STEM for High School: STEM Activities and Resources

STEM is an acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math.

STEM for High School is one part of a series of comprehensive STEM activities and resources that are broken down into the categories shown below.

STEM Activities and Learning Websites

Arrick Robotics

Codeacademy

Code.org

Since launching in 2013 with a #1 YouTube video of the a day, Code.org has expanded to build a full organization supporting a worldwide movement to provide easy access to computer science education for everyone.  They design courses, train teachers, partner with large school districts, and help change government

DiscoverE

Engineering, Go for It! (eGFI)

EPA Students

This website is run by the Environmental Protection Agency.

Exploratorium

A cool STEM & art website from the San Francisco-based Exploratorium.

Extreme Science

A very interesting website about extreme science.

How Stuff Works

After starting in 1998 at a college professor’s kitchen table, this hugely popular STEM site has nearly 40 million visitors each month.

Mu Alpha Theta

Also known as the National High School and Two-Year College Mathematics Honor Society.  This organization of mathematics clubs serves over 108,000 student members in more than 2200 schools in the United States and 20 foreign countries and annually offers more than $300,000 in scholarships, grants, awards, and prizes.

Museum of Science + Industry Chicago Online Science

Explore science from Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry, one of the largest science museums in the world.

NASA Education for Students

NASA Science, Engineering, Mathematics and Aerospace Academy (SEMAA)

SEMAA was developed to increase the participation of historically underserved K-12 youth in STEM fields. School activities and summer sessions are at 14 locations in 12 states and the District of Columbia.

National Academies Press

The NAP publishes more than 200 books a year on a wide range of topics in STEM. NAP was created by the National Academy of Sciences to publish the reports of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, operating under a charter granted by the Congress of the United States.

NOVA

The website of PBS’s NOVA,  the most-watched prime time science series show on American television from PBS, produces an extensive list of science resources and original content.

Science Buddies

Science Channel

STEM-Works

Student Science

From the Society for Science & the Public, Student Science is a science resource website for students.

TechRocket

Tynker

With Tynker, Kids learn to code,  built games and apps, draw math art, interface with hardware and more.

STEM Games and Apps

Algebra Touch

This touch-based app teaches and allows practice of algebraic concepts.

Cargo-Bot

Over one million people have enjoyed Cargo-Bot. It is one of the coolest coding games for kids. Players use coding concepts like loops and procedures and do a ton of debugging.

Code Combat

Code Combat has players inputting actual code to play (Javascript currently, with experimental support for CoffeeScript, Python, Clojure, and Lua). Don’t let that put you off, though, as Code Combat does a great job of entertaining while teaching. There are single-player levels and multi-player levels.

The Elements

This periodic table app is engaging with pictures and interesting stories.

Muscle System Pro III

Developed in collaboration with the Stanford University School of Medicine, this interactive app allows you to explore the workings of human musculature, layer by layer.

NASA App

The app is an official NASA app, jam-packed with more information on the U.S. space program and astronomy than you could digest in a lifetime. With new information added daily from a variety of NASA sources. This monster app includes live streaming of NASA TV, over 14,000 images, over 10,000 on-demand videos, news stories and International Space Station (ISS) sighting opportunities.

National Geographic Apps

National Geographic apps includes National Geographic digital magazine, World Atlas, National Parks, City Guides and more.

Pocket Universe

The ultimate astronomy app. The free version displays thousands of stars, constellations, and solar system objects on a real-time rendered view of the sky. The view will move automatically as you move left, right, up and down. With the full version, you can track the International Space Station, play quizzes, virtually walk on Mars, see 80,000 stars and more.

Solar System for iPad

This reference app is a digital book about our solar system, including facts about the sun, planets, moons, asteroid belts, and more. It comes to life with high-resolution photos, videos, animation, music, text, and some interactivity.

Sparticl

This awesome STEM site has answers to science questions, images, videos, games, and hands-on activities for teens.

