Each year, we share our 10 most-read stories. Not surprisingly, many of this year’s Top 10 focused on student engagement and online or hybrid learning strategies related to pandemic teaching. This year’s 6th most-read story focuses on how virtual field trips can engage even the most reluctant STEM learners.

It’s January. Winter break is over, and the rest of the school year–whether in person, hybrid, or virtual–seems never-ending. And while traditional field trips are on pause while COVID still spreads, virtual field trips are still very much possible.

Hands-on STEM subjects are challenging to teach when students aren’t in the classroom all the time, and student engagement is also a challenge during COVID. Virtual field trips address both of these persistent roadblocks.

Virtual field trips can help students get a front-row look at STEM outside of the classroom. Where can those engineering concepts you learn during school take you in adulthood? Is it possible to be creative in a STEM career?

Here are some virtual field trips highlighting STEM careers and experiences:

1. Slime in Space: What happens when you send Nickelodeon slime to the International Space Station? That’s exactly what a group of NASA astronauts set out to answer, and we want you and your kids to come along for the ride! This free 15-minute virtual field trip will take kids 250 miles above earth to see how slime, and water, react in a microgravity environment. It’s truly out of this world!

2. Innovation Generation: Transport students beyond the walls of the classroom and into a Stanley Black & Decker Makerspace where making and doing is a way of life! Inspire your students to be agents of innovation. Working alongside the experts of the Stanley Black & Decker Makerspace, students will see and experience first-hand how math, science, technology, creativity and teamwork can lead to technological advancements in our everyday lives.