Transformative Practices – August

Engineering Mindsets

National Aviation Day 

  • Try Engineering Lesson Plan: Take Flight! – This lesson for ages 8-12 explores how flight is possible and how engineers have improved glider designs and materials to improve flight accuracy and distance.
  • NASA’s Aerospace-related STEM Resources for K-12 – A collection of aerospace resources including lesson plans and more.
  • AeroEducate – AeroEducate is a Teacher’s Toolbox for aviation and STEM activities. Enhance your existing K-12 curriculum with free, standards-compliant, grab-and-go activities.

Families

STEM Transitions, Handoffs, and Coordination

  • Toolkit: Brokering Youth Pathways: A Toolkit for Connecting Youth to Future Opportunity from the Hive Research Network – This toolkit shares ways in which various out-of-school educators and professionals have approached the challenge of brokering. We provide a framework, practice briefs and reports that focus on a particular issue or challenge and provide concrete examples, as well as illustrate how our partners worked through designing new brokering routines in partnership with our research team.
  • New “Access to STEM” framework– Unveiled at the Girls Build Solutions event, access to the revised STEM Framework can be found here.
  • WebsiteThe STEM Innovation for Including Early Education Center – Provides evidence-based resources and strategies for practitioners and families to engage children with disabilities in STEM learning.
  • WebsiteCareer Girls – Toolkits, including lesson plans featuring diverse women role models for educators, mentors, and families to learn about youth’s interests and to engage youth in empowering STEM-learning activities.

Related

Activities & Resources for Programs – May

Activities & Resources for Programs – May

Activities Activity Playlist Looking for a sequence of activities you can implement in your afterschool program today? Say goodbye to googling or searching on Pinterest. Use the following activities in sequence to support youth in building an engineering mindset....

Training and Professional Development – May

Training and Professional Development – May

  SPECIAL OPPORTUNITIES Applications open for Project EDGE Social-Emotional Curriculum Testers! Project EDGE (Engagement and Development for Girls through Engineering) is testing and evaluating an OST curriculum that integrates engineering activities and...

May the 4th Be With You STEM Activities

May the 4th Be With You STEM Activities

Happy STAR WARS DAY and May the 4th be with you! We dug up some STEM activities from a galaxy far, far away to help you celebrate using limited resources. Star Wars Engineering Cards Stormtrooper Fractions Star Wars Paper Airplane Activity Hour of Code: Star Wars...

The South Dakota Afterschool Network works to better our state and its communities by connecting providers, parents and policymakers with proven tools and resources to increase the quality of and access to out-of-school time programming for K-12 children and youth.

Afterschool is a lifeline that keeps youth safe, helps kids learn and grow, and provides parents the ability to work without worry. While South Dakota is home to more than 300 afterschool programs, the demand for programs exceeds available spaces. In fact, 1 in 3 South Dakota children (34 percent) who are not in an afterschool program would be enrolled if it were available. That’s more than 42,000 children who are missing out on opportunities to participate in programming that supports their development academically, socially and economically.

Afterschool can provide valuable opportunities for students to explore STEM, and we are here to help your program succeed in STEM Learning! From webinars and trainings to our signature TMC Trailers that bring turnkey STEM activities to your doorstep, our diverse collection of resources meets you and your students where you are and provides the support you need to deliver quality programming to your students at any age. 

The South Dakota Afterschool Network wanted to create a mapping tool to better understand the landscape of afterschool and summer programs available for children and families. From the initial launch of the new mapping tool, we have identified some startling findings.