Project Recap

STEM 360 is an ongoing initiative linking classroom instruction with out-of-school experiences to strengthen middle-grade students’ STEM interest, career awareness, and academic achievement.

Project Description

Since 2016, the Institute for Learning Innovation (ILI) has partnered with the Virginia Air and Space Science Center and Virginia school districts on STEM 360, a multi-year initiative designed to build learning ecosystems that support students’ STEM interest, career awareness, and academic achievement in grades 4-7. The program takes a comprehensive, “360-degree” approach by connecting classroom learning with coordinated experiences in community-based settings.

Rather than offering isolated field trips or classroom visits, STEM 360 intentionally aligns learning opportunities across settings. For example, students might explore space careers in class, visit the Air and Space Center to engage with exhibits and view astronaut training in IMAX, and then conduct hands-on solar system investigations back at school. These interconnected experiences reinforce one another and support sustained engagement.

This ecosystem approach is particularly important during upper elementary and early middle school years, when long-term attitudes toward STEM often take shape.

ILI serves as the research and evaluation partner, conducting ongoing assessment to help ensure the program meets its goals while contributing to the development, testing, and refinement of sustainable and scalable practices.