STEM / STEAM education has recently gained a lot of popularity around the world as educators recognize the importance of project-based learning. And while it's also growing around Columbus, there is still so much more room for STEM education.

Over the past six months, I have connected with a lot of people around Columbus that are focused on STEM education. I want to highlight some of these people / businesses that provide great learning opportunities for young people.

This is, by no means, a comprehensive list of STEM Education providers around Columbus but some I am personally familiar with.

At the Acton Academy Columbus school, we spend a lot of time on STEM activities. Many of our projects are focused on STEM.

We've extended this to learners who don't attend Acton:

• Weekend STEM Club - This is our weekend STEM club open to all people ages 6-11 that are interested in STEM. We work on a new project every week and explore a wide range of STEM activities.

• After School STEM Club (April 2022) - This is our collaboration with Challenge Island, a STEM / STEAM education provider.

• STEM / Entrepreneurship Summer Camp - This is our summer camp for 2022 and it providers young people (ages 6-12) an opportunity to develop project-based skills through STEM / Entrepreneurship activities.

These are some of the businesses I have connected with over the past few months that are worth exploring:

• Challenge Island - Is a STEM / STEAM education provider with activities build around various quests themes. Acton Academy Columbus and Challenge Island are currently collaborating for to hold an after school Cool Careers Quest. The owner of Challenge Island Columbus is Sharyn Ham - she's a former school teacher and a wonderful person who is really passionate about bringing STEM education to young people in Columbus.

• RoboThink - Is a company that provides young learners the opportunity to write code and apply that knowledge to Robots. It's very similar to a quest we did at Acton where learners at our school learned the basics of coding and used that to play around with Robots. This is run by a current New Albany technology school teacher - Andy Moore. Andy is truly passionate about helping young minds learn next generation technology skills. 

• Dublin Toy Emporium - So, so many cool games here and many STEAM education games.  The owner, Enas Lanham, is a

• STEM tree - Located in Lewis Center, OH, STEM Tree offers after school programs, camps, and other STEM learning opportunities.

• CoolTechGirls - CoolTechGirls conducts workshops with a vision to create a supportive and collaborative environment to ignite a passion in science and technology for girls. Their next workshop is in September / October and is focused on an introduction to electrical science.

Other STEM education places around Columbus:

• Franklin Conservatory - The conservatory and botanical gardens provide amazing opportunities to learn about plant science.

• COSI - A huge 320,000 square foot facility - 300+ interactive experiences, nine galleries featuring world class traveling and permanent exhibitions, explosive live shows, a little kidspace® exhibit for learners birth through first grade, and a Planetarium. It's fair to see there are not too many places like this around Ohio or even the US.

• Columbus Zoo - The Columbus Zoo has a lot of tours and experiences for additional opportunities to learn about animals.

There are a lot of other places around Columbus that offer STEM education and I'm working to connect with other STEM leaders in the area. If you know anyone I should connect with, please let me know!

Varun

Varun@actonacademycolumbus.com