Robozzle

Robozzle is a social puzzle game which teaches programming. Using only a few simple commands, teach the robot to recurse a tree, follow a linked list, or count in binary. The levels range from those suitable for younger children right up to puzzles that will make seasoned coders scratch their heads.

SpaceChem

SpaceChem tasks players with building machines to fight monsters, using programming concepts like in-order execution, loops, branching, and subroutines.

Virtual Frog Dissection

With vivid 3D images, it is an alternative to live animal dissections. Students can try dissecting a virtual specimen with all the dissection tools and detailed instructions without the mess.

STEM Camps and After School Programs

Ambition Program at National Flight Academy

Kids are immersed in 6 days of innovative play and adventure in a theme-park setting camp to explore premier technology. Limited scholarships are available.

Alaska Summer Research Academy (ASRA) – High School

At ASRA STEM camp, you’ll spend two weeks on the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus, working in small teams and participating in project-based learning. Some modules will take you to remote areas of Alaska for fieldwork.

Alfred University Summer Camps

ASM Student Materials Camps

It is a free camp funded by ASM Materials Education Foundation.

Auburn University Engineering Summer Camp

Audubon Camps

Kids have fun exploring the natural world. The Wild Birds Unlimited scholarship funds have helped almost 2,000 youth attend this camp since 2007.

Aviation Career Education (ACE) Academy Program

Campers learn about planning a flight, aviation history, the physics of flight, and the design and maintenance of aircraft. At some locations, even fly in a airplane!

Black Girls Code

Through community outreach programs, Black Girls Code introduces underprivileged girls to computer programming and LEGO Robotics. They offer a limited number of financial-need based scholarships

Boston University Summer Term

Camp Euclid: A Mathematics Research Camp

Students mull over and grapple with tantalizingly difficult math problems within a circle of fellow researchers who meet and collaborate online.  The camp offers grants and scholarships.

Camp KAOS

Kids discover the thrill of space at the Kansas Cosmosphere & Space Center, where they train kids just like astronauts in their camps since 1985. Scholarships are available.

CoderDojo

CoderDojo is a fun and social club where young people can go to explore technology together and get advice and support from skilled mentors.

Com-Star Learning

Cornell’s Adult University Youth Programs

Designed and led by Cornell faculty, the nationally acclaimed programs are for kids ages 3-15. Even the youngest campers can be in residence with a registered resident adult.

Cornell University Summer College

The programs offer motivated students an great opportunity to take courses at a Ivy League university while earning college credit, working closely with internationally recognized faculty, exploring majors and career options, making friends from around the world, and enjoying great natural beauty of the region.

Digital Media Academy

Digital Media Academy is a digital art and technology training company. They have robotics camps and STEM summer camps for kids ages 6-18 at over 20 campuses in the US and Canada.

Duke University: Talent Identification Program (TIP)

TIP includes Summer Studies, eStudies and Field Studies. It is claimed as a global leader in identifying academically gifted students and providing them with opportunities to support their development.

Education Unlimited®

Emagination

Emagination was founded in Connecticut in 1982. Each summer children travel to their campus locations from all across America and several foreign countries.

Embry – Riddle Aeronautical University Summer Camps

Students from around the globe attended the popular camps at Embry – Riddle’s Arizona and Florida Campuses.

Engineering Innovation

With curriculum developed by Johns Hopkins University,  the program runs four or five weeks depending on the location. Students are eligible to receive a John Hopkins University transcript with 3 college credits. Limited need-based financial assistance is available for partial and full scholarships.

Engineering Possibilities in College

Harvard University Pre-College Program and Secondary School Program

Harvard University Secondary School Program

Participant can transfer earned college credits to a college in the future.

iD Tech

They currently offer programs at over 100 university, college, high school, and elementary school locations throughout the United States, with the most distinguished campuses including Stanford, UCLA, Princeton, and MIT.

