STEM Learning

Afterschool programs are a natural space to provide engaging, hands-on science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) learning. Show off the exciting activities you offer students, or engage event attendees in a hands-on STEM activity. STEM afterschool is greatly valued by parents and provides key opportunities for youth to discover possible career paths and build future work skills. Visit America After 3PM's STEM dashboard to view what parents in your state say about STEM afterschool!

There are so many fun and exciting ways to celebrate STEM—here are a few ideas:

Use STEM for Social Good!

CYESS, the Collective for Youth Empowerment in STEM and Society, aims to expand opportunities for young people to build STEM skills and tackle the community and social issues they care about. Get inspired and learn about programs blending social good, youth empowerment, and STEM at the CYESS resource site.

• Science Near Me is a free resource and directory to help quickly find opportunities to engage in STEM events, projects, programs, and experiences, both in person and online, including science projects, museum events, science festivals, out-of-school time programs, maker faires, public science policy forums, astronomy clubs, science cafes, and more. Type in your state, city, and zip code to get started. Developed with support from the National Science Foundation. 


• The 4-H STEM Challenge is ideal for youth ages 8-14 years to spark an interest in STEM and inspire real-world actions. The 2024 STEM Challenge was developed by 4-H educators from LSU AgCenter, North Dakota State University, Penn State Extension, and University of Nebraska–Lincoln. This year's kit will provide fundamental knowledge on food security, how people are impacted locally and globally, and how youth can co-create more food secure communities.


• Looking for STEM resources, events, and activities for afterschool educators and programs to help students get excited about STEM? Check out the Million Girls Moonshot Toolkit. A few of our favorite resources right now:
  
  
  • NASA's First Woman Camp Experience: ​Check out the Graphic Novel and Camp Guide. This set of hands-on activities accompanies NASA's "First Woman" graphic novel series, which tells the story of Callie Rodriguez, the first woman to explore the moon.
  
  
  • Surprisingly STEM videos  feature monthly episodes that highlight exciting and unexpected careers at NASA, from wind tunnel engineers to dive specialists.


• Check out the  STEM activities designed just for afterschool practitioners on Mizzen Education, a free digital learning platform. Mizzen features fun, enriching, high-quality STEM and STEAM activities created by trusted partners such as The Nature Conservancy, Learn Fresh, the National Wildlife Federation, Jazz at Lincoln Center, the California Academy of Sciences, PowerUp Fitness, and NASA. All activities are searchable by topic, grade level, and theme. Check out this STEM Playlist where you’ll find activity themes ranging from robots and rockets to quicksand, plants, weather, and wildlife.


• Activities involving tinkering or engineering can often be done with everyday household materials. We’ve pulled a few great low-to-no-cost activities from the Exploratorium’s Tinkering Studio.
  • Cardboard automata
  • Chain reaction (Rube Goldberg machines)
  • Marble machines
     
• Team up with STEM resources in your community!
  • Partner with a science center, science museum, zoo, or aquarium to run an activity
  • Invite a local scientist, engineer, coding expert, or researcher to present their work and answer questions from students through video or live interviews
  • Run an activity curated by STEM organizations such as NASA or National Geographic

And there are more ideas you can adapt from past Lights On events for small group activities!