How to Find STEM Educational Programs- Navigating NC STEM Center
Step 1: Go to the website at www.ncstemcenter.org
Step 2: What are you looking for?
Are you looking for a quick way to decide which STEM program to enroll your kids/teens in? STEM opportunities such as fairs, conferences, and/or workshops?
On NC STEM Center, STEM “Programs” are organizations and providers that are doing great work to promote science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education in North Carolina. STEM “Opportunities,” on the other hand, are summer camps, drop-in events, after-school programs, festivals or fairs, workshops, and competitions.
Below is a quick summary of what you can find on each page of the NC STEM Center website:
Home: Contains information about the NC STEM Center, STEM news, explains the collaboration between The Connectory (a national directory) & NC STEM Center.
Learn: Has different sections that explain various topics such as STEM in North Carolina, STEM Tools, STEM Research, STEM Schools of Distinction, STEM Tools, and STEM Scorecard.
Find: Takes you to the search engine that allows you to look for particular STEM programs or opportunities– summer camps, drop-in events, after school programs, festivals or fairs, workshops, and competitions.
Share: This page is only for organizations and businesses that want their program to be included in the NC Stem Center search engine for programs and opportunities. Skip this page!
Connect: Contains information about national STEM portals and search engines, a calendar that shows the site’s latest events, news pages at state and national level, job opportunities in STEM (for their registered users), and grants available to fund STEM activities (for registered users).
Step 3: Once you have an idea of the page you’d like to visit, click on the word that links to your page.
I.E. If you are looking for information about STEM in North Carolina, click “Learn,” then click on the subtab “STEM in North Carolina” to reach your page
How to use the NC STEM Center search engine to find programs and opportunities
STEM Programs
Step 4: If you are looking for programs in which to enroll, follow Steps 4 A – F
Step 4 A: From the “Home” page, hover over the “Find” button
Step 4 B: Hover over the “Find” button, then a gray box will appear beside it, click on
“Programs”
Step 4 C: The “Find” page features a search engine that will allow you to look through the hundreds of programs available by typing in keywords and/or areas of interest to filter out programs that you may not be interested in or are too far from your home.
*Note: It is possible to go through each program listing on the page by following the numbered arrow keys on the
bottom of the page, but it is recommended to instead use the search engine.
Step 4 D: Use the “Filter Programs” box to narrow down the list of results to your specific areas of
interest.
Step 4 E: Type in your zip code and your desired distance in the respective boxes, then scroll below to click on your “Focus” and what population you are interested in finding programs for.
STEM Opportunities
Step 5: Follow steps 5 A – F if looking for STEM opportunities such as:
- Summer camp
- Drop-in event
- Afterschool program
- Festival or fair
- Workshop
- Competition
Step 5 A: From the “Home” page, hover over the “Find” button
Step 5 B: Hover over the “Find” button, then a gray box will appear beside it, click on
“Opportunities”
Step 5 C: The “Opportunities” page features a search engine that will allow you to look through the tens of STEM opportunities available by typing in keywords and/or areas of interest to filter out opportunities that you may not be interested in or are too far from your home.
*Note: It is possible to go through each opportunity listing on the page by following the numbered arrow keys on the bottom of the page, but it is recommended to instead use the search engine.
Step 5 D: Use the “Filter Opportunities” box to narrow down the list of results to your specific areas of
interest and type of opportunity.
Step 5 E: Type in your zip code and your desired distance in the respective boxes, then scroll below to click on your “Focus” and what population you are interested in finding programs for.
