STEM 101

                               STEM 101

                            

A national non-profit organization that I thought was very engaging and interesting for 

students in secondary grades is STEM 101 also known as The STEM Academy. STEM 101 

provides 21st century career based curriculum that provides instructor training so teachers 

can be able to prepare students while obtaining new knowledge they will use in their future. 

STEM 101 available for use by all schools whether it being a private, public, or charter schools. 

STEM 101's academic team is available to provide districts and schools on how to best utilize 

their resources which will then give the student a better STEM education. 

STEM 101 has a very high rate of middle school and high school students who have learned 

from this great resource who pursue careers in STEM. STEM is a organization that focuses 

mainly on students who need the help. To illuminate, their approach is designed to improve

under-represented minority and low-income student growth, close achievement gaps, decrease 

dropout rates, increase high school graduation rates, and improve teacher and principal 

effectiveness. They represent a national next-generation high impact academic model that targets all 

schools and is for all students. 

https://stem101.org/

Edulastic

Edulastic is an online resource that allows teachers to create equitable, standards-based assessments, that allow you to see students progress in real time. Edulastic provides an option for autoscoring that saves teachers time and provides immediate feedback. Teachers can track mastery of standards for each student and can more easily measure progress over time. The results can be linked to your gradebook and Google Classroom. The program allows you to share documents and collaborate with colleagues on assessments. You can select from questions from a pre-screened, standard-aligned, bank of questions or reserve the ability to edit/customize questions on your own. 

Edulastic allows for modifications and differentiation of assessments. Students are given the option to choose from answer banks, free write answer, drawing, text annotations, and utilizing shapes and arrows. Tests can either be administered online or printed for students who prefer pen and paper. Edulastic is an excellent assessment tool to have in your teacher tool box.

Splash Learn

Splash Learn is an online program that provides math enrichment for students in grades K-5. Splash Learn is free for families and teachers and is very user friendly. After an assessment, the program creates a learning path that is individualized for each student. From there, lessons are populated that are aligned to Common Core standards. The program keeps things interesting for kids by providing fun themes like Jungle, Ocean, Space and Candy. To keep the fun going, students can redeem coins and collect animated pets in the games section. Themes from the games are similar to the lessons they complete.

Splash Learn is wonderful for students at varying levels and provides accommodations for different learners. Questions in Splash Learn are read aloud to help familiarize students with the pronunciation of vocabulary and help with comprehension. Each wrong answer is followed with the correct answer and explanation. The program provides parents and teachers with weekly progress reports. These reports help teachers identify learning gaps with students. There is also an option for teachers to adjust the child’s learning plan. Between the online assessment and teacher input, students are truly able to receive a personalized learning path. A really cool feature is that once the app is downloaded to the device of your choice (iPad, iPhone, Laptop, PC), no internet access is required.

STEM-Works

STEM-Works!

A program that I have come across that has outstanding activities, events, and projects to increase science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) skills all across our nation is STEM-Works. STEM-Works is a program that's designed to help STEM professionals, teachers, and club leaders find many resources that allow them to teach STEM skills in their classrooms or clubs. This program has provided their volunteers to quality material that increases their students STEM skills and fills them with excitement such as robotics, wing energy, and even forensics. Not only are these resources available for professionals they are also available for parents and students who are interested in taking on these projects individually like homeschooled students. When students take on these projects alone or even with the help of an adult, they will gain more interest in the field of STEM and want to learn more. 

The STEM-Works program is sponsored by the Department of Defense and Southern Methodist University. It was founded by Dr. Delores M. Etter—an engineer, scientist and innovative leader and Caruth Professor in Engineering Education and the Distinguished Fellow in the Darwin Deason Institute for Cyber Security. As part of the new Caruth Hall at SMU, she is responsible for the Innovation Gymnasium where students will learn through hands-on activities how to be our future innovators.

Moreover, the STEM-Works team generated a Web portal that provides resources for professionals in many communities that have trouble taking their students to locations outside the classroom or school, they can utilize these resources online from their classroom to increase their students' STEM skills. STEM-Works is providing all their resources online to bring together a community who's interested in learning more STEM Skills and teaching them that they have built a virtual community all across our nation. 

Website: http://stem-works.com/subjects