Gel E. Bean & the STEAMteam
Curiosity Is a Skill.
Let’s Build It.
Hands-on science for preparing young minds to meet this wild, wacky, wonderful world—
one question, examination, or gloriously unexpected result at a time.
We know life to be an experiment… We’ll see you in the Laboratory!
Science is already everywhere. Let’s make some mischief with it.
STEAMteam brings science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics out of the textbook and into schools, youth groups, community centers, camps, libraries, festivals, and family celebrations—where young minds are already busy wondering, building, and occasionally making a magnificent mess.
Through experiments, LEGO builds, grocery-store science, creative challenges, and critical tinkering, young people learn to organize their thinking, try an idea, notice what happened, and decide what to do next. The goal is not merely to know more. It is to become better prepared to do something useful with what we know.
Learning Through Curiosity
Meet Gel E. Bean and a few brave young scientists as they poke, ponder, predict, and put the Six Skills to work.
Six Skills for Success
These six skills help us sort out what we see, rethink what we assumed, and reorganize our minds when life refuses to follow the instructions.
Observe
Notice details and changes.
Measure
Compare with care.
Classify
Find useful patterns.
Infer
Explain what evidence suggests.
Hypothesize
A Guess we can Test.
Communicate
Share discoveries clearly
throughText, speech, & Art.
Science is best served chilled.
Ask “Why?”
Discover “How.”
Investigate “What if”
Think. Tinker. Transform.
Science isn’t just a collection of facts—it is a way to organize our minds. When we learn to observe, measure, classify, infer, hypothesize, and communicate, we become better prepared to solve real problems, make thoughtful choices, build useful things, and recover when our first idea goes hilariously wrong.
You don’t have to be an expert at everything. With curiosity, practice, and a properly prepared mind, you can tackle almost any challenge this wild, wacky, wonderful world puts in your path.
Take it from Gel E. Bean: a grown, fully insured adult named after a candy—disabled, powered by an LVAD, walking on a prosthetic leg, part-time wizard, and full-time cyborg. Life rarely follows the instructions. Science helps us rethink, reorganize, adapt, and create what comes next.
Selfie Science
Small experiments can reveal surprisingly big ideas. Watch closely, make a prediction, and ask what the result might help us understand. Gel E. Bean is a grown, fully insured adult, so please follow every safety warning and leave the especially fiery foolishness to trained wizards.
Invite a part-time wizard and full-time cyborg to your next gathering.
Gel E. Bean programs mix hands-on experiments, audience participation, humor, and a carefully measured spoonful of scientific mischief. Young people do more than watch: they observe, predict, test, communicate, and practice using science to make sense of real situations.
- School assemblies, classroom programs, and field trips
- Boys & Girls Clubs, homeschool groups, libraries, camps, and youth organizations
- Community festivals, family nights, and employee-family events
- Birthday parties and other celebrations
No two groups—or experiments—behave exactly alike. Programs can be adapted to your audience, venue, available time, and learning goals. To begin plotting something educational, memorable, and just a little wacky, email staff@wementorkids.org.
Help us prepare more minds for whatever comes next.
Your support turns questions into experiments and experiments into practical skills. It provides supplies, equipment, transportation, and opportunities for young people to practice thinking clearly, adapting boldly, and building useful answers of their own.