STEM Websites to Help You Kick Off the New School Year

As we all know the autmnal equinox (September 22) marks the official end of summer in the northern hemisphere. For some of us, summer officially ended a few weeks ago with the start of the 2013-2014 academic year, and for others it officially ended this week. No matter what calendar we adhere to, the fact is that the doors to over 400 after school programs in Region 3 are open and over 27,000 students are being engaged in numerous extended day learning activities.

The Region 3 STEM team (Monica Gonzalez-Williams, Phil Romig, and Mark Drewes) would like to take a moment to wish you and your after school team and programs a wonderful 2013-2014 school year. With many of you recently opening your doors and just getting your programs started for the year, we decided to highlight some STEM websites in this month's blog post that we believe will add to the richness of the STEM activities in your after school programs.

Please feel free to call or email us at any time. We are your one stop shop for all of your STEM needs.

With that being said here are your STEM websites:

STEM Articles:

a) How to Get Your School Ready for STEM this Year

b) Strategies for Embedding Project-Based Learning into STEM Education

c) Summer Learning and STEM Momentum

d) Building the New Workforce


STEM Curriculum/Activity Sites:

a) The Power of Discovery (K-12)

b) Teachers Try Science (5-12)

c) Engineering Adventures (3-5)

d) NASA for Educators  (K-12)

e) California After School Resource Center (CASRC) (K-12)

f) Resource Area For Teachers (RAFT) (Idea Sheets) (K-12)

g) PBS STEM Education Resource Center (K-12)

h) National Education Association 10 Best STEM Resources (K-12)


Professional Development Opportunities:

a) Project WET (Water Education for Teachers) FREE 2 day training
    (K-12 frontline practitioners)

b) PEAK FREE 1 day trainingTBD email Phil Romig at promig@scoe.net (K-6 frontline
    practitioners in Sacramento County specific sites)

c) California After School Resource Center (CASRC) FREE Online training (K-12)

d) 2013 California Science Education Conference $35-$120 per person depends on a
    few variables (K-12)


STEM Contest:

a) Zero Robotics High School Tournament (9-12) Deadline to enroll 9/7/13

b) Autodesk 123D Design Challenge (ages 13-18) Deadline to submit 10/21/13

c) Siemens: We Can Change the World Challenge (K-12) Deadline for entries is 3/4/14


STEM Grant Websites:

a) The Power of Discovery (Funding)

b) Digital Wish

c) Grant Wrangler


We hope that you find this post helpful when it comes to adding to the robustness of your STEM activities in your after school programs. Please email Monica Gonzalez-Williams, Phil Romig, or Mark Drewes with your STEM story. Please submit your STEM story by the end of day Friday September 27, 2013. Your STEM story will appear in the October 2013 post.