including new TERC president announcement, FREE professional development resources, and spatial reasoning projects!
March 2025
STEM education insights and resources for educators
Programs & Materials Highlights
Our forward-thinking and groundbreaking research projects often result in insightful and inspiring learning materials, many for free.
ExIST
What it is: A teacher professional development model that supports middle school biology teachers to adapt curriculum by integrating game design to enhance biological systems learning and skills in systems thinking from constructionist and participatory perspectives.
ExIST offers professional development for teachers to integrate systems thinking and game design into their existing units. These resource materials are adaptable and further explain systems, games, ways to create games and Scratch, and how to engage your students in presenting their games.
Takeaway: Research suggests that origami can be beneficial for training spatial reasoning skills.
How TERC Can Help: The Math and Making in the Garden project enhances spatial reasoning in students through hands-on activities like 3D printing and life-sized Soma Cube puzzles. By engaging in iterative design, mental visualization, and collaborative problem-solving, students develop key spatial skills in an interactive, afterschool setting.
Fun STEM Fact!
Butterflies taste with their feet. Their taste sensors are located on the bottom of their feet, allowing them to determine whether a leaf is good to lay eggs on.
This Speaker Series focuses on four areas that are critical to developing and sustaining equitable mathematics classrooms in the elementary grades. Speakers include Forum colleagues and nationally known educators and researchers whose work pertains to equity in mathematics education.
Christine Reich, PhD will join TERC as its president on July 1, 2025. A distinguished educator, social science researcher, and former museum executive, Reich brings a deep commitment to advancing STEM education opportunities for all learners. Learn more
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