Are looking to improve your knowledge and understanding of STEM but where do you start? I find it very difficult to find professional development that is free. In this blog post we will show you 5 FREE STEM PD’s and explain the benefits of each one.
1. NASA FREE STEM PD’s
Yep, you read that correctly. NASA provides FREE teacher professional development for any teacher, ANYWHERE in the WORLD!
The NASA STEM Educator Professional Development Collaborative is a project led by Texas State University in collaboration with NASA. They provide FREE webinars to educate teachers on different topics and provide practical ways to implement these into the classroom.
I took the robotics on a budget STEM PD webinar which was amazing. I implemented all of the information in my very next unit of work. My grade 3 and 4 students loved it!
I found that you could target your class needs because you can select which grade levels you teach to find suitable webinars.
I also got a certificate of one hour professional development from NASA, which is pretty neat.
2. Code.Org FREE STEM PD’s
If you have no idea how to code or how to introduce it to your students Code.org offer FREE, self-paced online courses for teachers who wish to implement computer science curriculum in their classrooms. This is an amazing STEM PD to help teachers to understand coding.
It is a beginner’s course so no previous experience with coding or computer science education is assumed. You will
- Learn the basics of computer science
- Review best practices for teaching these basics to your students
- Access free curriculum and resources for teachers
The fact that this is self paced and online is the best! It’s hard enough tackling something you have never done before so this is a great, no pressure way to have a go!
When I am asked how I learned to code, I referred colleagues to this course because this is where I started.
3. National Geographic FREE STEM PD’s
Can you believe that National Geographic has FREE STEM PD’s? They sure do! As a non for profit, they pride themselves on educating the public.
National Geographic Educator Certification is a free professional development program that recognizes pre-K through 12 formal and informal educators committed to inspiring the next generation of explorers, conservationists, and changemakers.
You can sign up for FREE extensive courses such as Teaching Global Climate Change in Your Classroom. Although the National Geographic Educator courses are aimed towards teachers in the US and Canada, the courses are open worldwide. They also offers graduate credits from the University of San Diego.
4. National Science Teachers Association FREE STEM PD’s
This site is fantastic! Even if you are not a member of NSTA you can access FREE STEM PD’s and webinars. Depending on the topic, you will be asked to few questions to determine which resources are right for you. Then you can watch the webinars which vary from 30 mins to 1 hour in length. Webinars include current topics such as Exploring Earth’s Final Frontier: The Deep Sea or The State of Our Climate.
What I find most useful is that you can search the webinar archives so there’s no need to register and wait. You can get your PD straight away. Plus you can download the PowerPoint slides too, which is super helpful.
5. PBS Learning Engineering Design FREE STEM PD’s
A variety of short STEM PD videos which focus on teaching the NGSS (Next Generation Science Standards) Engineering Design through Media. You see in class application of different lessons and learn what it really looks like to teach the engineering design process to students.
The videos are split into three sections. Elementary K-5, Middle School 6-8 and High School 9-12.
The best thing is each video comes with a bunch of support and teaching materials. With the ability to share directly with your class through Google Classroom, email or facebook. As you can see on the left hand side of one of their videos below.
I hope you find some great learning in the suggested sites. I know I totally get lost when looking through them myself.
-If you are looking for resources for your STEM classroom please check out my store.
-To check out how to set up your STEM classroom with little to no money see our blog post STEM on a budget
-If you’re wondering how to begin your STEM journey have a look at our Getting Started with STEM blog post