Career Exploration for Youth
CareerOneStop Interest Assessment
CareerOneStop provides a basic assessment tool for learning about careers that might be a good fit based on responses to 30 questions. The assessment takes approximately five minutes to complete. This tool is helpful for students who are still learning what education or career pathways interest them.
Age Range: Middle School or High School Format: Virtual
CareerOneStop Exploration Toolkit
CareerOneStop provides a toolkit for researching careers, jobs, and training; links to state and local information; and includes information on wages and levels of growth/decline for specific industries to help determine job security.
Age Range: Middle or High School Format: Virtual
My Next Move: Interest Profiler
My Next Move provides a more comprehensive interest profiler that consists of 60 questions focusing on whether the participant would like or dislike doing certain work activities. It includes a guide to job skill and education requirements broken down into five zones, ranging from no education needed to graduate education required and beyond. Each of the five zones has a list of careers the participant can click on to see the knowledge, skills, and education needed. It also includes a job security outlook and average salary and provides videos of people performing duties related to the specific job.
Age Range: Middle or High School Format: Virtual
Youth Engaged 4 Change: Education & Career Toolkit
Youth Engaged 4 Change provides resources to help youth take the following steps: Finance my education, evaluate educational options, explore careers that fit me, learn how tech will impact tomorrow’s jobs, make a plan, and find out about today’s jobs.
Age Range: Middle or High School Format: Virtual
SciGirls CONNECT — Role Model Profiles Video Archives
SciGirls CONNECT’s video archives display women in various STEM careers showing students different options when it comes to STEM careers.
Age Range: All Ages Format: Virtual
IF/THEN Collection
The IF/THEN® Collection is the largest free resource of its kind dedicated to increasing access to authentic and relatable images of real women in STEM. In this digital library, you will find thousands of photos, videos and other assets that authentically represent women in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM).
Age Range: All Ages Format: Virtual or In-Person
Business AfterSchool
Business AfterSchool is a series of career connected learning workshops hosted by local businesses for students in grades 6-12 in the greater Spokane region. Students are invited to attend a workshop to gain real life skills, experience learning in a workplace setting, and explore local career pathways through local innovations highlighted by business professionals. Teachers, parents, advisors, and mentors are all welcome to attend as well.
Age Range: Middle and High School Format: Virtual
STEM Activities
Student Activities: Girlstart STEM at Home
Through comprehensive programming, Girlstart provides a year-round, intensive suite of STEM education programs for K-12 girls. Girlstart’s core programs foster STEM skills development, an understanding of the importance of STEM as a way to solve the world’s major problems, as well as an interest in STEM electives, majors, and careers.
Age Range: Elementary Format: Virtual
Student Activities: EngineerGirl Try This! Design Challenge
EngineerGirl provides hands-on activities using common household items. Activities include designing a mini catapult, paper airplane, and sorting machine.
Age Range: Elementary and Middle School Format: Virtual or In-person
Girl STEAM Ahead with NASA Free Resources
Engage youth in the process of science using NASA Astrophysics data, with activities designed to encourage exploration of our universe and how we know what we know.
Age Range: All Ages Format: Virtual
TeachEngineering
TeachEngineering is a searchable, web-based digital library collection populated with standards-based engineering curricula for use by K-12 teachers and engineering faculty to make applied science and math come alive through engineering design in K-12 settings. The TeachEngineering collection provides educators with free access to a growing curricular resource of activities, lessons, units and living labs.
Age Range: All Ages Format: Virtual or In-person
How to Smile
Are you looking for new ways to teach kids about math and science? Find activities that meet you where you live, whether your “classroom” is an active volcano, the shark tank at the local aquarium, or your own kitchen table.
Age Range: Elementary and Middle School Format: Virtual or In-person
Design a Space Capsule
A PDF of instructions for an activity that amplifies four engineering mindset habits of practice: evaluate and iterate, persist and learn from failure, work in teams, and identify as engineers as students work through their engineering journal. (5 pages)
Accompanying worksheet (3 pages)
Age Range: Elementary and Middle School Format: Virtual or In-Person
Engineer a Stringed Instrument
A PDF of instructions for an activity that amplifies three engineering mindset habits of practice: balancing criteria and constraints, applying science and math, and envisioning multiple solutions as students work their engineering journal. (4 pages)
Accompanying worksheet (5 pages)
Age Range: Elementary and Middle School Format: Virtual or In-Person
Curiosity Camp
Curiosity Camp has virtual as well as in-person activities focusing on girls in STEM. They cover a wide range of topics focusing on the engineering mindset. Pair these activities with assets from the IF/THEN Collection for a complete lesson plan.
