The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and I-STEM are proud to support National Lab Day! Our efforts are focused on fostering accessible, effective STEM teaching and learning at local, state, and national levels, thereby preparing a highly able citizenry and STEM workforce to tackle pressing global challenges. If you are a participating teacher, student, or volunteer, we encourage you to use the many resources available at Illinois, many of which we have listed below, to enhance your National Lab Day experience! For the many gifted STEM scientists, researchers, and students at Illinois, we encourage you to become involved in National Lab Day by volunteering your services via their website.
Somewhat of a misnomer, National Lab Day isn't necessarily in a lab, and it isn't just one day. It's more of a movement to foster STEM education. According to Arden Bement, Director of the National Science Foundation, "National Lab Day is neither just about labs, in the brick and mortar sense, nor is it limited to a single day. It is a nationwide movement to support active, engaging teaching and learning. It is about encouraging, engaging, and inspiring children. It is about building long-term relationships between our STEM professionals and our K-12 classrooms." Bement sees the National Lab Day website as a clearing house where teachers can indicate what they need in order to succeed in the classroom, and most have indicated a desire to be connected with a scientist or STEM professional, who can then begin to build a relationship with the teacher.
Following are resources for specific groups of stakeholders, such as P-16 teachers. The links in each category include a comprehensive list of resources.
I-STEM is recruiting! We need enthusiastic undergrad and/or grad students for two roles, depending upon student strengths/interests.
Apply for internship here.
