STEM Links

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Professional Organizations 
(please note that Specific resources for teachers for each discipline can be found at the bottom of this page)
Local Museums & Resources to Bring STEM Programs to Ventura County Schools and Professional Development to Educators
  • Ventura County STEM Network (VC STEM) is a group of key decision makers from education, business, parent organizations, and community agencies dedicated to improving academic access and excellence. The efforts of this organization contributed to Ventura County designated as being a STEM ecosystem by the White House in 2015.
  • VC STEMposium sponsored by the California State University provides a free, one week summer institute for teachers in Camarillo with supplemental follow up meetings throughout the school year. This program helps to provide professional development to local formal and informal educators centered around the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS).
  • CA STEM Symposium is California's annual conference for STEM education, which is a separate event from the California Science Teachers Association annual conference - visit the website's resources section to access past workshop presentations and handouts.
  • The Discovery Center for Science and Technology in Thousand Oaks offers several excellent STEM programs, including a portable planetarium, on-sight family science nights and a literature program for grades K-5. 
  • Seeag.org (students for eco-education and agriculture) - offers FREE educational experiences and programs, including transportation
  • Museum of Ventura County - offers field trips and a "Museum to Go" program in which teachers can borrow materials for two weeks to teach lessons related to local history
  • Santa Paula Agriculture Museum - offers field trips and has a mobile school program 
  • Channel Islands National Park provides educational programs for Ventura County educators and students in addition to the programs offered for the general public - visit the Education page for details
  • Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers - provides FREE speakers to schools who talk about their careers in Engineering - a great way for students to engage with Hispanic role models. 
  • The California Oil Museum in Santa Paula offers field trips and educational programs. 
  • KidSTREAM Children's Museum is an organization working to develop a hands-on STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and math) children's center in Ventura County. You can help to make this effort a reality.
  • The IEEE Buenaventura section collaborates with local organizations and schools to support STEM education. Contact Doug Askegard for more info.
  • California State University Channel Islands has frequent STEM speakers and events appropriate for K-12 students. Keep an eye on the events calendar or ask to be added to the email distribution list.
  • Code.org provides free lesson plans and online games for kids to learn the beginning steps to designing computer code.
  • National Energy Education Development (NEED) offers FREE workshops for teachers throughout the country. Check the website to find out when the next local workshop will be offered.
  • Ventura County Astronomical Society is Ventura County's local amateur astronomy club; they host star parties at Mt. Pinos and at the observatory at Moorpark College. They also sponsor a junior astronomer program.
  • The Power of Discovery: STEM2 effort mobilizes a broad coalition of community partners with STEM resources and expertise to engage and support California’s students by providing guidance, training, and support for the development of high-quality STEM programs.
  • UNICEF Kid Power is a program that sends activity trackers to low income schools so that students can do exercise to "unlock" grant funding for nutritional resources to feed kids in underdeveloped countries - the website includes a wonderful set of lesson plans that integrate science with principles of global awareness and civic engagement 
If you know of another program that should be here, please contact Kristin Majda to request it be added to this page.

Clubs, Camps and Other Youth Resources for STEM Education
  • Tech Trek - a science/math camp designed to develop interest, excitement, and self-confidence in young women who will enter eighth grade in the fall. It features hands-on activities in math, science, and related fields. All sleeping, eating, instructional, and recreational facilities are located on a university campus where camps are held.
  • The Discovery Center for Science and Technology in Thousand Oaks offers science theater, a speaker program, and an awesome program for teens. Contact Mathew Chuck for information about the teen program.
  • Girl Scouts of America has made a concerted effort to include STEM in its updated programing and badges for girls. 
  • Girls Inc has a STEM program focus and a local chapter in Carpinteria that is outreaching to provide STEM education support services for girls in other low income areas of Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties.
  • Women in STEM Guidebook provides information about scholarships and programs that support girls pursuing education to become STEM professionals and has good information for students, parents, and teachers.
  • Learn How to Become has information for students to help them learn what educational pathway is needed to get into various STEM careers.
  • Khan Academy provides a digital platform for kids (and adults!) to learn about almost any academic subject and has great tools for parents to track their kids' progress.
  • Scratch is a fun website that teaches kids basic coding principles and provides a platform for them to design their own games and animations - Scratch Jr is an app for younger kids aged 5-7 to learn pre-coding principles.
  • Computer Science Online provides information about the educational pathway to get into careers in computer science. 

If you know of nonprofit organization or program related to STEM education that should be listed here, please contact Kristin Majda to request it be added to this page.

NGSS Resources

Discipline Specific Resources

General Science and Scientific Process
Biology Chemistry Earth and Environmental Science Physics Astronomy

If you find a broken link, please notify our webmaster.