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STEM
Giving students a solid foundation in skills that will create career pathways
STEM skills—from computer programming to bioengineering—are the bedrock of the 21st century economy.
Not all students have a high-quality STEM education, which can limit their post-secondary learning and career options. EDC works to improve the quality, effectiveness, and equity of STEM learning and teaching, giving all students a solid foundation in computer science and creating pathways to STEM careers for students from underrepresented groups, students from low-income families, and English learners.
We develop STEM curricula, digital games, and apps that engage, excite, and challenge students, aiming to foster and use technology for robust STEM experiences. And through national resource centers and collaborative research, we guide STEM research and program design.
Learn about EDC’s work with Family STEM Communities.
Related Content
Tackling Inequity in the Mathematics Classroom
EDC’s Babette Moeller and Matt McLeod discuss their efforts to make mathematics teaching more equitable.
EDC Talks: STEM Education in Rural Schools
In this video, Pam Buffington discusses how to enrich STEM learning in rural communities.
A New Language for Mathematics
Young children often struggle to write down their mathematical ideas. Could computer programming be an easier language for them?
EDC Talks: Making Time for Family Math
What are some fun, easy activities that families can do to encourage math learning at home? (Hint: You are probably already doing some of them.)
Tapping, Swiping, and Learning Science
Research findings on The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That!™ have implications for parents, educators, and educational media developers.
Projects
Resources
Here are a few of our resources on STEM. To see more, visit our Resources section.
Resource libraries
This resource library contains reports, evaluations, and toolkits produced by Community for Advancing Discovery Research in Education (CADRE) partners and principal investigators with DR K–12 grant
Reports
This fact sheet describes the importance of equity in STEM education.
Curricula
The Investigating U.S. Society with Data (USS-DATA) curriculum modules are designed to promote high school students’ statistical thinking and data literacy skills through investigations of social and economic conditions in the U.S.
Websites
This robust website includes video-based case studies of six girls as they investigate what it means to be a scientist or engineer.
Books
Published by Corwin, this book describes a process that teachers can use to engage students as partners in the formative assessment process—involving students in assessing their own learning and bu
Reports
This paper presents EDC’s findings from the case studies of three National Science Foundation-funded STEM projects involving successful youth co-design team activities.
Toolkits
Math for All is a multi-media mathematics professional development resource for general and special education teachers.
Digital games
EDC developed four online games for middle school science students that address common misconceptions about photosynthesis, heredity, electricity, and heat transfer.
White papers
This paper provides a resource for prospective DRK–12 grantees by identifying some of the theories that current and recent DRK–12 grantees are using in their research on broadening participation.
Studies
This suite of research briefs created by EDC supports research-based implementation of 1-to-1 mobile tablet initiatives in elementary classrooms.