Afterschool programs play a major role in providing meaningful science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) learning experiences to diverse groups of youth.
These subjects help students succeed in school and prepare them for careers that are driving global economic growth.
Nationwide, states and schools are engaging diverse partners like afterschool programs, libraries, museums, universities, and businesses to ensure that students have access to high-quality STEM education. By fully utilizing the hours outside of school, and taking an all hands on deck approach to maximize collective impact, we can ensure that our students are prepared for the future. Afterschool and summer programs spark learning and ignite interest by letting youth experiment with STEM ideas in real-world situations.
KYOSA is proud to be part of the Million Girls Moonshot. The Intel Foundation and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation have joined STEM Next Opportunity Fund and the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation to launch the Million Girls Moonshot. The effort is designed to engage 1 million school-age girls in the United States in STEM learning opportunities over the next five years. The organizations will provide grant funding and in-kind resources to Mott-funded afterschool networks in all 50 states to increase access to hands-on, immersive STEM learning experiences.
Explore our resources for all things STEM and Afterschool!
February Resources – Role Models
- Webpage: Role Models Matter and Mentoring Works! – The National Alliance for Partnerships in Equity believes that one of the most effective ways to encourage students to consider nontraditional careers is to introduce them to diverse role models, particularly role models. This webpage serves as a resource for educators seeking STEM role models and mentors for their students.
- Videos: Role Model Profiles Video Archives SciGirls CONNECTSciGirls CONNECT – Incorporating videos from diverse STEM role models into your afterschool program is a quick way to expose students to role models. Pair your engineering activity with a video from Rachel Gitajn, a bicycle engineer, or Tejal Desai, a biomedical engineer, so students can begin making connections between afterschool, the real-world, and career.
- Posters: STEM Role Models Posters – Download inspirational, diverse STEM Role Models posters for your school or afterschool program — now in 8 additional languages including Chinese, Spanish, and French.
- Stories: Stories | She Can STEM. So Can You – Meet the women and girls of STEM. They build robots, find new sources of energy, study animals, play with slime, and invent apps. They help make the world a better (and cooler) place to be. Each story will give
Afterschool STEM Tool Kit is a starting place for networks, intermediaries and afterschool site-based staff to help answer common questions about providing high quality, informal STEM experiences for youth.
Girls Who Code is a national non-profit working to close the gender gap in technology. Clubs are free after-school programs for 6th-12th grade girls to use computer science to impact their community and join a sisterhood of supportive peers and role models.
STEM Ready America is a compendium from 40 authors presenting persuasive evidence—as well as real-world examples of effective practices, programs, and partnerships—on how science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) knowledge and skills are preparing young people for success in school today and the workforce tomorrow.
Click2Science is a resource for out-of-school time professionals. It is designed to help providers build high-quality STEM programs by giving them the skills they need to create positive STEM learning experiences outside the school day.
Common Instrument: A PEAR tool used to assess interest and engagement in science.
Dimensions of Success (DoS) A PEAR observation tool that defines 12 indicators of STEM program quality in OST settings.
MakerMinded is a free program designed to encourage middle and high school students to participate in local STEM activities, particularly related to advanced manufacturing.
InformalScience.org is a collection of project, research, and evaluation resources designed to support informal STEM education in a variety of learning environments.
Pairweb.org provides a searchable database of assessment tools for informal science learning.
PBS LearningMedia is a great destination for educators to access high-quality, trusted digital content that inspires youth and transforms learning.
Afterschool STEM Hub will help providers, parents, and afterschool advocates make the case for expanding and supporting afterschool STEM program