STEM programs & resources

Program to Interest Hispanic Girls in Technology

Formed in 2014, Latina Girls Code (LGC) was created to fill the diversity gap between girls aged 7-17 who are interested in technology. The program provides mentors, access to hardware and digital tools, as well as internships through various programs and events throughout the year. LGC offers one-day workshops/hackathons (events to provide quick knowledge and collaboration around contemporary topics in the technology field and/or civic engagement); six-week programs (intense four-days-a-week programs to learn the latest technology languages and entrepreneurial skills); and a twelve-week program (in-depth sessions that include intensive training and mentorship for programming and entrepreneurship; participants learn through a series of projects carried out in partnership with community organizations). Teachers can find additional information about Latina Girls Code on Facebook and Twitter.

Latino Organization Focusing on Developing STEM Leaders

The Mexican American Engineering Society (MAES) is the foremost Latino organization for the development of STEM leaders in the academic, executive, and technical communities. MAES was founded in Los Angeles in 1974 to increase the number of Mexican Americans and other Hispanics in the technical and scientific fields. The idea to establish a professional society for Mexican American engineers originated with an aerospace electronics engineer who had served for several years as a volunteer for programs directed at combating the alarming number of high school dropouts. He envisioned a national organization that would serve as a source for role models, address the needs of its members, and become a resource for industry and students. Individuals pursuing an undergraduate or graduate degree and enrolled in a two-year, four-year, or graduate institution of higher learning are invited to join MAES. The annual student membership dues of $10 provides career center access, MAES scholarship opportunities; access to the MAES online community, mentorship opportunities, and more.

Virtual Afterschool Program to Build STEM Skills

WidgetWatch is an online afterschool program created by Fidgits 2 Widgets that leverages students' interest in technology to keep them learning. With a STEM-based curriculum, WidgetWatch teaches students to tinker, design, and create using emerging digital technologies. Designed for children between the ages of 10 and 14, the program combines STEM activities with game-based learning. In a casual afterschool environment, students log into a webinar platform where an adult mentor and up to 10 other children greet them. After unstructured social time for chatting, they can extend their learning and get homework help, if needed. Each week WidgetWatch offers a different learning theme, from making YouTube videos to 3D design and printing. Students explore digital citizenship issues through hands-on projects. They learn about what it means to have a YouTube account, post videos, and subscribe to other channels. They also become knowledge constructors and innovative designers as they practice using technology to inform, curate, and express their own learning. WidgetWatch has three membership levels: Iron level, free; Gold level, $29.99; and Diamond level, $49.99. Descriptions of each level appear on the WidgetWatch website.

Chemical Elements As Interactive Haiku

A British poet and fiction writer got creative with the periodic table, writing 119 science haiku, one for each element, plus a closing haiku for element 119 (not yet synthesized). The haiku encompass astronomy, biology, chemistry, history, physics, and a bit of whimsy. Students simply click or hover over an element on the periodic table to read the haiku. They can share these poems and add their own on Twitter with hashtag #ChemHaiku.

Virtual Reality Storytelling

CoSpaces turns students from virtual reality(VR) consumers into VR creators. On CoSpaces’s platform, VR becomes a creative tool for student expression-from telling stories and modeling environments to exhibiting work. For students and teachers who want to add depth to the experience, CoSpaces provides support for scripting using either Blockly (beginner) or JavaScript (advanced). Using one of these languages, students can model and animate objects, adding an extra layer of learning to the engaging experience of VR creation. The free version of CoSpaces includes a 3D editor and library; limited image search and import; limited 3D image import; Blockly, JavaScript, and Typescript languages; and public sharing. Users can explore their creations in the free CoSpaces VR app on their smartphone (iOS and Android) or find out what others have built. CoSpaces Edu, designed to be used specifically in the classroom, complements traditional teaching methods by immersing students into a world where they can create, consume, and connect with the curriculum through the revolutionary visual medium of virtual reality. The cost of 50 licenses is $75/year; other licensing options are available as well.

Hands-on Learning Using Robots

RobotLAB has launched Engage! K12, a platform that provides robot-based lessons for a range of subjects and age levels. Engage! K12's interactive and hands-on learning experiences are organized by high-interest topics, such as soccer-playing robots or autonomous cars. The user-friendly interface lets teachers, even those with no programming experience, bring lessons to life with virtual or physical robots. Ready-to-use lesson plans and STEM project templates support 21st century skill building and college and career readiness. The projects are aligned with national K-12 standards, including the Next Generation Science Standards. Educators can sign up for a free demo.

