed on Saturdays
- Sundays from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m.
- During Summer Quarter
- Monday – Friday 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Our Guidelines
Help us help you! We ask that all students and guests abide by our guidelines while in our area. Please take a minute to read them. Abiding by these guidelines helps us ensure our space continues to be a welcoming, healthy, inclusive, and collaborative environment.
- As you come in to the STEM Center, please sign in with your Student ID Card!
Why is this important?
If you sign in you are helping us keep an accurate log of how many students are utilizing our services. This tracking data provides validation that our department should continue to be funded. So again, please sign in when you first enter the STEM Center!
- Follow all campus rules and policies. A link to the student code of conduct can be found here.
- Be respectful. This means showing a basic consideration of tutors and your fellow students by: showing kindness and courtesy, being polite, not discriminating, respecting differences, respecting our facility, and respecting people’s personal space and possessions.
- Be considerate. This means, but is not limited to: being mindful of your noise level, language, and topic choice while in our space. If you are being too loud and/or your language/topic of choice is not appropriate, you will be politely asked to quiet down and change the behavior. If the behavior does not change you may be asked to leave the facility. This is to ensure the rest of our students can feel they can comfortable and able to study/work in our area.
- When in doubt, ask. No matter what your question, please ask. We are here to help! We want to help! You just need to ask.
- Be patient, but also take initiative. As much as we try our best to help everyone in an efficient manner, sometimes due to demand, getting help may take longer. But, it’s not just a waiting game. If you need help, take initiative. Ask our front desk a question, ask a tutor directly for help, or use our Tutor Q to get on our list of who to help next.
- Follow microwave rules. You are allowed to have food in the STEM Center, but you must clean up after yourself. Cleaning items are located by the microwave. Having this microwave is a privilege. If it is not properly maintained it will be removed from the facility.
- Follow checkout guidelines for STEM Center items. Our front desk can checkout: graphic and scientific calculators, laptops, anatomy and physiology models, headphones, textbooks, textbooks with selective answers, and more. Each item has specific checkout rules. Before checking something out, make sure you are aware of the aware of its checkout guidelines.
- Before you leave clean up after yourself (pick up trash, erase white board tables, push in chairs, etc.). This helps keep our space clean and tidy for our next visitors. This also ensures you don’t leave anything behind.
- As you leave the STEM Center, please sign out!
Why is this important?
If you sign in, but don’t sign out our data tracking – that provides validation for our services – would be incorrect. By signing-in/signing-out appropriately you are helping us effectively track the usage of our area.
How to Navigate the STEM Center
Before visiting our space we encourage you to read about how to navigate our services to make the best of your experience when you visit us!
Schedules
- Summer 2018 drop-in tutoring schedule
- Summer 2018 SI Sessions schedule
- Summer 2018 Faculty Support Hours
Employment Opportunities
The STEM Center hires students and part-time employees to support BBCC students’ academic success. Each quarter the number of job openings fluctuates. If you’re interested in joining the STEM Center team, below are the links on how to apply.
- Apply for STEM Center Tutor position (work-study & non-work students study eligible)
- Apply for STEM Center Front Desk Clerk position (only work-study students elligible)
- Apply for STEM Center Custodian Helper position (only work-study students elligible)
- Apply for Emporium Lab Tutor position (work-study & non-work study students eligible)
- Apply for Supplemental Instruction (SI) Leader position (work-study & non-work study students eligible)
- Apply for part-time STEM Center Tutor position (up to 16 hours/week)
Volunteer Opportunities
The STEM Center would like to invite community members volunteers to join our department. We believe you would enrich our students’ college experience by providing perspective on where you are now, the life you have had, and the community in which you live. Volunteer times are flexible, but would be between the hours of 8 am and 4 pm Monday – Thursday, when classes are in session. Interested persons can read more about how to volunteer here.
More Tutoring at BBCC
The STEM Center offers drop-in tutoring and SI (group study sessions), but the STEM Center does not offer one-on-one tutoring. One-on-one tutoring is organized by the Student Success Center. If you’re interested in one-on-one tutoring, contact them directly.
Definitions
Drop-in tutoring is tutoring service where you can drop-in and receive help in math, science, and engineering courses. No appointment is necessary! Support for most subjects is typically available throughout the week. However, because the majority of our tutors/SI Leaders are BBCC students, tutors are not available for all subjects all day. The drop-in tutoring schedule outlines when specific subjects are offered.
The majority of BBCC tutors are BBCC students themselves. However, we do hire part-time tutors as well. Both positions have different hiring processes, but both processes strive to hire tutors who know the content and who are committed to students’ academic success.
A STEM Tutor’s goal is to help BBCC students become independent learners. This means will guide a student through the completion of their homework or help a student for a test, but they will not do coursework for a student.
You can request help from a tutor in various ways. This link will take you our How to Navigate the STEM Center page, which deeper explains how to request a tutor when you’re in the STEM Center.
If you have any further questions regarding the drop-in tutoring or the drop-in tutoring schedule, please contact Veronica Guadarrama.
Supplemental Instruction (SI) is a peer-assisted group study academic support model developed by Dr. Deanna Martin at the University of Missouri–Kansas City (UMKC) in 1973 to improve student retention and success within targeted historically difficult courses. These SI (group study) sessions are lead by a SI leader. The STEM Center offers math, science, and engineering SI. These sessions are updated every quarter. This SI schedule dictates when SI sessions are offered this quarter.
An SI leader is typically a student that previously excelled in the course, is instructor recommended, sits in on lecture/lab and then provides learning sessions dedicated to your course content. The SI leader is trained in academic assistance to prepare them to facilitate SI sessions. To facilitate these sessions, the leader comes to each session prepared to share with students how to effectively study for the course and how to maximize their potential for their academic success.
SI sessions are regularly scheduled, out-of-class review sessions for all students enrolled in a targeted course. The sessions are informal group seminars in which students review notes, discuss readings, develop organizational tools, and prepare for examinations. Students also learn how to integrate course content with reasoning and study skills.
During the first week of class your SI Leader will provide a survey to your class to determine the best time to hold SI Sessions throughout the quarter. This will determine the SI Leader’s consistent quarterly schedule after the first week of class. These sessions are subject to change (sessions cancelled/added) due to the SI Leader’s schedule, holidays, and extra review days (if needed). To find more information regarding a specific SI class please refer to the SI Schedule (below) or check with the STEM Center Front Desk Clerk.
SI sessions are held in the STEM Center (unless otherwise posted).
If you have any remaining questions regarding the SI or the SI schedule, please contact Veronica Guadarrama.
Many of the full-time Math and Science Department faculty (instructors) provide 1 office hour per week in the STEM Center. BBCC students, we encourage you to take advantage of faculty support hours by organizing a study group, asking advising questions, and bringing the content questions you may have. The faculty support schedule is below. You may also meet with your instructor during their posted Office Hours found on your syllabus and their office door or you can schedule an appointment.
 Calculus Study Group |
 Got Glass? |
 K. Duvall (Biology) |
