The Metrowest STEM Education Network (MSEN) has developed an online portal for STEM At Home to assist families and educators. The portal is currently featuring a survey for families and a survey for educators to gather input on what resources MSEN might provide to help address the challenges of at-home learning. The portal also links to a variety of resources for both families and educators, along with an input form to nominate additional resources to be included.
Category Archives: Resources
Boston Tech Mom: At-Home STEM Activities in May
Boston Tech Mom — a great resource for all things STEM around Boston — continues her monthly catalog of At-Home STEM Activities for Kids with her May roundup of free resources for kids and their caregivers.
Mad Science of North Boston Offers Free Daily STEM Activities
Mad Science of North Boston is offering a free daily email of STEM activities that are designed for individual grade levels (Grades K-5), do not require additional screen time, and follow state frameworks. See a sample email and sign up here.
LigerBots Online Mentorship Program for Elementary Students
The Newton LigerBots high-school robotics team has started its “Awesome Mentorship Project 2877” to match high-school student mentors with elementary students by common interests for online mentoring sessions. Each mentor-student pair will spend an hour each week over a video call doing science experiments, tutoring in school subjects, or simply drawing and chatting — whatever the elementary student needs. All mentors are vetted and trained by the LigerBots and are excited to get to work! Parents of elementary students are invited to fill out this interest form. High-school students (both LigerBots and others) interested in mentoring are invited to fill out this form.
MIT: Full STEAM Ahead — Online Learning Resources
In response to the need for at-home learning, MIT has rapidly developed Full STEAM Ahead, a collection of free resources for online teaching and learning for Grades K-12 and life-long learners. Besides curricula for higher education and workforce learning, this site includes these weekly packages of materials for Grades K-12, which are available on-demand starting on the dates shown:
- March 23: Spread of Disease
- March 30: Stepping into Invention Education
- April 6: Exploring and Living in Outer Space
- April 13: Making Music and Sounds
- April 20: Earth Week
- April 27: Investigating Problem Finding and Problem Solving
…as well as these online STEM projects for Grades 4-12:
- Amplifier with Piezo Pickup
- Arduino Garden
- Arduino Particle Meter
- Copper Pipe Glockenspiel
- Kinetic Sculpture
- Light-Up Tiles
Boston Tech Mom: At-Home STEM Activities
Boston Tech Mom — a great resource for all things STEM around Boston — has adapted her monthly post about STEM Events for Kids in Boston to catalog this month a range of At-Home STEM Activities for Kids.
Free Virtual Museum Tours and Presentations: New England Aquarium, Museum of Science, EcoTarium, Audubon, Harvard, Blue Hill Observatory
For #StayAtHome families, local institutions are offering free online virtual tours and presentations.
- The New England Aquarium is offering a free virtual presentation every day on Facebook at 11AM — as well as online recordings of all previous presentations. These include lectures by National Geographic photographer and Aquarium Explorer-in Residence Brian Skerry every Friday at 11AM.
- Boston’s Museum of Science offers #MOSatHome, with daily interactive sessions, videos, podcasts, family STEM activities, virtual town halls, and more.
- The Ecotarium is offering a free virtual tour of its museum and free online resources.
- The Massachusetts Audubon Society offers free online videos and other resources.
- Harvard Museum of Natural History has online lecture videos, online exhibits about naming species and evolution on islands, as well as many other online exhibitions.
- Harvard’s Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments offers lecture videos, a video introduction and Waywiser to allow online visitors to explore its objects and record.
- Harvard Museums of Science and Culture offer these lecture videos.
- Blue Hill Observatory & Science Center offers online weather webinars for everyone ages 6+ (and additional webinars for younger kids will be offered if there’s sufficient interest). Click on these links to join the online meetings at the appropriate time:
- April 6, 1PM: History of Blue Hill Observatory
- April 8, 1PM: Weather Watching at Great Blue Hill
- April 10, 1PM: The 1927 Flood in Vermont and New England
Boys & Girls Club: Online STEM Activities
The John M. Barry Boys & Girls Club is offering STEM programs on its website and Facebook page, including LEGO Challenges, DIY STEM, Coding, and other fun programs. Follow on Facebook to keep up-to-date.
Mad Science: Online STEM Lessons; Close-Out Sale of STEM Kits
Mad Science of North Boston is offering 60-minute science lessons online at 10AM daily (discounted pricing for a week). It’s also holding a liquidation sale of its remaining Home Lab Kits (separate kits for Chemistry, NASA, Secret Agent, and Mad Scientist Mystery) for $30 each and LEGO Kits $20 each, shipping included. Order here.
You-Do-It Electronics: Online Sales & Curbside Pickup
You-Do-Electronics Center (YDI) is open online or by phone with shipping or curbside pickup (40 Franklin Street in Needham). It features these STEM educational toys and kits for #StayAtHome families.