Children's Podcast on the Wonders of Science and Technology

NPR has announced the launch of Wow in the World, a new podcast for children aged 5-12 that illuminates the wonders of science, technology, discovery, and inventions. Starting on May 15, NPR's Guy Raz and SiriusXM's Mindy Thomas will take children and their grownups on a journey into the most incredible science and kid-friendly news stories of the week. The episodes will highlight exciting new research about space, dinosaurs, animals, technology, and human origins. Each episode begins with a series of questions that lead to an explanation about a new amazing scientific discovery or finding. For example, "How long would it take to get to the closest star outside our solar system?" or "How did we Homo sapiens come to dominate the planet?" or "How do astronauts poop in space?" Through comedy and conversation, along with voices from real children, Mindy and Guy make the news fun and interesting. NPR will distribute the show, and Tinkercast, a new production company that focuses on family-friendly content, will produce the program.

Citizen-Science Activity Tracking Birds

NestWatch is a nationwide monitoring program conducted by The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, designed to track the status and trends in the reproductive biology of birds, including when nesting occurs, how many eggs are laid and hatch, and how many hatchlings survive. To participate in NestWatch, students register on the program’s website to become a certified NestWatcher, find a bird nest using the helpful tips, visit the nest every three to four days and record what they see, and then report the information on the NestWatch website. Students’ observations will be added to those of thousands of other NestWatchers in a continually growing database used by researchers to understand and study birds. And while they’re contributing valuable information to science, students will learn firsthand about birds and create a lifelong bond with the natural world.

Plus: Students can track nests, eggs, and baby birds with the free NestWatch app for Android or iOS. No datasheets are necessary. Students can record their observations in real time and map their nest sites with ease using their phone’s built-in GPS, which allows them to keep tabs on their nesting statistics from anywhere. The NestWatch app also has an offline mode, allowing users to record and save their nest observations without WiFi or cellular service.

Puzzle-Piece Programming

The Center for Integrated Computing and STEM Education at the University of California, Davis has launched RoboBlockly, a web-based robot simulation that uses a simple puzzle-piece interface to program virtual Linkbot and LEGO robots. The RoboBlockly curriculum includes student self-guided Hour of Code robotics and coding activities, as well as teacher-led math activities that meet national standards for grades 4-9. Teacher's notes and resource packets for all of these activities are freely available in C-STEM Studio. RoboBlockly can be used with a modern web browser on any computing device, including laptops, tablets, iPads, and smartphones, and it is available in multiple languages. Schools using the C-STEM curriculum can attend the annual C-STEM Day held every May at UC Davis and in the past two years in Orange County, California. C-STEM Day presents an opportunity for students to use their programming skills to solve problems in the RoboPlay Challenge Competition, and to demonstrate their creativity in the RoboPlay Video Competition.

Hands-on STEAM Activities

The Smithsonian Institution and Lenovo have teamed up to develop and provide free STEAM activities for students, along with teachers' guides. The materials are available in the Smithsonian Learning Lab for educators who would like to replicate or adapt them in the classroom or in after-school programs. As part of the joint initiative, the Smithsonian is providing training for Lenovo employee volunteers to facilitate the STEAM activities with students in schools and in after-school programs during their community outreach. The Smithsonian Center for Learning and Digital Access is designing the activities and step-by-step facilitator's guides. The center will also create two virtual-reality education experiences for teachers to embed into their curriculum. The Smithsonian Learning Lab projects include Sculptris (creating a 3D model of an insect based on specimens from the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History), E-textiles (combining circuitry and fabric to create wearable tech), Wright Flight (learning the basic engineering skills used by the Wright brothers, followed by a digital test flight of a 3D model of the original Wright Flyer from the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum), ArtBots (constructing an art-making robot using motors, batteries, and whimsy), Botany Field Book (learning techniques inspired by a National Museum of Natural History botanical illustrator), and CURIO(trading-card game challenging students to discover patterns and connections that inspire their own Smithsonian collection).

Meaningful Making Projects

Illustrated with color photos of real student work, Meaningful Making: Projects and Inspirations for FabLabs and Makerspacescontains project ideas, articles, and best practices from educators at the forefront of making and hands-on education. In the book, Stanford University FabLearn Fellows (a group of K-12 educators teaching in fabrication labs, makerspaces, classrooms, libraries, community centers, and museums) share inspirational ideas from their learning spaces, as well as assessment strategies and recommended projects across a broad range of age levels. The book tours the future of learning, where children make sense of the world by making things that matter to them and their communities. Meaningful Making is available for free as a downloadable PDF, or in print at major online retailers. Proceeds of the print edition will be used to fund future FabLearn fellowships and activities for K-12 educators.

STEM Careers Brought to Life

EarthEcho brings modern-day explorers and trailblazers to students and classrooms with STEMExplore, a no-cost online destination featuring dozens of relatable, day-in-the-life interviews with scientists and engineers from science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). The cabinet of curiosities-themed portal is inspired by the vast collection of items from three generations of Cousteau explorers, including the legendary Jacques Cousteau. United Technologies Corporation is collaborating with EarthEcho International to bring STEM careers to life through videos that feature a broad range of scientific careers. The video profiles introduce the amazing people who go to work every day in jobs that unearth, study, create, or protect these kinds of curiosities.