Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google


New Digital Tool Helps Teachers Locate STEAM-Related Materials

Common Sense Education has launched a digital search tool designed to help teachers find science, technology, engineering, art and math (STEAM) resources for their science and math classes. Called the NGSS Explorer, the tool is designed to identify materials that are aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS).

NGSS Explorer is a companion tool to Common Sense Education's Graphite digital rating platform designed to help educators locate resources across a wide variety of subjects and areas.

Teachers can use NGSS Explorer to search for materials by grade, topic and a Performance Expectation measure determined by Graphite editors. In addition to the tagged materials, Graphite reviewers — current and former math, science and engineering teachers — provide editorial reviews of each app, game or Web site in the collection, amounting to more than 2,500 reviews. Editors also have curated "top picks" to help teachers find the best of STEAM and NGSS-identified products.

The NGSS standards were developed in 2013 to create benchmarks for the science- and math-based skills students in the United States should acquire before they finish school.

"Digital technology is a great way to introduce the investigative, practice-based learning the NGSS standards inspire," said Danny Wagner, manager of STEM content at Common Sense Education, in a prepared statement. "As educators, we encourage kids to match their technique to the discipline they're learning. Just as scientists use technology to do their jobs, we are helping teachers leverage real-life engineering and scientific best practices with their students."

NGSS Explorer was developed with the help of a grant from the Carnegie Corporation.

About the Author

Michael Hart is a Los Angeles-based freelance writer and the former executive editor of THE Journal.

Featured

  • Man offers stem word sign on virtual screen

    Immersive Workforce Development Initiative Connects Students with Real-World STEM Careers

    The Center of Science and Industry, a science museum and research center in Central Ohio, has launched The HIVE, a workforce development initiative designed to help students across the country explore real-world career pathways in aerospace, advanced manufacturing, engineering, and emerging technologies.

  • digital lock

    CoSN: Cybersecurity and Data Privacy Remain Top AI Concerns in Education

    A leading concern for education technology leaders across the United States is the potential for AI to enable new forms of cyber attacks, according to the latest State of Ed Tech report from CoSN.

  • broken digital lock and glowing chain

    Check Point Researchers: AI Has Crossed into the Live Attack Chain

    AI is moving beyond assisting cybercriminals and beginning to operate within live attacks, according to a recent report from Check Point Research. The technology is making sophisticated capabilities faster and more accessible while creating new security risks for businesses deploying their own AI systems.

  • circuit patterns

    Anthropic Intros Lower-Cost Claude Sonnet 5

    Anthropic has launched Claude Sonnet 5, positioning the model as its most autonomous mid-tier offering to date and a lower-cost alternative to its flagship Opus 4.8 system. The company said the model can plan multi-step tasks, operate tools such as browsers and terminals, and complete agentic work at a level that previously required larger and more expensive models.