National Paper Airplane Day with the US Air Force
It’s National Paper Airplane Day! Celebrate by learning the basics of flight from the US Air Force. Learn about the forces that allow your airplane to fly with maximum performance. Whose airplane can fly fastest and furthest? Each student should have a sheet (or two!) of paper as we will be folding paper airplanes during the session.
Application Deadline: Nature Play in Your School at the Smithsonian Zoo
Take your professional development to the wild side! Nature Play in Your School is a one-week, hands-on professional development workshop designed to support teachers in urban schools learn how to incorporate nature play and nature-based learning into their schools and classrooms. This course will be taught in person at the Smithsonian's National Zoo and the Anacostia Community Museum in Washington, DC.
Accepted participants will explore how they can use their schoolyard and neighborhood resources, as well as the public green spaces that are part of the Smithsonian to create outdoor learning experiences for students. We will also explore how to bring nature indoors for an alternative approach to nature play.
The 2025 workshop will focus on content most appropriate for educators serving grades pre-K to 2. Ten educators will be accepted, with priority given to applicants who teach in Wards 7 and 8 of Washington DC.
Application Deadline: Utilizing River Otters and Trail Cameras to Build Data Literacy in Your Classroom
Calling all science educators!
This summer, science educators are invited to join the Smithsonian National Zoo & Conservation Biology Center (NZCBI) and the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC) for a half-day in person professional development workshop.
WHAT: Make your classes come alive by exploring biodiversity using trail cameras. This half-day, hands-on workshop is designed to help you build data literacy in your students in a fun engaging way, using otters, nature, and trail cameras. You’ll talk through how to set up trail cameras in your spaces like our scientists do, the types of data you can collect, and what to do with that data. You’ll also receive lesson materials and suggestions.
Participants will receive a trail camera for their school, a small stipend, lesson materials, and four PD credit hours. This opportunity is made possible by a generous grant from the Smithsonian Women’s Committee.
Click here to learn more and apply.
Future Ready Maryland: AI in Education Summit
The MCCE Future Ready Maryland: AI in Education Summit is unique for all PreK-12 and higher education stakeholders as it features student voices, policy development guidance, and education resources for educators, school districts, and colleges/universities across Maryland. This summit will empower educators and district leaders to engage with AI as professionals and as educational systems and consider how we might teach AI across the curriculum. These opportunities and resources are vital to supporting students and the opportunities for the Maryland Blueprint for Education, the landmark legislation focusing on career readiness and multiple pathways for students, changing the state's education landscape.
2025 Smithsonian Education Summit
The Smithsonian is hosting the fifth annual National Education Summit July 15-17. Taking place both virtually and in-person in Washington, D.C., this free event brings together leading education experts to explore instructional strategies and resources that empower educators and their learners. This year’s summit is designed to prepare educators for the nation’s 250th anniversary. The summit’s theme, Together We Thrive: One Nation, Indivisible, will explore how pivotal moments in history continue to shape our present and future.
2025 STEM Teacher Leadership Academy
Join the next cohort of accomplished STEM teachers as they take on deep inquiry, informal learning connections, and career-based learning opportunities alongside engineers, researchers, and museum specialists. Be a part of a community of teacher leaders who wish to expand upon their practice, explore basic science research, and return to the classroom feeling energized and empowered.
This program is designed for K-12 teachers in around the National Capital Region who seek to infuse science, technology, engineering, and math into their lessons and explore the world of basic science research. Participants in this program will receive a $1,000 stipend following their participation in the program.
TIES STEM Ecosystem Covening
STEM Ecosystems are community-based collaborations that transform how people learn and connect to future opportunities. They bring together cross-sector partners—schools, afterschool programs, colleges, businesses, community organizations, and government agencies—to create innovative solutions that will shape the next century of learning and future-ready workforce talent.
The STEM Ecosystems Initiative is now 10 years old, and you’re invited to a landmark convening that honors their journey and propels us into a future of boundless possibility. This pivotal event brings together champions of change—visionaries, educators, industry leaders, and community catalysts—to reflect on a decade of transformation and collaboratively design the next chapter of STEM innovation. In this era of rapid technological evolution and societal change, this work has never been more critical.
Application Deadline: Unite (opportunity for rising 9-12 graders)
Unite is a four-to-six week, pre-collegiate summer experience for talented high school students in STEM. Held at higher education institutions across the country, Unite encourages students to pursue college majors and careers in engineering and other STEM-related fields through a program of focused hands-on rigorous academics, enrichment and career exploration.
Innovation Summit 2025
The Innovation Summit is a gathering of educators, researchers, policymakers, and leaders dedicated to advancing educational innovation across Virginia and beyond. Hosted by the Center for Educational Innovation and Opportunity at Old Dominion University, this event fosters collaboration, showcases groundbreaking practices, and explores the future of teaching and learning. There is no cost to attend the Innovation Summit.
2025 DC STEM Fair
The DC STEM Fair is the longest-running student competition in the District of Columbia. The Elementary DC STEM Exhibition is open to students in grades K-5 from DC public, public charter, parochial, private, and home schools. Both the Elementary Exhibition and Secondary Fair will be held at Paul Lawrence Dunbar Senior High School on April 5, 2025, bringing together students from all eight wards to showcase their ideas and innovations and is a fun experience for the entire family. To secure your spot, please complete the registration form by March 31st.
Application Deadline: CSATS Summer Research Experiences for STEM Teachers Program
The Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) Program is a seven-week summer program for middle and high school STEM teachers. RETs conduct research with a host laboratory for the first six weeks of the program and prepare for the summer research symposium during the seventh week. For Summer 2025, the RET programs will be offered in-person only at Penn State Harrisburg in Middletown, PA. Teachers selected for the program will participate in ongoing research projects with university science or engineering faculty and work with CSATS science education faculty to develop a classroom research project based on their research experience.
National STEM Festival in Washington, D.C.
Join EXPLR for a celebration of innovation in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. Discover groundbreaking ideas, explore career opportunities, and network with emerging innovators, industry leaders, and top STEM professionals. Engage directly with businesses and leaders at the cutting edge of innovation.
EdTechRVA 2025
EdTechRVA is an annual conference organized and presented by the Greater Richmond Area Educational Technology Consortium or GRAETC (Pronounced Gray-Tek–to learn more about GRAETC, click here.) EdTechRVA attracts hundreds of educators from around the Richmond area and beyond for a day of learning, connection and collaboration. Through EdTechRVA, teachers, technology coaches, media specialists, administrators and other people in the education field can learn about what is happening in neighboring school divisions. Learning, lunch, swag and connection–what’s not to love?
Application Deadline: RET for Educators Program at Iowa State University
Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) provides K-12 teachers with research experiences and ongoing relationships with career scientists, enabling them to share the latest developments in STEM fields with students and inspire their students to learn more about science, math, and engineering and their related career paths. Application by teams of STEM teachers is also encouraged.
Program dates: June 18 – July 30, 2025
Application Deadline: Teach for the Future Fellowship at KID Museum
The Teach for the Future Fellowship is designed to support teachers in incorporating accessible and effective hands-on learning techniques into their classrooms to improve student engagement, deepen learning, foster essential 21st century skills, and build student agency.
With an emphasis on embedding these tools into existing curriculum and aligning with academic standards, this program will address culturally responsive and sustaining practices, technical skills, and project design.
AFOSR STEM Outreach
Are you looking for opportunities for AFOSR to liaise with your school or establish mentorship relationships and connections? If so, click the button below.
Please allow 2-3 weeks for processing and scheduling. Thank you!