Back to School with STEM {5 Great Curriculum Resources}

It’s time to start thinking about back to school. I know some schools have already started and others will be starting soon. Are you looking to make STEM a part of your school year? Are you looking to add more science and math to your preschool days? I have 5 great STEM curriculum resources to share with you.

STEM Curriculum Resources

Engineering Is Elementary

Engineering is Elementary has project-based engineering activities. The site is developed and supported by the Museum of Science, Boston. They have a paid curriculum for grades 1-5 as well as free after school curricula for grades 3-5 and 6-8. You can also purchase kits to go along with the paid units. I don’t think it can get much easier than this. Poke around the site and be inspired.

Exploratorium

The Exploratorium is a great museum in San Francisco. Their website has a ton of science lessons all free and ready to go.

Check out their Microscope Imaging Station. Not only does it have activities for you to do with your students, but it also has amazing images and videos of things that can be seen with a light microscope.

The Geometry Playground created by the Exploratorium is a traveling exhibition that encourages visitors to use spatial reasoning. The website currently has 27 hands-on geometry activities designed for K-8 classrooms. They would work well with other groups and settings, too.

JASON Learning

JASON Learning {formerly the JASON Project} is a partnership between Sea Research Foundation and National Geographic. The goal of the program is to provide multimedia STEM experiences to K-12 students and educators. The website offers paid curricula in several STEM fields {earth science/climate, forces and motion, geology, energy, ecology, and weather}. You can request trial access to their mission center to preview the content.

They also have ocean-themed immersion curricula. Learn about dolphins, ancient eruptions, the secrets of the Gulf, the Titanic, and more. You can purchase an educator pack for each of these themes. There is a free immersion website for the ocean topics that has games, videos, photos, and other teaching resources.

Help scientists collect data in these citizen science projects listed by JASON Learning. Research projects include water monitoring, bird watching, plant monitoring, shark finding {the fossil kind}, and compiling historic weather observations made by Navy and Coast Guard ships. Students can also be an aecern citizen scientist and participate in Discovery-Driven Mobile Learning™. Students create their own research project about the natural world and collect data using mobile devices {phones/tablets}.

For even more citizen science projects, check out this huge list from Scientific American. Search through different science topics by clicking on the categories at the top of the page under Citizen Science.

NASA Education

NASA Education is yet another great source of free STEM lesson ideas. On the For Educators page, you’ll find a menu on the left side of the screen. Select the grade level that best suits your needs. In the middle of the screen, you’ll see a few featured teaching materials. Then, you’ll notice the View Archives link. Click on it to see many more activity ideas. Lessons include some of the following topics: simple machines, air quality, nature of science, making observations, flight, astronomy, exercise, nutrition, rockets, graphing, weather, and lots more.

Inspiration Laboratories

Of course I’m going to mention the Inspiration Laboratories site as a science resource. Currently, there are over 250 science posts and 45 math posts. I’m constantly adding more. I am a science educator with experience at all grade levels. This site mostly focuses on science activities I do with my kids (toddlers to early elementary). Many of the activities work well for older kids as well. I have used several of the activities at the high school level {modified of course}.

Check out these three posts for a sample of STEM activities:

	20 Preschool Physics Experiments and Activities – Physics fits well with a STEM focus. It easily incorporates science, engineering, and math.
	20 Baking Soda Science Ideas – Baking soda and vinegar is a great introduction to chemistry for kids. Check out these different ideas for expanding on the basic reaction.
	Classification is an important science and math skill. Children begin classifying objects and sorting things at an early age. This post contains activities and questions for encouraging classification in even the youngest science learners. {You might also like this post with 30 more ideas for practicing classification and sorting.}

 

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