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PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

STEM Week 2025

CTNCY will be hosting it’s first STEM Week celebration, November 3 – 8, 2025 (Save the Date).

PRESENTERS NEEDED – We are looking for individuals who would like to present virtual workshops! These virtual workshop sessions will require pre-registration for all STEM Week participants and will be available to the afterschool conference registrants. 

Presenters will be advertised on our website, newsletter and given a table at our Afterschool Conference on Saturday, November 8th! 

If you would like to be a part of STEM Week, click here to sign up!  

Application Deadline: 
August 22nd

Code Breaker Intensive

Looking to run coding programs in your afterschool program? 

This no cost virtual workshop introduction will walk you through the Technovation Girls open-source curriculum.   This will be your starting point for bringing coding to your program, we will then share various other coding challenges, explore some of the hardware tools that you can share with your participants to start your own club this year, as well as share some alternative program curriculum resources and supports you can diversify your club or program to reach more youth!

Launching in mid-August. This self-paced course will include hands-on practice with some of the latest tech tools to help cultivate fledgling programming skills and connect with the right people to support your students as you work through the challenge of coding. Training and support will continue virtually on a regular basis through the 2025-2026 school year.

Be one of the first 7 people to join and complete this self-paced workshop by August 22nd and you’ll receive a Code Breakers Club Kit with hardware to start your afterschool club!

Click here to register for this no cost virtual workshop. 


SEEKING TECH EDUCATION SPEAKERS, MENTORS, ADVISORS AND EXPERSTS – If you would like to support or provide opportunities around this, please email Khadija Bshara.

EDGE Free Training and Curriculum

Looking for an engaging STEM program for middle schoolers?

Environmental Design and Green Engineering (EDGE), developed with The Tech Interactive, offers hands-on engineering and resilience-building activities for youth in grades 5–8.

Programs receive free leader training and 8 hours of engineering-focused content.

Requirements:

  • Serve at least 6 youth in grades 5–8
  • Have internet access and one computer per two participants
  • Complete brief weekly surveys and an end-of-program survey (due 11/5/25)
  • Attend a training session in mid-September 2025

Apply by August 15. For more information, email Ariel Rivers.

Click here for the application form.

YES Engineering Curriculum

Want to bring hands-on, inclusive engineering to your classroom or afterschool program? Watch the latest Youth Engineering Solutions (YES) webinar to see how educators are using this free, research-based curriculum with young people from pre-K to 8th grade to build problem-solving skills and foster STEM identities.

Explore strategies, classroom examples, and how you can integrate YES into any learning setting.

Watch the webinar & explore the YES curriculum here.

Click 2 Science

This series of short, online video tutorials help afterschool programs connect their STEM programming to the work of STEM professionals and help youth experience the practical application of STEM skills that professionals use on a day-to-day basis.

Learning Through Play

Get ready to play with the National Girls Collaborative Project! In this webinar recording, learn how to leverage an interdisciplinary STEAM approach to foster young children’s curiosity through authentic play-based learning.  

 

While there are many benefits to early introductions to STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics), many STEAM education tools and technologies are cost-prohibitive and are not playful or developmentally appropriate for young learners. In this recording, learn how early childhood educators and caregivers can utilize playful, low-cost, and screen-free approaches to introducing high-tech STEAM concepts and skills. The speakers will share evidence-based, hands-on approaches as well as a practical framework to effectively integrate STEAM learning in the early grades (pre-K to 3rd grade).

Hands -On Enrichment

Jumpstart your school year with hands-on engineering from the Museum of Science Boston! In this energetic, interactive webinar, you’ll design a model bench, explore YES’s “What is Engineering?” lesson from K-8 units, and discover how these short, easy, and engaging challenges foster student creativity, teamwork, and problem solving from day one. Perfect for any educator ready to bring STEM to life!

Register for free here!

Featured Opportunities

Ongoing and time-sensitive opportunities to engage in STEM learning.

Genomics Learning Journeys 

STEM Next is excited to partner with Illumina to introduce Genomics Learning Journeys—an engaging new resource designed to immerse youth in the captivating world of DNA science.

These free, hands-on activity bundles are specifically created for afterschool and summer programs to help young people develop STEM skills, explore real-world applications of genomics, and discover meaningful career pathways.

 Explore the Learning Journeys now.

Activities on Science Buddies

Science Buddies offers engaging hands-on activities and every activity cites careers appropriate to the STEM content and skills.  An added bonus is the opportunity to “ask an expert” giving youth access to STEM educators and STEM experts. Select activities by grade level (K-12) or area of STEM (Earth and Space Science, Physical Science, Mathematics and Computing, Life Science, and Engineering)

Rocket Races

Few classroom topics generate as much excitement as rockets. The scientific, technological, engineering and mathematical foundations of rocketry provide exciting classroom opportunities for authentic hands-on, minds-on experimentation. The activities and lesson plans contained in this educator guide emphasize hands-on science, prediction, data collection and interpretation, teamwork, and problem solving. 

The rocket activities in this guide support national curriculum standards for science, mathematics and technology.

STEM Learning Journeys Powered by Verizon™ and STEM Next

In partnership with Verizon™,  STEM Next has curated bundles of lessons and activities from Verizon Innovative Learning HQ and created the following STEM Learning Journeys to help you implement these exciting STEM lessons and activities in your afterschool programs. 

Start your STEM Learning Journey

other resources

The CT After School Network is proud to be a part of the Million Girls Moonshot initiative, working to inspire and prepare the next generation of innovators by engaging one million more girls in STEM learning opportunities through afterschool and summer programs.

​The Million Girls Moonshot will not only allow girls to envision themselves as future innovators, but it will increase the quality of out-of-school STEM learning opportunities for all young people, particularly underserved and underrepresented youth.

About the Million Girls Moonshot

The Moonshot is designed to spur girls’ interest, understanding, and confidence in STEM and equip them to become problem solvers with an engineering mindset. Led nationally by the STEM Next Opportunity Fund and the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation in partnership with the Intel Foundation and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the Million Girls Moonshot:

  • Leverages afterschool networks in all 50 states to help school-age girls access high-quality STEM education, support, and mentors.
  • Uses an equity and inclusion framework that is youth-centric and culturally responsive to increase gender, and racial and socio-economic diversity in STEM.
  • Provides resources, support, mentorship, and expert guidance to help educators deliver hands-on STEM experiences in afterschool, out-of-school time, and summer learning programs.