KCSOS’s STEAM Yard Brings Learning to Life With 100th Field Trip

From experimenting with drones to exploring waves through art and science, students who step off the bus and enter the STEAM Yard are transported into a new world of hands-on learning and discovery.

On Wednesday, over 30 fifth-grade students from Wonderful College Prep Academy – Lost Hills Primary became part of that experience, marking the STEAM Yard’s 100th field trip since opening in April 2025.

For Jamie Viveros, senior director of STEAM and Expanded Learning at KCSOS, reaching the milestone reflects the growing interest in a space designed to help students experience science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics in new ways.

The STEAM Yard’s field trips are built around grade-level standards, with lessons designed to connect multiple subjects through interactive activities. Students might explore experimental design through a Spiderman-themed drone challenge or use technology and art to investigate scientific concepts.

During Wednesday’s visit, students rotated through four 30-minute activities, each centered on their curriculum. In one lesson, they learned about Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai and his famous woodblock print The Great Wave off Kanagawa, exploring how the artwork represents waves. Students then painted their own waves with watercolors, depicting concepts such as amplitude, crest, wavelength and trough.

They also used slinkies and dominoes to demonstrate the energy behind earthquake waves, including primary and secondary waves, or P waves and S waves. The demonstrations helped students see how waves travel and how energy moves through different materials.

In another activity, students practiced coding a robot and using flashlights to guide its movements, experimenting with how luminosity influenced its direction.

Students from Wonderful College Prep Academy – Lost Hills pose for a photo to celebrate the 100th field trip at the STEAM Yard.

Beyond the field trips themselves, the experiences are helping students and families discover additional opportunities at the STEAM Yard.

Recently, Viveros met a parent who had learned about the STEAM Yard through his son’s field trip. The father, who works nearby, had not realized the facility offered classes and activities just a few blocks away. After hearing how much his son enjoyed the visit, he enrolled him in the STEAM Yard Community Academy, a new evening program for students in grades 3 through 8 offering visual arts, coding & robotics, and 3D printing & laser cutting.

Viveros recalled the father thanking the STEAM Yard for offering the classes, explaining that his son wasn’t participating in sports that year and he was looking for another activity for him.

Viveros said the family’s experience was a reminder of how field trips can introduce students and families to new resources and interests they might not otherwise discover.

For students visiting from Lost Hills, the trip offered an opportunity to explore a setting and resources they may not encounter regularly. It also gave them a chance to see how concepts they are learning in school can take shape through hands-on activities.

Wonderful College Prep Academy fifth-grade teacher Mr. Rensel saw value in that connection, particularly as his students are currently studying energy and matter.

“Right now we’re learning about energy and matter in fifth grade, so I think this ties in really nicely with our energy unit,” Rensel said.

He said the hands-on activities help bring those concepts to life, giving students experiences they can recall in the classroom and building engagement with their lessons.

He also appreciated the smaller group rotations, which gave students more opportunities to interact directly with instructors and participate in the activities.

For Cole Sampson, KCSOS’s assistant superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction, the milestone also reflects the STEAM Yard’s original vision: creating a community resource that would give students across Kern County access to experiences they might not otherwise have.

When the space was being developed, Sampson said the team hoped the community would benefit from a new kind of learning environment for children, though it was uncertain how many schools and families would engage with the resources it offered.

“And so now we are a year and a half in and have already hit 100 field trips,” Sampson said. “It is proof that yes, this is something that the community needs.”

Sampson said the STEAM Yard can also inspire educators to bring new ideas back to their schools, extending hands-on learning beyond the facility. He hopes teachers will use what they experience during visits to create opportunities for students in their own classrooms.

As the STEAM Yard continues to expand its offerings and develop new ways to bring families into the space, Viveros said students can expect fresh experiences with every visit.

“We promise any time someone’s going to come to the STEAM Yard, whether it’s a field trip or after-school programming, you’re always going to get something different,” Viveros said.

STEAM Yard mentors help make every field trip a success.