Institute for Mathematics and Computer Science (IMACS)

Kids-N-Technology

MIT Women’s Technology Program (WTP)

WTP is claimed to be an intense academic experience rather than a “summer camp”. Every year, 60 girls will be admitted from about 400 applicants nationwide.

MIT Minority Introduction to Engineering, Entrepreneurship and Science (MITES)

This rigorous program is free.

National Computer Camps

National Student Leadership Conference

Attendees experience a future career and life on a college campus, enjoy college-level lectures, and develop leadership.

Northern Illinois University STEM Camps

Purdue University School of Engineering and Technology Summer Camps

Preparing Outstanding Women for Engineering Roles (POWER) and Women in Information Technology(winIT) are residential camps for high school girls. Some scholarships are available.

Purdue Polytechnic Institute Summer Camps

There are various of free and low cost day or residential summer camps. DO iT! Camp, TAGS Camp, TEAM Camp, WOWiT Camp are designed for girls.

Robotics Education & Competition Foundation

Find your local event at robot events.

Rochester Institute of Technology RIT K-12 Academy

Various summer camps target different age/gender groups, including Kids on Campus, CBET Bioscience Camps, Everyday Engineering Summer Camp (girls only), RoboCamp, Lil Kids on Campus, Smash Experience for Girls, etc.

San Francisco State University Summer Engineering Institute

It’s a two-week residential summer camp.

Santa Clara University Summer Engineering Seminar (SES) program

This is a competitive free program.

Science and Engineering Apprenticeship Program (SEAP)

SEAP provides competitive research internships to high school students who spend eight weeks during the summer doing research at Department of Navy (DoN) laboratories, which can lead to employment within the DoN.

Summer Academy for Mathematics and Science (SAMS)

Carnegie Mellon’s competitive STEM summer residential program is rigorous for promising students.  There’s no tuition, housing or dining fees if you’re selected. The goal of the program is to prepare students for admission to selective colleges and universities in engineering, science and other math-based majors.

Summer@Rensselaer

The Summer Science Program

One of the longest-running and most successful pre-college enrichment programs, SSP has been offering live-changing experience for young scientists for over 50 years.

Summer Study Pre-college summer programs

From college credit pre-college summer programs to French immersion study abroad programs in Paris, their summer programs combine stimulating academics with sports, recreational, social and/or cultural activities.

SUNYIT SummerITeens

Syracuse University Summer College Programs

Programs offer regular undergraduate level and special pre-professional courses, some of which are credit bearing, for either 2, 3 or 6 weeks in length.

UCLA Sci|Art NanoLab

Imagine the “Impossible”. The Sci|Art NanoLab is a highly competitive, 2-week summer program for high school juniors and seniors interested in collaborating with diverse and notable minds to challenge traditional, polarized perspectives of the arts and sciences. Earn 4 units of transferable UCLA College credits!

Union College EDGE

United States Coast Guard Academy AIM (Academy Introduction to Mission)

AIM is now widely regarded as the most realistic service academy summer orientation program in the country. Students experience the challenges and rewards of rigorous academics at an engineering school, and by military and physical training.

University of Arizona Astronomy Camp

This camp is available internationally to both teenagers and adults.

University of Arizona Summer Engineering Academy

University of Evansville OPTIONS for High School Girls

Participants receive UE college scholarships totaling $5,000.

University of Notre Dame Introduction to Engineering

Some partial scholarships are available for this competitive two-week camp.

Worcester Polytechnic Institute Summer STEM Camps

Residential camps are for grades 7-12 and include Camp Reach (for girls), Frontiers, Launch, Leadership Academy for Young Women. There are nine STEM and robotics day camps.

Youth Digital Summer Camps

For local programs, please refer to our guide for State-based STEM Camps and After School Programs.

STEM Contests

Air Force Association (AFA) CyberPatriot Competition

Teams are tasked with managing the network of a small company. They are given a set of virtual images that represent operating systems and are tasked with finding cyber security vulnerabilities within the images and hardening the system while maintaining critical services in a six hour period.

