STEM

STEM Learning Webinar

STEM Learning 2016: Collaboration, Communications and Curriculum to increase opportunities for young people  – Welcome to the future of STEM Learning, where new opportunities in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics learning for youth happen across communities both in and out of school. The webinar will highlight what’s coming in the STEM learning sphere in 2016, […]

Lights on Afterschool is Coming!!

REGISTER YOUR LIGHTS ON AFTERSCHOOL EVENT TODAY On October 22nd, communities across the country will come together for Lights on Afterschool, the only nationwide celebration of afterschool.  If you are a program provider, a parent, a community member or a program participant, you know there is a lot to celebrate.  Afterschool programs across the country […]

More Connecticut Support Needed for Afterschool in the Every Child Achieves Act

Local voice matters…I recently looked over the signatories of a letter that is going to Congress about after school. As I looked down the list, after Arkansas and California’s large showing, I got to Connecticut. Only two organizations had signed on. According to the Afterschool Alliance blog, this letter was signed by more than 100 national and 560 […]

Everything you didn’t want to know about Poison Ivy

Poison ivy, the plant we love to hate.  How much do you know about it?  Could you identify it?  What makes it “poison”?  What happens when you get the oil (urushiol) on you skin or clothes? How do you treat it? The effects of poison ivy go back ages but the first published records date […]

Free, Innovative Afterschool STEM Program with Stipends Available

Innovative STEM programming is a great way to start the new school year!  Through My Window is free multimedia curriculum that combines engineering, technology, literacy, and arts for children and young teens in grades 4-8! The Through My Window learning environment (throughmywindow.org) includes the STEM mystery novel Talk to Me; online learning adventures (modules) that allow […]

What’s the Eye Got to do with It???

So welcome back.  It’s been a very quiet summer.  Recently I heard a program on NPR about pupil shape.  You know, those dark holes in the center of your eyes.  They open up when it’s dark and they shrink when it’s bright.  Bet you never thought about the shape of those pupils. You already know […]

Fun Things You Never Learned in School

STEM Uncovered: Video Competition

ANNOUNCING: 2015 STEM Video Competition sponsored by the Noyce Foundation with support from the C.S. Mott Foundation Kids are always told to dream BIG– afterschool programs allow them to do just that. Uncover the work of your program and students, and tell us what really happens in STEM afterschool.

Science and the Doubting Thomas

An article by Joel Achenbach for National Geographic asks, “Why Do Many Reasonable People Doubt Science?“. I wondered the same thing myself.  I’ve found people who adamantly refuse to believe that something has happened or existed even if the proof was presented. The article is fairly long but absolutely answers this particular vexing question.

Origins of Chemotherapy

All of us know someone who has had cancer.  We talk about radiation and chemotherapy but have you ever wondered where and how it all started? I came across a post through a Facebook page called “Reactions” that intrigued me.  It was called “How Chemistry Changed WWI”.  After reading through it I would have titled […]