Vermont Afterschool is proud to be partnering with STEM Next to make out-of-school STEM opportunities a reality for Vermont’s young people, to help them thrive in STEM and beyond. Through afterschool and summer programs, we believe every child should have STEM opportunities that inspire curiosity, innovation, and the critical thinking skills for whatever comes next.
March brings new ways to spark curiosity, explore careers, and connect STEM learning to the real world through space exploration, health sciences, and computer science. These opportunities are designed for afterschool and summer programs looking for flexible, engaging, and career-connected STEM experiences.
Challenge Based Learning, or CBL, is a flexible framework that empowers learners to co-own and co-author learning experiences, ultimately bringing Career-Connected Learning to life! This Activity Bundle from STEM Next is designed as a “quick start” for out-of-school time educators looking to bring CBL and career-connected learning into their programs. Through three hands-on lessons, youth in grades 5-8 explore science, environmental stewardship, and AI while building skills in problem-solving, communication, and collaboration. Each activity invites learners to take ownership, apply their ideas to real challenges, and create solutions that connect to their communities. Check out the CBL Activity Bundle.
Summer educators: Looking for high-quality STEM activities? Youth Engineering Solutions has flexible STEM activities for PreK–8, designed for informal settings. Perfect for enrichment programs including summer school, afterschool, libraries, makerspaces, and STEM camps. Find bundles of activities by age group bundles of activities by age group here and below.
Explore activities by age:
The Sustainable Aviation STEM Toolkit provides educators and students with cross-curricular content related to NASA’s goal to create sustainable aviation for students pre-K through 12. A Spanish-language section is also included. This toolkit includes virtual and classroom resources related to aviation.
Tilly Lockey is one of the youngest and most inspiring women in STEM fields, known for championing the fusion of AI, technology and human empowerment. A UK-based artist and bionic arm ambassador, she co-developed the AI-powered Hero Arm with Open Bionics from the age of nine, helping transform the future of prosthetics. After losing both hands to meningococcal septicaemia as a baby, Tilly turned adversity into innovation, creating lightweight, muscle-responsive bionic limbs that prioritise individuality and function. Ready to build your own prosthetic arm? Check out the resources below:
Hands On Activity: The Power in Prosthetics (Grade 3–5) — Youth create a functional prosthetic hand that will be useful for day-to-day tasks. The prototype will need to include moveable fingers that bend to pick up a small Styrofoam cup, a large foam die, and a whiteboard eraser. Youth will be paired into groups of two to begin planning, designing, and building their prototype. Each group will then test and evaluate their prototype by using it to pick up materials as listed above. Youth will improve their prototype as needed.
Hands On Activity: Make a Robot Hand Using Drinking Straws (Grades 3–8) — Imagine how cool it would be to build a robot hand that could grasp a ball or pick up a toy. In this robotics engineering project, you will learn how to use drinking straws, sewing thread, and a little glue to make a remarkably lifelike and useful robot hand. What will you design your robot hand to do? Pick up a can? Move around a ping pong ball? It is up to you! With these starting instructions, you can design any type of hand. You will simulate human finger anatomy as the basis for a fully functional robot hand that is easy to build and does not require complicated tools.
Middle schoolers don’t have to pick a career yet—but research shows they’re already curious and eager to explore what’s possible. This article provides 8 concrete ways educators can spark career exploration and knowledge in middle school youth. Click Here to Read the Article.