American Regions Mathematics League (ARML) Power Contest

ARML is billed as the World Series of mathematics competitions. About 120+ teams of 15 students will participate.

Botball®

You can find their current event near you. Scholarships are available for qualified teams.

Envirothon

The winning teams from participating U.S. states and Canadian provinces compete for recognition and scholarships at Envirothon.

FIRST

FIRST offers robotics programs worldwide.  Find the events/programs/teams in your area.

Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF)

Only the best and brightest—nearly 1,700 winners of local, regional, state, and national competitions out of approximately 7 million participants—are invited to participate in this week-long celebration of STEM. There are more than $5 million in awards and scholarships.

Intel Science Talent Search (STS)

Intel STS bills itself as the nation’s oldest and most prestigious pre-college science competition. The top 40 candidates out of approximately 1,800 participants are selected as Intel STS finalists. They are invited to Washington, D.C., to attend a week-long competition for top honors of the basic research medal, the global good medal and the innovation medal with a $150,000 first-place prize.

International Biology Olympiad (IBO)

The International Biology Olympiad (IBO) is a competition involving student teams from roughly sixty countries. Four students are selected to represent a participating country based on the results from its national competition. In the United States, that qualifying contest is called the USA Biology Olympiad (USABO), with two rounds of exams. The top twenty students are invited to a residential training program. Finally, four students earn the right to represent the USA at the IBO.

Moody’s Mega Math (M3) Challenge

Participants work in teams to tackle a real-world problem under time and resource constraints akin to those faced by industrial applied mathematicians. Scholarship prizes total $150,000.

NASA Capillary Effects on Liquids Exploratory Research Experiments (CELERE)

National Stem League (NSL)

There are three series in the NSL league: Racing Challenge, Rover Challenge, Innovators-in-Training Challenge with a Energy Challenge as a bonus category in all three series.

National STEM Video Game Challenge

The STEM Challenge is a game design competition that received strong media attention from major outlets such as CNN, Forbes, and Education Week as well as local and national press.

NSBE Jr. Bridge Magazine Contests

NSBE Jr. Explorer Technical Innovation Competition

Purple Comet! Math Meet

It is a free, online, international, team mathematics competition conducted annually since 2003.

Rocket City Math League (RCML)

It is a year-long student-run international four-round math competition ranging from Pre-Algebra to Calculus.

Robotics Education & Competition Foundation

Science Olympiad

Currently, there are nearly 7,000 secondary schools from 50 states participating  annual Science Olympiad National Tournament, with an additional 10,000 or more elementary schools holding Science Olympiad tournaments or hands-on events. Science Olympiad encourages a wide cross-section of students to get involved. Emphasis is placed on active, hands-on group participation.

The Siemens Competition in Math, Science, and Technology

In this nation’s premier competition in math, science and technology, students submit innovative individual and team research projects to regional and national levels of competition as they vie for college scholarships ranging from $1,000 up to $100,000.

SourceAmerica Design Challenge

It is a national engineering competition to  invent a process, device, system or software for people with disabilities.

Team America Rocketry Challenge (TARC)

It is the world’s largest student rocket contest.

Toshiba/NSTA ExploraVision

ExploraVision is one of the world’s largest K-12 science competitions. More than 350,000 students from across the United States and Canada have participated since its inception in 1992. 2-4 students work in a group to pick a current technology, research it, envision what it might look like in 20 years, and describe the development steps, pros & cons, and obstacles.

U.S.A. Mathematical Talent Search (USAMTS)

Different from most mathematics competitions, the USAMTS allows students a full month, or more, to work out their solutions. The problems range in difficulty from being within the reach of most high school students to challenging the best students in the nation.

Who Wants to Be a Mathematician?

Zero Robotics High School Tournament

The tournament is run by MIT and sponsored by NASA & ESA. The participants compete to win a technically challenging game by programming their strategies into the SPHERES satellites. The game is motivated by a challenging problem of interest to DARPA, NASA and MIT.