Age Range: Elementary and Middle School Format: Virtual or In-Person
STEM Professional Development
Girl STEAM Ahead with NASA Free Resources (Webinar)
“Girls STEAM Ahead with NASA Free Resources” recorded webinar will explore the free NASA resources, along with accompanying exemplary practices. In addition to the content, there will be time for questions and comments in order for the NASA’s Universe of Learning team to best support your program efforts with the Girls STEAM Ahead with NASA materials.
Gender Equity in Online Learning (Webinar)
When engaging girls in STEM there are many strategies and practices that support gender equity and access, but how do those strategies work in online or hybrid learning environments? This webinar will explore what works for girls from preschool and early elementary to middle school and high school, potential adaptations, and new ideas to consider when teaching girls STEM online.
STEM Equity for Role Models (Training Video)
Role models can attract students to Science, Technology, Engineering & Math (STEM) careers by sharing personal stories using positive messaging. This 30 minute training session aims to equip STEM professionals to speak to students about careers in STEM.
TechBridge Role Models Matter Toolkit
The Role Models Matter Online Training Toolkit will help you develop skills to engage girls and underrepresented youth in STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) through readings, videos, questions, and more.
DO-IT: STEM and People with Disabilities
Opportunities in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics are plentiful. Ensuring that students with disabilities have equal access to STEM academic programs and careers is critical. Learn how the accessibility of STEM activities can be increased and how students with disabilities can prepare for these fields of study and employment.
Mizzen by Mott
Mizzen by Mott is an innovative tool designed to help you plan and deliver engaging courses, lessons and activities. With high-quality content, organizational tools and Pro Tips from education experts, Mizzen makes it easy for you to create exciting learning opportunities for students.
The Caps Network Playbook Modules
Developing relationships with business, industry and higher education partners is critical to the success of any CAPS program. The CAPS Network is designed to create rich and meaningful experiences for students, as well as partners. Programs that partner with the CAPS Network share best practices and connections with professional partners, post-secondary institutions and students. Use these Playbook Modules to learn how to create these connections within your community and guide profession based learning for students.
From Research to Practice: An Up-To-Date Look at Gender Equity in STEM (Webinar)
In this research-to-practice webinar, you will learn about up-to-date research regarding gender equity in STEM and how it impacts girls and women learning and working in STEM. You will also engage in conversation around strategies and resources for continued progress in supporting girls and women in STEM.
Incorporating the Stories of Women, People of Color, and LGBTQ+ Scientists Into the Physics Classroom
Short article from NSTA about the contributions of women, people of color, and other diverse scientists to the field of Physics. Includes a link to lesson plans for lesson plans that could be adapted for grades 9-12.
An Integrated Approach to College, Career & Life Readiness
A publication that focuses on improving students’ college, career and life readiness, especially students who have been underrepresented in higher education. This publication seeks to answer the questions: What is currently known about readiness? Did the CRI achieve its goal to help more low-income students be college-ready when they graduate from high school? And most importantly, what lessons have been learned to help promote equity and increase access to college and career prep, with longevity and at scale? (34 pages)
Recruiting More Women Engineers Means Getting Girls More Involved in STEM
Published by Syracuse University, this resource walks through a history of Women in STEM and major events. The article then discusses career opportunities in the field and how we can get girls more involved in STEM now and in the future. The resource concludes with a section to support Parents and Educators to help influence girl’s interest in STEM topics with tips and external resources.
Scholarships for Women in STEM
The gender gap is notoriously wide in some fast-growing STEM fields, such as computer science and engineering. Men greatly outnumber women majoring in STEM topics in college as well. Many believe that this is because of the lack of encouragement women receive in the pursuit of career paths in STEM fields, which others are convinced that it is mainly due to the lack of female role models in STEM. Either way, giving women the opportunity to thrive and grow can help to narrow the gender gap and ensure a diverse, talented workforce. To this end, many organizations offer scholarships to women pursuing an education in science, technology, engineering, or math.