The University of New Hampshire is expanding its STEM tutoring for middle school teachers and students in the state with a new $10 million grant.

Under the program, UNH undergraduates work as tutors with middle schoolers and teachers to improve students’ reading and math skills that will help them master more complex STEM subjects.

The program spurs creative scenarios to prepare the students. Students and teachers use the program. For instance, Manchester middle school students and teachers used their training to create a fictional zoo. Students calculated the zoo’s food needs and researched animals’ biology and environmental requirements.

Manchester students also designed their own monsters using stem cells and tissue regeneration after reading Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein.”

The federal grant will allow UNH, which currently works with the Manchester and Nashua school districts, to partner with 40 middle schools, primarily in rural parts of the state.

“Tutoring benefits extend far beyond the classroom,” said Bethany Silva, of UNH’s Community Literacy Center. “People who never thought they would (teach) are considering becoming teachers. And many of those tutors are going to go on to become New Hampshire teachers.”

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