JoinAll Informal Education resources
NSTA Press Book
Adventures With Arthropods: Eco-Friendly Lessons for Middle School
If you’ve ever wished you could teach with tarantulas—or roly polys, or Madagascar hissing cockroaches—this is the resource for you. It tells how to help middle schoolers get up close and personal with amazing arthropods, the bugs that make up ...
By Ron Wagler
Journal Article
Increasing STEM Outcomes Through Quality Collaborations
Discover how early childhood faculty at the University of Memphis launched a new collaborative partnership with the Children’s Museum of Memphis to develop and implement early STEM learning activities during a teaching course requirement and field ...
By Shelly L. Counsell and Felicia Peat
Journal Article
Brown University’s Science Cartoons (SciToons) series makes science fun, engaging, and easier to understand through the captivating power of storytelling and animation. ...
By Oludurotimi Adetunji
Journal Article
The Collaborative for Early Science Learning is a group of six museums in six different cities that partner with their local Head Start programs to provide training for teachers and opportunities for family engagement. ...
By Michelle Kortenaar, Victoria Fiordalis, Miriam Krause, Laurinda Willard, Cheryl Lani Juárez, Melissa Thomas, Zoe Peters, Carrie Jubran, and Alli Sribarra
Journal Article
Creating Professional Development for Informal and K–12 Educators
The results of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate surveys help science education professional development providers successfully work with educators. ...
By Lindsay Bartolone
Journal Article
Editor Dennis Schatz welcomes readers to the fourth issue, which addresses the theme STEM for Early Learners. Welcome to the fourth issue, addressing the theme STEM for Early Learners. Karen Worth, expert in science, technology, engine...
By Dennis Schatz
Journal Article
The Head Start on Engineering project engages parents and children in a multicomponent family engineering program that includes professional development for teachers, workshops for parents, take-home family activity kits, home visits, classroom ext...
By Scott Pattison, Gina Svarovsky, Ivel Gontan, Pam Greenough Corrie, Marcie Benne, Shannon Weiss, Verónika Nuñez, and Smirla Ramos-Montañez
Journal Article
A Screencasting Strategy to Support STEM Learning in the Early Grades
Learn how a research–practice partnership used screencasting to promote early elementary students’ mathematics learning and communication. ...
By Josephine Louie, Pamela Buffington, and Jennifer Stiles
NSTA Press Book
Creating a STEM Culture for Teaching and Learning
This is the book that will flip the way you think about STEM from “not me” to “I’m in!” Author Jeff Weld is the director of the acclaimed Iowa Governor’s STEM Advisory Council. He sees STEM as “a white-hot, transformative revolution in ...
By Jeff Weld
Journal Article
Informal Science Learning in Online Affinity Spaces
Affinity spaces are online forums in which participants, including informal science education professionals, share with one another teaching and learning resources on a given topic. ...
By Richard Hudson
Journal Article
In the Billion Oyster Project, middle school students study and conduct field research of New York Harbor and its watershed to support restoration of native oyster habitats. The project is developing and testing a model that integrates curriculum a...
By Lauren Birney
Journal Article
The Ohio Valley Museum of Discovery strives to provide a hub for play-based science, technology, engineering, art, and math (STEAM) learning experiences in rural southeastern Ohio. The museum works to develop meaningful connections between preK–12 ...
By Jennifer Parsons, Sara L. Hartman, Jennifer Hines-Bergmeier, and Christie Truly
Journal Article
Free reports from the National Research Council and the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine can help practitioners bridge in-school and out-of-school STEM learning. ...
By Jay B. Labov