Preschool
The Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care has compiled a list of free curriculum resources for preschool STEM activities.
K -12
President Obama has launched an Educate to Innovate campaign to improve the participation and performance of America’s students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).
Mass. Dept. of Higher Education’s STEM Pipeline Fund is designed to increase the number of Massachusetts students participating in programs that support careers in STEM fields, increase the number of qualified STEM teachers, and improve the STEM educational offerings in public and private schools.
STEM Education Institute at the University of Massachusetts Amherst has calendars and pointers to programs, projects, and curriculum materials online. It also sponsors federally funded teacher summer institutes and academic year programs open to teachers from everywhere.
Science from Scientists is a Boston-based non-profit that strives to improve science and technology awareness. For 4th-8th graders, SfS offers free hands-on programs — for local schools, clubs and other organizations — that are aligned with Massachusetts curriculum frameworks and incorporate lectures as well as hands-on laboratories. For 4th-12th grades, SfS can assist teachers and instruct students through the science fair process from start to finish, focusing on the scientific method, experimental design, data analysis, and creating attractive, informative and succinct displays. SfS can also administer science fairs, providing tutors and judges.
iCreate to Educate helps teachers use low-cost tools and SAM Animation software from the Tufts Center for Engineering Education and Outreach to enable K-12 students to make their own stop-motion animations — using an easy, intuitive medium for developing their understandings of science and math. (see examples and white paper).
The National Science Teachers Association offers a list of freebies for STEM teachers.
The National Education Association offers its list of the 10 Best STEM Resources.
The Green Sciences: Helping Planet Earth DVD Series is designed to increase student interest in STEM fields and in continuing STEM education. It relates how the many fields of science can positively impact today’s environmental issues, highlighting potential fields of study with peer perspectives and advice, career examples, and volunteer/intern opportunities. Detailed descriptions and online previews: Elementary Edition, Secondary Edition.
Teach Engineering is an online digital library of resources for K-12 teachers, developed by five founding partner universities with National Science Foundation funding.
High School
MIT Open Courseware — Highlights for High School features MIT OpenCourseWare materials that are most useful for high school students and teachers.
MIT’s BLOSSOMS program offers over 50 free math and science videos online, as well as a library of links to resources for STEM teachers in biology, engineering, math, physics, and science.
BOOK: The New Cool, is “the astonishing story of a team of high school seniors and their remarkable mentor, who come together—not to play a sport or exercise their athletic prowess—but rather to build a machine that will battle in the most heated, sophisticated robotics contest in the world — the FIRST competition.”
Secondary School
Lift2 is a professional learning program for middle and high school STEM teachers. It is designed to help experienced and developing teachers relate classroom curriculum to authentic and relevant applications in the 21st Century workplace.
Khan Academy offers over 2,100 video tutorials and 100 self-paced exercises over a broad range of topics in arithmetic, mathematics, biology, chemistry, cosmology/astronomy, physics, statistics, … all free.
Engineering is Elementary offers free STEM resources for after-school programs: Engineering Everywhere for Grades 6-8, along with Educator Resources to accompany each unit.
EnvironmentalScience.org is a online source of government-sourced information about environmental science education, internships, and careers.
Sixth Grade
The DIGITS Program is a Massachusetts-based, free classroom program targeted toward sixth graders and designed to pique their interest in STEM careers. The program connects students with STEM professionals – STEM Ambassadors – who serve as role models and inspire students to continue to study math and science in middle school, high school, and beyond.
Elementary School
Engineering is Elementary offers free STEM resources for after-school programs: Engineering Adventures Grades 3-5, along with Educator Resources to accompany each unit.
The Quirkles is a creative program aimed at elementary school students that uses 26 imaginary scientists that help children develop a love and appreciation for science. The program integrates literacy and science: vocabulary builders, two related science experiments, and a character education lesson are included in each of the 26 alphabet-series books.
Optics4kids.org is the Optical Society’s educational website for young students, parents, and educators.