VCU STEM

Free educational simulations covering a diverse topics designed by the University of Colorado available in various languages.

The mission of the NEED Project is to promote an energy conscious and educated society by creating effective networks of students, educators, business, government and community leaders to design and deliver objective, multi-sided energy education programs. NEED works with energy companies, agenciesand organizations to bring balanced energy programs to the nation's schools with a focus on strong teacher professional development, timely and balanced curriculum materials, signature program capabilities and turn-key program management.NEED Quick Links Check out the photos, slideshow, and winners from the 32nd Annual Youth Awards Program on our Youth Awards page.

Starting from atoms, see how many molecules you can build. Collect your molecules and see them in 3D!

Explore molecule shapes by building molecules in 3D! How does molecule shape change with different numbers of bonds and electron pairs? Find out by adding single, double or triple bonds and lone pairs to the central atom. Then, compare the VSEPR model to real molecules!

This is a great tool for teachers to find great tools for Earth Science education- it provides lesson plan ideas as well as great interactive tools/resources that can be incorporated into the lesson plan. It is specific to Earth Science Education, but I think it is a great site for teachers to find a complied list of resources for individual topics in the discipline.

Cyber-Science 3D provides a fun learning experience for both teachers and students. Cyber Science 3D uses advanced animated computer models to bring science education to another level by providing a wide array of resources on science topics that can compliment science experiments.

A useful way to illustrate how the three main types of rock are related to one another and how changes to rocks happen in a recurring sequence is the rock cycle. This is a great interactive feature that teachers can weave into their lesson plan or allow students to work on during home or class time. This same website www.learner.org has content for other Earth Science fields as well as other disciplines: math, science, history and literature.

Information about materials, resources, FOSS, and results from classroom tests. Lists of resources, materials info, special information for parents, and even how to keep critters alive!

Activities Short instructional tools to be woven into lesson plans. Lesson Plans Plans for explaining a topic in a few class sessions; includes student activities, PowerPoints, assessment materials. Multimedia Resources Collection of archived MSiC videos, PowerPoints, and podcasts. Tutorials Step-by-step instructions for use of various calculators, computer software, and web applications.

The MSiC is the innovator, incubator and advocate of 21stCentury math and science programs for the Richmond, Virginia region's K-12educators and students. Lots of great resources and lessons here!

It looks like UVA has a rather large K-12 Engineering Outreach. Reading through the material it looks like the only stuff available outside of the adjacent counties is through virtual or their teaching kits. Either way it could be pretty cool. And maybe with enough persistence, you could get an outreach to your school from some of the undergrads at UVA.

There is also the project I worked on at the School of Ed: http://www.maketolearn.org/explore/

I love using this site to reinforce topics

I am currently taking a class to wrap of my licensure in physics, and the professor is using PhET for the experiments. Nonetheless, I spent most of today playing with all of the cool little simulations on the website. I love this site.

I just came across an amazing resource. This link has lesson plans, class activities, k-12 outreach programs, web resources, you name it, it is probably on the website. And best of all it all has to do with engineering and is broken down into grade level appropriate activities.

A great overview of the solar system made by NASA. This uses an explorer type model.

Wolfram Alpha Demonstrations with Interaction

Thank you for posting this. As an old science teacher, what I am seeing is the Scientific Process being expanded upon in this article. As teachers, teaching students to be thinkers and not regurgitators of facts is very important. I would much rather a student understand the process of "if I do A to B and C happens, but I wanted D to happen, what do I need to adjust to A and B to get the result I want." Rather than spitting out D happens when you do a to B. It is also interesting to see him mentioning at the top that the arts make STEM "sizzle" when you see what is happening at UVA.

It is interesting to see how STEM is being looked at in other places. One thing in the article, that I haven't heard someone else stress, is the importance of empathy. I think that empathy would ensure that the students would maintain interest in a topic. However, the article makes me wonder what curriculum will look like in the future if we make these changes. Certainly, different children in different places will have different interests and will want to learn about different things, which is fine, but will be difficult with the current system of standards. I also think that teaching and learning will be done in different "teams" rather than traditional classes where all subjects are compartmentalized and divided. Another interesting point, in one of the videos, was how the students should do the investigation and research rather than the teacher. I think this is a fundamental part of project based learning.