Community Resources

Below is a list of professional organizations.  Most of these have an education "division," so take your time and explore each site. Click here to see opportunities to develop content knowledge and pedagogy (camps, conferences, etc).

• California Association of Science Educators (CASE) 

• List of CASE Chapters (including GCSN)

• National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) 

• National Association of Biology Teachers (NABT) 

• American Association of Chemistry Teachers (AACT)

• American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT) 

• National Earth Science Teachers Association (NESTA) 

• National Association of Geoscience Teachers (NAGT) 

• American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) 

• IEEE - the world's largest professional association for the advancement of technology​

• California Association for the Gifted

• Ventura County STEM Network (VC STEM) is a group of key decision makers from education, business, parent organizations, and community agencies dedicated to improving academic access and excellence. The efforts of this organization contributed to Ventura County designated as being a STEM ecosystem by the White House in 2015.

• CA STEM Symposium is California's annual conference for STEM education, which is a separate event from the California Science Teachers Association annual conference - visit the website's resources section to access past workshop presentations and handouts.

• The Discovery Center for Science and Technology in Thousand Oaks offers several excellent STEM programs, including a portable planetarium, on-sight family science nights and a literature program for grades K-5. 

• Seeag.org (students for eco-education and agriculture) - offers FREE educational experiences and programs, including transportation

• Museum of Ventura County - offers field trips and a "Museum to Go" program in which teachers can borrow materials for two weeks to teach lessons related to local history

• Santa Paula Agriculture Museum - offers field trips and has a mobile school program 

• Channel Islands National Park provides educational programs for Ventura County educators and students in addition to the programs offered for the general public - visit the Education page for details

• Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers - provides FREE speakers to schools who talk about their careers in Engineering - a great way for students to engage with Hispanic role models. 

• The California Oil Museum in Santa Paula offers field trips and educational programs. 

• KidSTREAM Children's Museum is an organization working to develop a hands-on STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and math) children's center in Ventura County. You can help to make this effort a reality.

• The IEEE Buenaventura section collaborates with local organizations and schools to support STEM education. Contact Doug Askegard for more info.

• California State University Channel Islands has frequent STEM speakers and events appropriate for K-12 students. Keep an eye on the events calendar or ask to be added to the email distribution list.

• Code.org provides free lesson plans and online games for kids to learn the beginning steps to designing computer code.

• National Energy Education Development (NEED) offers FREE workshops for teachers throughout the country. Check the website to find out when the next local workshop will be offered.

• Ventura County Astronomical Society is Ventura County's local amateur astronomy club; they host star parties at Mt. Pinos and at the observatory at Moorpark College. They also sponsor a junior astronomer program.

• ​Ventura Gem and Mineral Society offers a warm club atmosphere in which experts and amateurs can pursue and share their interests and knowledge in the fields of mineralogy, geology, lapidary arts and jewelry-making, fossils, rock collecting, and other related earth sciences and arts.

• The Power of Discovery: STEM2 effort mobilizes a broad coalition of community partners with STEM resources and expertise to engage and support California’s students by providing guidance, training, and support for the development of high-quality STEM programs.

• UNICEF Kid Power is a program that sends activity trackers to low income schools so that students can do exercise to "unlock" grant funding for nutritional resources to feed kids in underdeveloped countries - the website includes a wonderful set of lesson plans that integrate science with principles of global awareness and civic engagement 

• Tech Trek - a science/math camp designed to develop interest, excitement, and self-confidence in young women who will enter eighth grade in the fall. It features hands-on activities in math, science, and related fields. All sleeping, eating, instructional, and recreational facilities are located on a university campus where camps are held.

• The Discovery Center for Science and Technology in Thousand Oaks offers science theater, a speaker program, and an awesome program for teens. Contact Mathew Chuck for information about the teen program.

• Girl Scouts of America has made a concerted effort to include STEM in its updated programing and badges for girls. 

• Girls Inc has a STEM program focus and a local chapter in Carpinteria that is outreaching to provide STEM education support services for girls in other low income areas of Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties.

• Women in STEM Guidebook provides information about scholarships and programs that support girls pursuing education to become STEM professionals and has good information for students, parents, and teachers.

• Learn How to Become has information for students to help them learn what educational pathway is needed to get into various STEM careers.

• Khan Academy provides a digital platform for kids (and adults!) to learn about almost any academic subject and has great tools for parents to track their kids' progress.

• Scratch is a fun website that teaches kids basic coding principles and provides a platform for them to design their own games and animations - Scratch Jr is an app for younger kids aged 5-7 to learn pre-coding principles.

• Computer Science Online provides information about the educational pathway to get into careers in computer science. 

• National Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) Official Website

• California NGSS

• ​California Science Framework

• California's Environmental Principles and Concepts (EP&C's)

• NGSS Playbook - A Great and Concise Primer on NGSS (Written by the Oregon Science Leaders Collaborative and sponsored by the Oregon Science Teachers Association)

• ​Innovate, the STEM Blueprint for California outlines the vision and direction for STEM education in California (developed by the California STEM Task Force, which was convened by California State Superintendent of Public Instruction (SSPI) Tom Torlakson)

• Resource page from the California Department of Education

• Resources from the Ventura County Office of Education (VCOE)

• NGSS Parent Guides

• ​STEM Teaching Tools has excellent white papers and other tools to help teachers in developing strong pedagogy

• HHMI (Howard Hughes Medical Institute) Science Education Alliance 

• Argument-Driven Inquiry

• Ambitious Science Teaching (AST)

• Understanding Science (U.C. Berkley) 

• National Academies of Science 

• The National Academies Press

• Project 2061 (AAAS) 

• National Science Foundation 

• Achieve (working towards national science standards) 

• Science magazine (AAAS) 

• SPORE (Science Prize for Online Resources in Education)

• WISE (Web Based Inquiry Science Environment) 

• SERC (Science Education Resource Center) 

• FREE (Federal Resources for Educational Excellence) 

• California Science Center 

• Discovery Cube Science Center 

• Discovery Center for Science and Technology (in Thousand Oaks)

• Internet4Classrooms 

• Frank Potter's Science Gems 

• Sheppard's Science Resources (U.C. Irvine) 

• Research Experience for Teachers (RET) at UCSB ​

• Buck Institute for Education (BIE) Resources for Teachers has great resources for project based learning (PBL)

• BioLink (Genentech) 

• BSCS (Biological Sciences Curriculum Study)

• BAYBEC (Bay Area Biotechnology Education Consortium) 

• Cells Alive 

• National Institutes of Health

• National Cancer Institute

• Amgen Biotechnology Experience

• Understanding Evolution (U.C. Berkley) 

• PBS Evolution 

• Dolan DNA Learning Center 3D Animation Library 

• HHMI BioInteractive 

• BioVisions (Harvard) 

• FoldIt (protein folding game) 

• Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education 

• • American Chemical Society 

  • The ChemCollective (virtual labs)

  • Chemistry Education Association 

  • Chem4Kids

• • EnvironmentalScience.org

  • Air - the Search for One Clean Breath

  • Teaching Earth Science (from geology.com)

  • The U.S. Geological Survey

  • NASA

  • JPL 

• • Institute of Physics (IOP) 

  • PhET Interactive Simulations

  • Resources for Teaching Physics (CSUN)

  • Physics4Kids EnvironmentalScience.org

• • NASA

  • Solar Observations

  • Space News

  • Hubble Space Telescope

  • ​Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) - Missions to Mars, Saturn and Beyond

  • Space Weather

  • Ventura County Astronomical Society

  • Heavens-Above