Frequently Asked Questions

The STEM Challenge is a brand-new science-based competition for high-school students hosted by Frost Science. This competition is an engineering design challenge for students in Miami-Dade County and provides an alternative to a traditional science fair, with students designing solutions to real-world environmental issues.

Teachers can register their classes or extracurriculars for the STEM Challenge online by filling out and submitting a completed registration form.

The problems presented in the STEM Challenge are all based on a central theme that will change every year. The theme of the 2025-2026 STEM Challenge is “Innovating with Technology to Advance Science.”

In the STEM Challenge, students will be presented with four different problems, each associated with a different scientific discipline: marine science, astronomy, health and paleontology. Students will select one problem and design a solution that addresses the problem. Once they have designed their solution, students will design and build a model of their solution, then create a presentation that explains how their solution addresses their selected problem.

Projects will be judged in two rounds, with all judging guidelines for both rounds provided to participants in their Student and Teacher Guidebooks. While the first round of judging occurs virtually and mainly assesses individual project components, the second round of presentations will be judged live and in-person. During the STEM Challenge Expo at Frost Science judges will assess the potential impact of each solution along with each project’s rigor and students’ oral presentations.

Students will virtually submit their presentation and photographs of their model for the first round of judging.

Virtual submissions will be judged based on presentation content, solution design and model design. Select students will be invited to the second round of judging held in-person at Frost Science.

All STEM Challenge projects will be judged together regardless of selected prompt. Judges will award 1st, 2nd and 3rd place to both individual projects and to group projects. Judges will also give awards for top oral presentations and top models. 

The judges of the STEM Challenge have not yet been decided. These judges will be experts in education, engineering, marine science, astronomy, paleontology, and health.

Students winning the STEM Challenge will receive scholarships to public Florida state universities. These scholarships may be applied to tuition or used for school related expenses (including on-campus housing, textbooks, meal plans, school supplies, etc.). To receive the scholarship, students or parents/guardians must be Florida residents.

Students who have completed the project individually will compete with other students who have completed individual projects. Likewise, students who have completed the project as part of a group will compete with other student groups. While individual and group projects will be judged separately, all projects will be judged together regardless of prompt. 

Students may participate every year of the STEM Challenge as long as they are still in middle or high school.  

Both individual and group project winners will receive scholarships. While these scholarships are substantial, individual winners will be able to receive larger scholarships than group winners. This is because groups can distribute the workload among members, share ideas, and assign roles within their group. Individual projects will receive larger scholarships as they are responsible for the entire project from start to finish.

No more than four students can work on a STEM Challenge project.

If you would like to participate in the STEM Challenge and do not have a participating teacher, email mteuber@frostscience.org to learn more about how to enter the STEM Challenge.

Middle school students must complete the Junior STEM Challenge and work independently of high school students completing the STEM Challenge. 

Teachers participating in the STEM Challenge must attend one of the Professional Learning Experiences at Frost Science on September 23, 2025, complete the introductory activity “Let’s Get Started” with students, and have students submit STEM Challenge projects.

Teachers participating in the STEM Challenge will receive a $500 stipend to buy classroom materials and aid students in completing the STEM Challenge. Teachers in M-DCPS may also receive M-DCPS STE(A)M Designation through M-DCPS through the following engagements:

• Professional Learning experiences on September 23, 2025 (lunch and parking included).
• Free field trip and Learning Lab for up to 30 students to Frost Science.
• Virtual Meet the Museum Scientist opportunities.
• Student participation in STEM Challenge event day.
• Free outreach to your classroom.

Along with a $500 stipend, teachers will receive a guidebook that includes STEM Challenge activities and recommended pacing guides, grading rubrics, and content connections.

The STEM Challenge is open to all teachers that would like to participate with students.

All teachers participating in the STEM Challenge can receive the $500 stipend if they attend one of the two Professional development opportunities and submit student projects. This stipend is distributed to all participating teachers, regardless of the number of teachers that participate at each school or the number of participating classes.

There are four different problems or scientific disciplines for the STEM Challenge: marine science, astronomy, health and paleontology. Teachers may let students select from any of the STEM Challenge problems or require students to address a specific problem for their STEM Challenge project. For example, a Marine Biology class may require all students to address the marine science problem, while an Earth and Space Science class may allow students to select any of the STEM Challenge problems.

Middle school students must complete the Junior STEM Challenge and work independently of high school students completing the STEM Challenge.