Spring Planning for STEM-Ready Learning

How Chromebooks Support Hands-On STEM Instruction and Confident Procurement Decisions

As spring arrives, K–12 district leaders enter a critical planning window. Budgets are coming into focus, instructional priorities are sharpening, and technology teams are already looking ahead to Q3 and Q4 procurement. March is not just a midpoint in the school year. It is a strategic opportunity to evaluate how well current technology supports STEM instruction and to plan intentionally for what comes next.

Across districts, STEM initiatives continue to expand beyond specialized labs into everyday classrooms. This shift places new demands on student devices. Reliability, consistency, and ease of management become essential when technology is embedded into daily science experiments, coding activities, data analysis, and collaborative problem-solving.

Why Spring Is the Right Time to Plan for STEM Growth

STEM programs thrive when technology planning happens early. Waiting until summer to address device needs often results in rushed purchasing decisions, limited flexibility, and unnecessary strain on IT teams. Spring planning allows districts to review device performance, assess instructional needs, and ensure technology aligns with evolving STEM goals.

As hands-on learning becomes more common across grade levels, districts need devices that can support frequent use without disrupting instruction. Planning now helps leaders avoid gaps that can slow momentum once the next school year begins.

Chromebooks as a Platform for Everyday STEM Learning

Chromebooks provide a practical foundation for STEM instruction across K–12 environments. Their cloud-based design supports access to coding platforms, virtual labs, data visualization tools, and collaborative applications without requiring complex setup or ongoing manual updates.

For IT teams, centralized management and automatic updates help maintain consistency across large fleets. For educators, this means fewer interruptions and more time focused on instruction. For students, it creates a reliable environment where experimentation, iteration, and problem-solving can happen daily.

Device Durability Matters in STEM Classrooms

STEM learning is active by nature. Devices move between classrooms, labs, and collaborative spaces. They are used for projects that involve movement, shared work, and extended screen time. Choosing devices built for education environments helps reduce avoidable downtime and keeps learning on track.

When districts factor durability and ease of repair into spring planning, they can better support hands-on instruction while protecting long-term technology investments.

Thinking Beyond Devices, Supporting the Full STEM Lifecycle

Strong STEM programs depend on more than device selection alone. Deployment, protection, repair processes, and long-term support all play a role in keeping classrooms running smoothly. A lifecycle approach helps districts control costs, extend device usability, and minimize instructional disruption.

Spring is the ideal time to review existing support strategies and align them with upcoming STEM priorities. Addressing these considerations early supports smoother rollouts and more consistent classroom experiences.

Preparing for a STEM-Ready School Year

Technology should enable curiosity, creativity, and critical thinking. By using March as a planning checkpoint, district leaders can ensure Chromebook investments are aligned with STEM instruction, operational realities, and future growth.

With intentional planning and the right support structure in place, districts can enter the next school year prepared to sustain and scale meaningful STEM learning across their schools.

Summertime, and the Learning is Easy!

School may be out, but the learning never stops—especially for educators! If professional development is on your summer to-do list, we’ve got some ideas for you. Below, check out some professional development options from our partners.

Become a Google Certified Educator

Whether you want to learn how to better use Google tools to streamline your classroom, are interested in learning more about Chromebooks or you’d like to train other educators as a summer side hustle, Google for Education offers a variety of training paths. Free online training help educators make the most of classroom technology, while also preparing them for certifications, including Level 1 and 2 Educator Certifications to Certified Coach, Trainer and Innovator. 

A few highlights of Google’s free courses include the Digital Citizenship and Safety Course, which informs educators how to keep themselves and their students safe from phishing and other scams, how to manage and maintain an online reputation, and how to navigate issues around privacy. Meanwhile, in the Tools for Diverse Learners Training, explore ways to harness technology to better accommodate learners with special needs. 

Inspired educators with a vision to transform education can check out Google’s Certified Innovator program. The program nurtures educators who’ve passed the Google Certified Educator Level 2 exam in launching their own innovation projects with the support of a community of like-minded learners and mentoring. 

Delve into Dell Technologies Professional Learning

Dell Technologies collaborates with school districts to provide personalized professional development for educators. From virtual courses to professional certification offerings, Dell is committed to helping districts achieve their goals. 

Among Dell’s virtual courses, you’ll find classes like Authentic Student Learning and Gamification, which cover the benefits of gamification while also incorporating the theory into the training itself. Inquiry and Questioning: Igniting Student Curiosity with Technology provides a deep dive into the value of fostering curiosity, as well as the intersection of curiosity and technology. Leading a Culture of Change in your School examines technology initiatives that can be used to create change.

Explore the Microsoft Learn Educator Center

The Microsoft Learn Educator Center offers a plethora of training options. Whether you’re interested in integrating Minecraft into your teaching by becoming a Global Minecraft Mentor, learning more about increasing accessibility and inclusivity in your school, or diving deeper into STEM and coding, you’re sure to find training that matches your interests. 

Close the STEM gap by engaging girls goes over ways to close the gender gap and lead more girls and women into STEM careers. In Build social and emotional skills in your classroom community with Reflect, teachers learn how Microsoft’s Reflect app gives students the chance to identify their emotions, increase empathy and feel heard. For educators interested in how a blend of in-person and virtual learning might look in the future, check out Lead forward: Integrate the best strategies from remote, hybrid and blended learning for school leaders.

What are your favorite professional development resources for educators? Leave us a comment and let us know!

