SARASOTA, Fla. -- Students created a website about COVID-19 to help children as they go back to school.
About 12 students with the Student Community Innovation Program (SCIP) at the Suncoast Science Center/Faulhaber Fab Lab designed the website for Sarasota County Schools.
"It's being presented to all the elementary school teachers in their safety training. It's been sent to all the elementary school principals and we are working closely with the district to get the word out in other ways as well," said Jenn Sams, Marketing and Communications Director for the Suncoast Science Center.
The website features slideshows teaching children about COVID-19, the symptoms and how to stay safe at school.
"We made up lessons, three chapters, each chapter has a few lessons in it so there's basically a bunch of slideshows and a story line they follow along," said Kasumi Wade, a senior at Pine View School.
The slideshows feature a fictional character named Jacob. His parents send him a special knight to protect him against COVID-19. The knight teaches the child about the virus. Children may also take quizzes to see what they learned.
"We wanted to educate children about COVID, the dangers of COVID and also how to stay safe while at school because having a bunch of elementary schoolers in school, they're always trying to hang out with each other and be close," said Christiana Guan, a college freshman who worked on the project.
Volunteers with the Suncoast Science Lab have also been involved in a variety of other projects during the pandemic.
They hosted a blood drive in July. More than 260 student and adult volunteers created face masks and shields for healthcare workers. Volunteers used the equipment at the science lab.
"So using laser cutters on the face shields, laser cutters on the masks and then using this huge volunteer base to bring everyone together and create these urgent things the community needed," said Mimi Faulhaber, Education Team Leader.
To view the website created by students, visit coviducation.net.