STEM West New Opportunities: August 2025

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First Day of School

On the first bright morning, the classroom doors unfold,

Like wings of promise, brushed with black and gold.

The Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, bold and new,

Steps from its cocoon to a sky so blue.

North Carolina’s state butterfly takes flight,

Its journey beginning in warm, clear light.

Students too stretch, with hearts open wide,

Carrying dreams like wings they cannot hide.

 

First day of school, a flutter, a start—

Learning to soar with courage and heart.

PRISM/Patterns Professional Learning Opportunity

The State Board approved for NCDPI to contract with Carnegie Learning and WestEd, to partner on the PRISM Patterns Professional Learning Impact Study, a grant awarded by the US Department of Education. This grant-funded opportunity will help build the capacity for high-quality math instruction. The study will focus on 4th grade teachers, providing professional development tied to the NC grade 4 math standards, emphasizing key fraction content standards to build conceptual understanding and readiness for teaching concepts and skills related to fractions.

The professional development includes up to $1700 in stipends for teachers, with no requirement to teach a specific math curriculum.

The teacher commitments would not start until October 1, 2025.

Please complete the interest form here, and we will follow up to schedule a call to share more information.

For more information, contact Dr. Charles Aiken (charles.aiken@dpi.nc.gov)

Promoting Innovation in Science and Mathematics

Application Deadline:

Sep 30, 2025

by

3:00pm

ET

Status:

Now Accepting Applications

Apply For This Grant:

Begin a Proposal
Access your saved proposal

Eligibility & Application Process:

Request for Proposals

Free School Supplies

The Science House has accumulated various classroom supplies and lab resources. We are offering them to you for free on September 15 at 3:30 – 5:00 pm in the parking lot of the Mountain Horticultural Research Station and Extension Center at 74 Research Drive, Mills River. Bring your boxes and tote bags so you can gather goodies for your classroom

Application Is Open

NC GreenPower’s Clean Energy Education Program is a STEM-based initiative that helps bring exciting and engaging energy curriculum to the classrooms of North Carolina teachers.

The program aligns with North Carolina State Science Standards and combines energy workshops, hands-on activities and outside community experts to enhance the experience of all students and expose them to the energy field and STEM. Participating educators are invited to take part in energy education workshops where they can receive STEM kits for their classrooms. These kits get students learning about the science of energy and how it impacts their daily lives.

NC GreenPower is partnering with the NEED Project to bring North Carolina educators this opportunity. The NEED Project is a 501(c)3 organization with over 40 years of experience in providing energy education programs to educators and students across the country.

All K-12 educators in North Carolina are invited and encouraged to apply. The Clean Energy Education Program will accept up to 30 schools in the 2025-2026 cohort.

Apply Now

https://www.ncgreenpower.org/clean-energy-education-program

NC State Butterfly:  Eastern Tiger Swallowtail 

Click Here: Butterflies of North Carolina: Their Distribution And Abundance

25 AI tools you can’t ignore in 2025

1. ChatGPT.com – solves anything
2. Syllaby.io – create and publish videos
3. MidJourney.com – generates art
4. Replit.com – writes and runs code
5. Heygen.com – creates AI avatars
6. Soundraw.io – produces music in seconds
7. Ranked.ai – rank higher on Google
8. Submagic.co – turn long videos into shorts
9. SlidesAI.io – makes presentations for you
10. PicWish.com – edits photos fast
11. Fastread.io – create ebooks
12. Bibley.io – ai for Bible study
13. Manus.im – code any app
14. Capsho.com – podcast into content
15. Webinarkit.com – ai for webinars
16. Creatorunlock.com – ai for YouTube
17. sociable.how – write viral comments
18. Adcreative.ai – ai tool for advertising
19. Canva.com – design anything
20. Fastphoto.io – create ai headshots
21. askcoachken.com – ai relationship coach
22. threadmaster.ai – create viral Facebook thread
23. V0.dev – create frontend mockups
24. suno.com – create ai music
25. keywordsearch.com – boost ad conversions

Educators, are you ready to pencil in some field trips for the school year? Check out NC Department of Natural & Cultural Resources Learning Happens Here field trip fund!
So far, 142 schools have taken advantage of this amazing resource, impacting 8,208 students with enriching learning experiences outside the classroom.
Discover more about the Learning Happens Here field trip fund for eligible North Carolina public schools or public charter schools at dncr.nc.gov/learninghappenshere.
(Photo courtesy of NC Department of Natural & Cultural Resources)

Call for student interview participants for PhET simulation development

PhET Interactive Simulations is a non-profit based at the University of Colorado Boulder, where we create free research-based science and math simulations for kindergarten through college learners.

As such, part of our research relies on the invaluable feedback from student users to help us create simulations that are not only fun to use, but highly educational. Student testers are integral to creating high-quality STEM resources.

We welcome U.S.-based student volunteers to sign up for interview opportunities when one arises.

  • Parents who want to sign up their kindergarten through high school students use this form.
  • College students (ages 18+) use this form.

How it works: When a new simulation is under development, we reach out to students and families of the target grade level to schedule an interview that takes place in-person (at a nearby public library in or near Boulder, Colorado) or virtually (on Zoom). The scheduled interview will take up to 1 hour, and students are paid $10–$20, depending on grade level, in the form of an Amazon.com gift card.

Student participation is invaluable to helping us create free high-quality interactive simulations for students and educators around the world. Thank you for your support of this mission, and please reach out to phethelp@colorado.edu if you have any questions.

Click Here: Dicing An Onion The Mathematically Optimal Way

NC Teachers: Applications are open to apply to join the 3rd NCSSM-Morganton Launch Cohort for new STEM teachers. Learn more at our website https://k12pd.ncssm.edu/launch-cohort-new-stem-teacher or apply at https://bit.ly/41mruFV

How do i apply for a sponsored Duke Energy Science Night Activity Kit?

CLICK HERE TO APPLY

Click Here: Duke Energy Science Nights for Elementary Schools

Click Here: NCSTA Newsletter

Call for Applicants – M2-Si Educator Researcher Team

The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI) and the Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL) are calling for applications from both DLI  and Non-DLI 3rd-5th grade educators who teach science in North Carolina public schools to serve as paid consultants on grant-funded research and development. The Center for Applied Linguistics is working in partnership with NCDPI to develop an assessment system – the Multilingual Multimodal Science Inventory (M2-Si) — to support multilingual learners (MLs)* in science in third through fifth grades.  Please submit your application by August 31.

Participants will receive:

– A stipend of up to $3000 for participation in the research and professional activities**

– Registration and travel costs to attend the 2025 North Carolina Science Teachers Association (NCSTA) Professional Development Institute (PDI) November 5-7 and a one-day orientation meeting on November 8. in Winston-Salem, NC.

Click Here: Call For Applicants

The Science of Symmetry

Click Here: cloudgazing.online

Please register clubs under STEM West for possible additional funding if we get
5 clubs!

SAVE THE DATES 2026:

EdCamp STEM West 2026
January 31 at NCSSM-Morganton
(door prizes needed)

STEM Trek 2026 at Catawba Science Center

Saturday, April 18  10 AM —  2 PM

Getting students excited about STEM can be a battle, but it doesn’t have to be. With eCYBERMISSION, students pick the subject of their projects, making buy-in a breeze.

Click Here: Catawba Science Center Flutterby Butterfly Habitat

Watch for more STEM opportunities in the STEM West Newsletter!

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Websitehttps://www.stemwest.org/

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