Online Resources for STEM

STEM Education is:

“An interdisciplinary approach to learning where rigorous academic concepts are coupled with real-world lessons as students apply science, technology, engineering and mathematics in context that make connections between school, community, work, and the global enterprise, enabling the development of STEM literacy and with it the ability to compete in the new economy.”
-Tsupros, Kohler, & Hallinen, 2009

View Colorado's STEM Education Roadmap

The resources provided on this website are intended to provide a quick access list for educators to use in a way that supports their instructional planning. Provided resources should be previewed and used with teacher discretion. Because this page contains resources outside of the CDE website, CDE cannot control changes in outside content and listing these resources does not indicate an endorsement by the Colorado Department of Education. 

What is a STEM School is a resource for identifying and measuring STEM schools and programs.

Colorado Department of Education STEM
This site provides a hub of STEM information and resources to support the academic achievement of all students in Colorado.

Colorado Education Initiative STEM
Education Foundation committed to STEM education.

Colorado Experiential STEM Learning Network
Their mission is to collaborate with schools, policy makers, and businesses in order to create extraordinary STEM experiences for students and teachers. Thus, increasing science literacy and promoting science identity construction. The network is designed to create an online and offline community of practice such that interactions lead to an action, whether it be schools reaching out to businesses for hands-on activities, or community involvement in student projects and intiatives.

Destination Imagination
Encourages teams of learners to have fun, take risks, focus and frame challenges while incorporating STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics), the arts and service learning. Participants learn patience, flexibility, persistence, ethics, respect for others and their ideas, and the collaborative problem-solving process. Teams may showcase their solutions at a tournament.

National Math and Science Initiative
NMSI was formed to address one of this nation’s greatest economic and intellectual threats – the declining number of students who are prepared to take rigorous college courses in math and science and are equipped for careers in those fields. To flourish in the 21st Century, the United States must continue to generate intellectual capital that can drive the economic engine of our future prosperity. This crucial project was initiated as a public-private partnership, led by private donors such as Exxon Mobil Corporation, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation.

Next Generation Science Standards
Through a collaborative, state-led process managed by Achieve, new K–12 science standards have been developed that are rich in content and practice and arranged in a coherent manner across disciplines and grades to provide all students an internationally-benchmarked science education. The NGSS are based on the Framework for K–12 Science Education developed by the National Research Council.

NGSS Engineering Hub
NGSS Engineering Design-Aligned Curriculum. The TeachEngineering hands-on activities by grade and focus on the engineering design component of the NGSS.

Research + Practice Collaboratory
Research and Practice collaboratory engages researchers and practitioners around the country in an effort to address the long-standing gap between educational research and practice in STEM education.

StageLearn: Case Studies for Grades 7-12
A FREE rich media ecosystem founded in 2012 in New York City that uses animation videos to introduce the case method to students and expose them to experiences in STEM courses grades 7-12.

STEM Education Coalition
Works to support STEM programs for teachers and students at the U.S. Department of Education, the National Science Foundation, and other agencies that offer STEM-related programs.

STEMworks Database
The STEMworks! Change the Equation (CTEq) hosts a database of programs that deepen young people's learning in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). The database aims to be a critical resource for funders, program developers and STEM advocates alike.

TeachEngineering Digital Library
TeachEngineering is a searchable, web-based digital library collection comprised of standards-based engineering curricula for use by K-12 educators to make applied science and math come alive through engineering design in K-12 settings. The TeachEngineering collection provides educators with *free* access to a growing curricular resource of activities, lessons, units, maker challenges, and sprinkles for use in informal education settings.

The 10 best STEM Resources from NEA
The National Education Association (NEA) has compiled ten resources for curriculum and professional development.