How STEM Next and Apple Are Scaling Technology Education in Afterschool

On a recent spring afternoon at the Seed Sowers & Storytellers afterschool program in Rochester, New York, Amaya and Ty’Quinn handed their iPad to program leader Qua’Je Lowry to review a video they just recorded. Around them, other groups of elementary school-age kids were busy with other phases of production: recording, reviewing, and shaping their ideas into short clips. 

Equipped with their iPads, they worked together on video footage for a presentation about pollinators, part of a youth-led campaign the program is working on to advocate for protecting insects like bees. 

One reason so far: “We wouldn’t have honey without pollinators,” said one student. 

This is what it looks like when afterschool programs move beyond using technology for instruction alone and empower young people to use it as a tool to address real-world challenges.

“These tools are actually developing kids with what they need,” said Jeremy Smith, Executive Director of Freedom Scholars Learning Center, Inc., which runs the Seed Sowers & Storytellers program.

With support from Apple, STEM Next is helping afterschool educators like Jeremy use technology to enable students to solve real-world problems. This Challenge Based Learning framework is a hands-on approach where young people use technology such as iPads to explore real-world challenges, develop ideas, and create solutions that connect to their communities and future career pathways.

STEM Next aims to broadly scale this learning approach to thousands of programs by first training afterschool system leaders with broad influence.

Through the Apple Tech & Careers Community of Practice, program leaders like Jeremy have been engaging in hands-on learning, coaching, and collaborative planning that equips them to serve as trainers and mentors for other afterschool educators. As they gain experience implementing practices with youth, they share what works with others, helping extend these practices across programs to reach more young people.

One of the educators involved in the Community of Practice is Nancy Coddington, creative director of SciComm Solutions. Her work, which reaches hundreds of youth annually across afterschool programs in rural New York libraries and community organizations, illustrates how this model operates in practice by influencing not only the students she directly serves, but also the broader network of educators with whom she collaborates.

“Sometimes I’m working directly with youth, leading hands-on STEM activities or facilitating programs,” she said. “Other times, I’m supporting educators and program leaders by providing training, coaching, and resources that help them feel more confident bringing STEM into their own programs.”

She emphasized the importance of STEM Next’s approach, noting that “the Community of Practice has introduced practical strategies like Challenge Based Learning and creative ways to use Apple apps,” which strengthens her ability to support other educators in adopting similar approaches. 

“The impact I hope to see is youth becoming more confident in exploring STEM topics and sharing what they discover,” she said. “If students can document their thinking and communicate ideas, it helps them start to see themselves as participants in STEM.”

Building Confidence for Educators and Students

At the Rochester program, this shift is already visible in how young people are approaching their afterschool projects. 

Using Freeform to organize ideas and GarageBand to bring them to life, students are turning concepts into campaigns. Freeform is Apple’s digital whiteboard application designed for creative brainstorming and collaboration, which students are using to organize and develop their advocacy campaign to protect pollinators in the local ecosystem. The campaign is a collaboration with local partner 4H Cornell Cooperative Extension.

Soon, the students — whom the program refers to as scholars — will learn how to use GarageBand to produce beats that reinforce literacy skills and design visual components using other Apple apps, including Keynote.

Jeremy reflected this progression, noting that increased familiarity with the range of available apps has made him more willing to explore and incorporate technology into instruction.

When programs receive new technology, educators are rarely equipped with as much support to use it to its full potential, he said. But having confidence in using those tools effectively is what ultimately allows their youth participants to go from passive users to active creators who can make a greater impact.

Paired with Challenge Based Learning as an engagement approach, young people can experience hands-on STEM learning in a highly impactful way.

“I’m in love with the Challenge Based Learning framework,” he said. “I truly understand the high-quality academic engagement that transpires from engaging, investigating, and [taking] action.”

Expanding Access Through a Networked Approach

This shift is particularly significant in programs where access to STEM opportunities, especially those using the latest technology, has been limited by factors such as cost and availability. By combining technology access, pedagogy, and a train-the-trainer model, STEM Next is supporting a network of educators who are equipped not only to enhance their own programs but also to expand access to meaningful STEM learning experiences for others.

The result is a growing ecosystem in which both educators and students are positioned to contribute, create, and lead within STEM, extending the impact of this work well beyond any single program or community. 

To continue to expand this network, STEM Next will be training more educators in Texas and New York through additional Community of Practice cohorts. 

STEM Next has also released three Challenge Based Learning activities designed for afterschool and summer educators to use in their programs nationwide. These activities are a way for any afterschool program to quickly start integrating this powerful learning framework into their programs.

Click below to access these resources:

Challenge Based Learning Activities

Photos by Lauren Petracca.