How to use this Toolkit?

The STEM Partnership Toolkit was created to share tools and strategies around the practice of connecting STEM education to community partnerships that enrich learning experiences for youth. 

This toolkit describes how in-school and out-of-school STEM educators and professionals worked with our research team to establish and integrate community STEM education partnerships into their existing STEM programs. The toolkit provides the STEM Career Connections model, practice briefs focusing on specific issues, and links to other resources, including a resource pack, publications, and newsletters. We developed the toolkit to be widely applicable, but the strategies and examples came from a rural context, which was the focus of our research.

The toolkit will be most helpful for communities that have already established some degree of STEM programming. It is ok if you are still at the beginning stages, but having a clear idea of your program goals and structure is a prerequisite. Only then will extending into partnerships be successful.

We invite STEM program providers, educators, school administrators, technology coordinators, career counselors, business outreach staff, and researchers to use this toolkit to provide insights and guidance around deepening the STEM experience for youth with community STEM education partnerships.