About STEAM Powered Family
Welcome to STEAM Powered Family where we dedicate ourselves to promoting positive learning experiences for all students!
Our Origin Story
STEAM Powered Family started in 2015 as the brain child and passion project of Shelley Brewer. With her Psychology degree and a passion for science, STEM, writing and learning, it was the perfect project for her to share her love of the learning with parents, teachers and kids of all ages.
Before becoming a mom and starting STEAM Powered Family, Shelley worked as a Communications and Marketing Manager with the government. This role enabled her to travel and learn public relations from experts in the field and spend a lot of time connecting with people from all walks of life. During this time, she underwent extensive training and developed technical skills in web development, graphic design, writing, and more.
Then came kids and it was time for a career shift! STEAM Powered Family was the perfect venue to combine all of her skills and passions.
Shortly after starting STEAM Powered Family, Shelley was invited to be a contributor of the very popular STEAM Kids book series. Her articles and activities have also been featured by publications such as Good Housekeeping and The Week Junior Science+Nature Magazine, and she has been a guest speaker on STEM at numerous homeschooling and educator conferences.
Over the years the site has grown with the addition of new team members and developed into an educational resource for educators all over the world. STEAM Powered Family has become known for our mental health first approach to creating innovative kids activities, science experiments and STEM Projects. From homeschooling parents, to librarians, to program coordinators, and most of all teachers, the STEAM Powered Family site is used and loved by people around the world.
Our Goal
The one common goal with all of our STEAM Powered Family visitors is a passion for educating and raising a generation of children that are passionate learners with an insatiable curiosity for knowledge and growth. To achieve this we combine STEM and STEAM Principles with sound mental health practices that are trauma informed.
Here we are constantly looking for ways to foster curiosity and a love of learning in our children, regardless of ability or history. We firmly believe that this is the foundation from which we can set our children up for success in our ever changing world. At STEAM Powered Family we believe inclusive teaching practices and classrooms are key to the success of all education. With a focus on STEM and STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math), and positive children’s mental health practices, our goal is to foster resilient, healthy minds.
Our Team
To achieve our goals and develop important resources for our readers, we have a team of highly skilled education professionals from all over the globe. They include educators specializing in STEM education, with Masters and PhD degrees, and they all have one goal – inspiring the next generation to love learning!
Interested in joining our team? Check out our hiring page for details.
Using STEAM Powered Family
Here at STEAM Powered Family we firmly believe that all children can learn and that we need to adapt our teaching to provide a child centered experience. This means meeting a child where they are at, by incorporating projects that ignite their passions, and by listening to the needs of our kids. This site is used by educators around the world and we are so incredibly proud of our global community that is raising an an amazing new generation of change makers.
As part of our mission we have organized the extensive content on this site based on subject matter to help you find the projects that are right for your kids, right now. Almost all of our projects are easily adaptable to a wide variety of ages, with many articles including tips on adapting the project. Use the menus at the top of every page to explore our many STEM, Science and Mental Health resources. Have fun finding your next project!
FAQs
First, learn What is STEM so you have a solid foundation of the concepts and how this approach to education is different from what you may have experienced in the past. Then I recommend looking through the categories at the top of the page and clicking on the areas that interest you the most.
Maybe? The team is always looking for new project ideas. Send us an email and maybe we will add it to our future projects!
This one is tricky to answer, because the answer is: it depends. The core concepts of STEM learning are that with proper scaffolding all children can learn, so most of our projects can be adapted for a variety of age groups and abilities (we often provide guidance on this). At the end of the day, you know your kids best, and with a passionate helper guiding them, they can do amazing things! Just always make sure you keep safety first and provide appropriate adult supervision, especially with younger kids.
Got a question? Reach out to info@steampoweredfamily.com.