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College of Education and Human Services
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Our Resources

NEFSTEM serves as a network of STEM professionals including scientists, administrators, STEM teaching coaches, STEM teachers, and pre-service teachers. It is uniquely positioned to provide resources for in-service and pre-service teachers in districts in urban and rural settings in Northeast Florida. UNF and NEFSTEM provide support for STEM education using a wide-array of resources including: STEM-related departments, a flagship coastal biology program, and field-based materials. These entities provide a large amount of infrastructure, resources and expertise including: the STEP Lab, on-campus field trips, pre- and in-service teacher professional development through badging, computer science labs, coastal biology labs and the Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve. 

The UNF Step Lap classroom while empty

STEP Lab

The UNF STEP Lab, housed in the COEHS, is a STEM learning resource for regional students and teachers, faculty, UNF students and community partners. The Lab and the College’s full-time partnership with the Northeast Florida STEM2 Hub and Code.org has enabled the College to become a major player in the Northeast Florida STEM ecosystem. 

Learn more about STEP Lab

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Project InTERSECT

With the addition of Project InTERSECT, we are able to offer local educators and teacher candidates STEM and computational thinking training. Project InTERSECT focuses on Inquiry to Transform Educator Readiness for STEM+C Early Childhood Teaching. This Supporting Effective Educator Development grant (SEED) will expand existing partnerships with Duval County Public Schools (DCPS) and Northeast Florida Regional STEM2Hub to provide teachers with evidence-based professional development activities that address the need of DCPS students as well as evidence-based professional enhancement which includes activities leading to advanced credentials.

Who is Project InTERSECT for?

  • STEM +C Teacher Leader Graduate Coursework,
  • STEM+C Teacher Professional Development Modules, and
  • STEM+C Teacher Candidate Badging

Learn more about Project InTERSECT

St Johns River with greenery

STEM and STEAM Curriculum

Using the State of the Lower St. Johns River Watershed “State of the River” Report, lesson plans have been developed for elementary and secondary teacher use. These lessons are Florida standards-aligned lesson plans and video resources. These materials provide STEM content with a Northeast Florida context. For more information about educational materials related to the River Report, contact Dr. Brian Zoellner, Associate Professor, Secondary Science Education, UNF College of Education and Human Services by email at b.p.zoellner@unf.edu to get started.

Two adults working on a project in the Step Lab

TECt Grant

The UNF project — Teachers Enhancing Computational Thinking (TECt): Preparing Northeast Florida's Secondary Teachers to Foster Computational Thinking in Computer Science — builds on current collaborative initiatives to prepare high school teachers to teach computer science (CS) courses through professional development (PD) and coursework leading to state certification in CS. TECt engages multiple partners from UNF, Duval County Public Schools (DCPS), and the Northeast Florida STEM2 Hub, along with CS teachers and experts in education, CS and business in addressing the gap in the availability and access to CS courses.

Learn more about TECt Grant

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Scratch Education Collaborative

The collaborative is an international network of organizations focused on supporting learners from historically marginalized communities in developing their confidence with creative computing using the Scratch computer programming platform. This platform allows students to program their own interactive stories, games, and animations while allowing the sharing of these creations with others in the online community. Scratch helps young people develop 21st Century skills like learning to think creatively, reason systematically, and work collaboratively. Discover more about Scratch Education Collaborative.