Family Engagement

TU Portal STEM

Family Engagement in Stem Education

How to Encourage your Students to Pursue STEM Education?

Looking for tips on how to get your students interested in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM)?

Look no further!

With Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) becoming more and more important, here are some great tips from organizations promoting STEM learning:

Four Tips for Getting Kids Interested in Science and Tech

http://www.supportingeducation.org/2017/01/09/tips-get-kids-interested-science-tech-stem/

Study: To Get High School Students Interested in STEM, Invest in Parents

"When parents of high schoolers are given guidance on how to talk about the importance of science and math, their children are more likely to score well on a STEM standardized test and, years later, pursue a STEM career, according to a recent study from the University of Virginia and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.” http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/curriculum/2017/03/stem_parents_study.html

How to Find School, After School, and Summer Programs for your children-Navigating NC Stem Center?

Step 1: Go to the website at www.ncstemcenter.org

Step 2: What are you looking for?

Are you looking for a quick way to decide which STEM program to enroll your kids/teens in? STEM opportunities such as fairs, conferences, and/or workshops?

On NC STEM Center, STEM “Programs” are organizations and providers that are doing great work to promote science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education in North Carolina. STEM “Opportunities,” on the other hand, are summer camps, drop-in events, after-school programs, festivals or fairs, workshops, and competitions.

Below is a quick summary of what you can find on each page of the NC STEM Center website.

Home: Contains information about the NC STEM Center, STEM news, explains the collaboration between The Connectory (a national directory) & NC STEM Center.

Learn: Has different sections that explain various topics such as STEM in North Carolina, STEM Tools, STEM Research, STEM Schools of Distinction, STEM Tools, and STEM Scorecard.

Find: Takes you to the search engine that allows you to look for particular STEM programs or opportunities– summer camps, drop-in events, after school programs, festivals or fairs, workshops, and competitions.

Share: This page is for organizations and businesses that want their program to be included in the NC Stem Center search engine for programs and opportunities.

Connect: Contains information about national STEM portals and search engines, a calendar that shows the site’s latest events, news pages at state and national level, job opportunities in STEM (for their registered users), and grants available to fund STEM activities (for registered users).

Step 3: Once you have an idea of the page you’d like to visit, click on the word that links to your page.

I.E. If you are looking for information about STEM in North Carolina, click “Learn,” then click on the subtab “STEM in North Carolina” to reach your page

locating STEM programs

Step 4: If you are looking for programs in which to enroll, follow

Steps 4 A – D

Step 4 A: From the “Home” page, hover over the “Find” button

Step 4 B: Hover over the “Find” button, then a gray box will appear beside it, click on“Programs”

Step 4 C: The “Find” page features a search engine that will allow you to look through the hundreds of programs available by typing in keywords and/or areas of interest to filter out programs that you may not be interested in or are too far from your home.

Note: It is possible to go through each program listing on the page by following the numbered arrow keys on the bottom of the page, but it is recommended to instead use the search engine.

Step 4 D: Use the “Filter Programs” box to narrow down the list of results to your specific areas of interest.

Step 4 E: Enter your zip code and the desired distance in the respective boxes, then scroll down to click on your “Focus - Focus” and for which population you are interested in searching for programs.

locating STEM Opportunities

Step 5: Follow steps 5 A – F if looking for STEM opportunities,

such as summer camp, drop-in events, afterschool programs, festivals or fairs, workshops or even competitions.

Step 5 A: From the “Home” page, hover over the “Find” button

Step 5 B: Hover over the “Find” button, then a gray box will appear beside it, click on“Opportunities”

Step 5 C: The “Opportunities” page features a search engine that will allow you to look through the tens of STEM opportunities available by typing in keywords and/or areas of interest to filter out opportunities that you may not be interested in or are too far from your home.

Note: It is possible to go through each opportunity listing on the page by following the numbered arrow keys on the bottom of the page, but it is recommended to instead use the search engine.

Step 5 D: Use the “Filter Opportunities” box to narrow down the list of results to your specific areas of interest and type of opportunity

Step 5 E: Type in your zip code and your desired distance in the respective boxes, then scroll below to click on your “Focus” and what population you are interested in finding programs for.

Family activities to engage Stem Skills

Searching for fun STEM activities to do with your kids? Involve the whole family in STEM learning while having fun with interesting activities that will keep everyone engaged! Home STEM projects and activities are a great way to spend time with your children while stimulating their interest in STEM.

Here are a few links to websites with great STEM activities for you and your family:

Wonder Connection Activity

www.wonderconnection.org

Career In STEM

https://careerinstem.com/top-five-summer-stem-activities-kids-families/

The STEM Laboratory

http://thestemlaboratory.com/stem-activities-for-kids/

STEM Activities for Kids // Playdough to Plato

http://www.playdoughtoplato.com/stem-activities-for-kids/