STEM Resources: One Stop Shopping Guide for Programs and Organizations Dedicated to Supporting STEM
The 2012 AuthenticSTEM Guide was published yesterday. It is a wide ranging collection of STEM resources organized by Diana Laboy-Rush’s Eight Keys to Education Reform Through STEM. The Eight Keys: investigate, focus, collaborate, inspire enrich engage design, integrate.
The guide contains brief descriptions of programs and organizations from all over the U.S. that support youth in STEM. Some you will recognize as they have been around for several decades–others will probably be unknown to you. So do some browsing. You may find a program or an organization whose materials and approach will be a great fit for the youth with whom you work. 
KIDS Consortium and the Maine Math and Science Alliance are in the Collaborate section of the guide as organizations that can help educators to combine high quality service-learning with high quality STEM instruction. See examples of projects from the partnership.
A Few More STEM Links Worth a Look
KIDS Consortium and the Maine Math and Science Alliance are collaborating on another two-part workshop in a couple of weeks for a group of out-of-school teachers and in-school teachers in Massachusetts called, Prepare and Inspire! Strategies for Blending Research-Based STEM Instruction with High Quality Service-Learning. The collaboration between KIDS and MMSA had yielded some great work over the last couple of years. You can learn more by visiting the Youth as Citizen Scientists: Data, Insight and Action through Service-Learning. While doing some prep for the workshop over the last couple of days I came across a few new links to STEM related information—all the links are relevant to integrating STEM and service-learning.
Links to get your STEM fix: (more…)
Take the STEM Survey: How is Your State Doing? What are the BIG Issues?
Given the interest in and focus on STEM education, I believe that we will see more active and engaging STEM instruction, leading to more opportunities for students to be the citizen scientists–a wonderful thing for students and communities.
Reform of this size, involving this many people, requires a lot of feedback. I am posting a link to the STEM Education Coalition’s site and blog. Go to the blog and complete the survey. The Coalition is gathering information to get a snap shot of how people in the STEM Ed. world view the efforts and the issues related to STEM Ed. reforms.
If you are looking for some information on what your state is up to regarding STEM Ed, check this--it has data for every state.
Or, go to the ACHIEVE site, get an update on the NextGen Science Standards and visit this page. It too has data on every state’s efforts
eCYBERMISION: A STEM Contest Targeting Community Needs–Team Registration Deadline Approaching
eCYBERMISSION is a free, web-based Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics competition for students in grades six through nine where teams can compete for state, regional and national awards while working to solve problems in their community. It is sponsored by the U.S. Army.
REGISTRATION IS OPEN THROUGH DEC. 16, 2011.
STEM and service-learning groups…this looks like a match for you.
Civic Engagement through Service Learning: Developing Effective Communicators and Communities
Do you want youth to develop their ability to communicate in person and in writing?
Do you want to live in a participatory democracy in which the participants can and do communicate effectively in person and in writing?
Of course you do. Developing effective communicators has always been high on the list of standards that educators have for their students and that civil societies have for themselves. That need is not unique to the 21st Century, but the importance is higher than it has ever been.
This is the fourth of seven blog posts in a series all about the seven ways service learning helps students to demonstrate 21st Century Skills. If you are just joining and want to catch up…the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd.
Okay, quick trip down memory lane…
Youth Can Extend Themselves at Extended School Day Programs: Community Engagement With Service Learning
“It’s not your father’s Oldsmobile” and “Orange juice, it’s not just for breakfast anymore.” You recognize those taglines from a couple of old ad campaigns, right? Just good old Madison Avenue suggesting that we should think about some old friends in a new way. That is just a little bit like what this post is doing, only I’m not a Madison Avenue ad exec, so I don’t have a snappy tagline. Plus, I know that this is not an entirely new way to think of “an old friend.” But if you come up with a snappy tagline, please, share it. I’ll give you all kinds of credit for it.
Just for breakfast?
More and more extend school day program (before school/after school/during school vacation programs) teachers are using service learning.
Why?
For the same reasons that other school teachers use it—the benefits are many.
The Afterschool Alliance, in partnership with MetLife Foundation, released an issue brief this month that discusses civic engagement and service learning in afterschool programs. The title of the brief is Providing Opportunities for Service Learning for Middle School Students. Even though the title isn’t all that catchy, it is a good one to download and read, especially if you have been looking for ideas and support for service learning outside of the school day. (more…)
Catching Up on the Civic Mission of School with the Guardian of Democracy: Inspiration for Civic Education and Engagement
Guardian of Democracy. Doesn’t that sound as if it could be a movie? Who would you place in the lead roles of such a film? Who would direct it? Well, never mind. It is not a movie. It is a report on civic education and civic engagement. Fade cut to the next scene…
Admit it. You have watched your favorite movie at least five times, haven’t you? So don’t start thinking that I am in left field for suggesting that you go back a reread one of your favorite reports on civic education from the last decade…I know, it is not the same as watching the Wizard of Oz in its original format. But I don’t think that we are in Kansas anymore (apologies to those of you in Kansas). (more…)
Seven Ways Service Learning Helps Students to Master 21st Century Skills while Helping Communities to Meet 21st Century Challenges
You have heard it before…service learning is a powerful strategy for helping students to meet 21st Century Skills while transforming communities. Well, it’s true. But how does service learning do that? Over the next few weeks through this blog we are going to explore that a bit. I hope that you will use the comment space to share your own thoughts and examples.
The title above says “Seven Ways Service Learning Helps Students etc…” So that’s it…there are seven. Well, there maybe more, maybe less. In KIDS as Planners: A Guide to Strengthening Students, Schools, and Communities through Service-Learning we identify seven. So let’s start with the idea that there are seven and go on from there. (more…)
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