Maximize the Immersive Technology in the Classroom

Immersive technologies like virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) provide students with stimulating environments that add tons of educated value. For example, utilizing these cutting edge educational technology tools allows students to see far off places and visit times they’d never be able to experience in reality. There are hundreds of adventures each classroom can take. Before you decide to add this new tech to your school (and we think you should) check out these ways you can use it in the classroom and beyond to maximize its learning potential and justify the expense.

Use it For STEM Learning

The fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics can be opened way up with VR and AR. Scholastic has an entire curriculum dedicated to integrating VR into STEM lesson plans. These areas are ideal for VR and AR since students can travel far beyond our solar system or down to a cellular level. Concepts go from imagined to real. Imagine being able to teach your science students about how a volcano works then virtually traveling inside one as it erupts.

Use it For Professional Development

The best thing about an exciting new form of learning is sharing it with your staff. Training staff and teachers on VR and AR equipment not only creates buy-in, but they now get to add it to their professional development. Use experts (bring them there virtually with Skype), take webinars, hold onsite demonstrations or use your OneNote Staff Notebooks as a collaborative space and resource library to develop the VR and AR skills throughout the entire school.

Getting excited about new technology is great, but knowing how to implement it to its fullest is even better! Ready to integrate this newest edtech in your school? We can help. Contact us today.

3 Ways to Inspire More Girls to Choose STEM Career Paths

Technology is a burgeoning career field and one that’s predicted to grow faster than any other in the United States between now and 2030, but girls still aren’t a big part of this industry. In fact, a Microsoft study shows only a fraction of girls and women are likely to pursue degrees related to Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) subjects. 

That’s why Microsoft is encouraging administrators and teachers to close the STEM gap. This requires tapping into girls’ creativity, providing encouragement and connecting STEM subjects to real-world examples. 

Here are three ways you can encourage girls to get interested in STEM career paths:

1. Provide teachers with more engaging and relatable STEM curriculum, such as 3D and hands-on projects, the kinds of activities that have proven to help retain girls’ interest in STEM over the long haul. Microsoft offers products designed to ignite interest in STEM, including Minecraft: Education Edition, the 3D coordinate system, plus STEM lesson plans and hands-on activities.

2. Increase the number of STEM mentors and role models – including parents – to help build young girls’ confidence that they can succeed in STEM. Girls who are encouraged by their parents are twice as likely to stay in STEM, and in some areas like computer science, dads can have a greater influence on their daughters than moms, yet are less likely than mothers to talk to their daughters about STEM, the study found. Girls Who Code is a group that was founded with a single mission to close the gender gap in technology. It offers free after-school programs for 3rd through 12th-grade girls to join a supportive environment of peers and role models for girls to see themselves as computer scientists.

3. Create inclusive classrooms and workplaces that value female opinions. It’s important to celebrate the stories of women who are in STEM right now, today. Girls Who Code offers lesson plans on that focus on Women In Tech to showcase women who are excelling in STEM fields. These lesson plans introduce middle school students to female role models, like Dr. Ayanna Howard, roboticist, and spark the interest of girls to pursue computer science.

Keeping girls engaged in STEM starts when they’re young and needs to continue through high school. Encouraging them to succeed goes a long way to keeping them on the STEM path until after college. Have you found a way to inspire young girls about science, technology, engineering and math? Share it with us in the comments below!

These STEM Lesson Plans Will Make You (and Your Students) Think

Coming up with creative, fun, and collaborative STEM (and STEAM) lesson plans is easier than ever thanks to Microsoft’s Hacking STEM library. From building machines that emulate human physiology to creating contraptions that help students understand speed, earthquakes, and electricity, these projects and activities are teacher-tested, student-focused, and budget-friendly.

Each complete lesson plan uses commonly found materials and includes a step-by-step guide, a customized Excel workbook, and a list of the technical and supply requirements (plus a shopping list!) to adequately capture the data necessary to learn. 

• The Anemometer: Students learn to understand wind by creating both basic and connected anemometers. From analyzing windspeed manually to physically representing the wind speed for locations around the world (using live data from a global weather service, no less), these motorized and sensor-enabled anemometers will blow them away!

• The Robotic Hand: This project actively integrates robotics with life science using materials like cardboard, string, straws, and servo motors to create a robotic hand. This project is not only hands-on, it’s also “hands in;” by the end of it, students create a glove that senses and tracks their own flexion while measuring the strength and dexterity needed to complete a certain set of tasks.

• The Speed Trap: Developed in partnership with the Mattel Children’s Foundation, this project uses a Hot Wheels ® car and track to measure speed by learning about forces and motion and is perfect for 4th through 8th graders who are always on the move.

• The Seismograph: Predicting earthquakes is one thing; visualizing them is another. The California Academy of Sciences and KQED joined together to create a lesson plan aimed to help students who have never experienced a tremor, and as those who have them as part of their daily lives, understand plate tectonics.

The goal of both STEM and STEAM is to make science, technology, engineering, math, and art both fun and accessible for both the students gearing up to learn and the teachers responsible for making it happen. Microsoft’s library of activities includes everything from weekly projects to “bite-size” projects that take just 15 minutes to 1 hour of classroom time, making it a great resource for teachers who want to make the most of STEM subjects.

This isn't the first time that Microsoft has made things engaging for students, and even Windows 10 has contributed. For other ways to incorporate STEM and STEAM into your curriculum, please contact us.