December 2026
As students finish up the semester, wrap up assignments, and prepare for winter break, learning can take a more relaxed approach. The STEM holidays and observances this month offer simple topics to explore in the classroom or at home without making it feel like more schoolwork.
Giving Tuesday
Think about how you can use your time, skills, or resources to help others and support causes that matter to you. In STEM, giving back can mean mentoring, volunteering, supporting education, or helping make STEM opportunities more accessible.
National Disability Day
Learn about the contributions of people with disabilities and the importance of making spaces, tools, and technology more accessible. STEM plays an important role in creating assistive technologies and finding new ways to make everyday life more accessible.
World Soil Day
Take a closer look at the ground beneath your feet and the science happening in soil. Soil supports plants, ecosystems, agriculture, and much of life on Earth, making it an important area of study in biology and environmental science.
Nobel Prize Day
Explore the scientists and discoveries recognized with Nobel Prizes and the work behind their achievements. It’s a chance to see how years of research, curiosity, and problem-solving can lead to discoveries that change our understanding of the world.
Computer Science Education Week
Take some time to explore computer science, whether you’re learning your first bit of code or already building projects. It’s a chance to see how programming and computational thinking are used to create the technology you interact with every day.
Wright Brothers Day
Look back at the Wright brothers’ work and the engineering challenges they had to solve to achieve powered flight. Their story shows how experimentation, problem-solving, and persistence can turn an idea into something that actually works.
Winter Solstice
Explore what happens when one hemisphere experiences its shortest day and longest night of the year. The winter solstice gives you a chance to learn more about Earth’s tilt, its orbit around the Sun, and why our seasons change.
