Empowering innovators through S.T.E.M., Mindfulness, Design Thinking, and Art to create meaningful experiences for classrooms, businesses, and communities.
STEM-n-STONE helps educators, entrepreneurs, and creative thinkers develop the mindset, skills, and confidence to design innovative solutions to real-world challenges. Through engaging workshops, coaching, and creative learning experiences, we help individuals turn curiosity into innovation.
Why STEM_n_Stone?
Why Hire Carla Stone?
Carla Stone delivers engaging, customized professional development experiences that inspire growth, creativity, and lasting impact. Every workshop is thoughtfully designed to align with your organization's unique goals, culture, and challenges—ensuring participants leave with practical strategies they can use immediately.
Drawing on her background in education, business, and facilitation, Carla specializes in creating dynamic learning experiences that strengthen teams, build leadership, and cultivate innovation.
Popular Workshop Topics:
Team Building & Collaboration
Design Thinking & Innovation
STEM/STEAM Education
Social-Emotional Learning (SEL)
Emotional Intelligence
Inquiry-Based Learning
Mindfulness in the Classroom
Motivation & Leadership
Storytelling for Engagement
Whether you're supporting educators, nonprofit leaders, or corporate teams, Carla's workshops empower people to connect, create, and lead with purpose.
Inspire your team. Strengthen your culture. Create lasting change. Contact Carla Stone to design a professional development experience tailored to your organization today!
Empowering Future Educators at Thornton Fractional South
At STEM_n_Stone, we are proud to collaborate with Thornton Fractional South in Lansing, IL, to nurture the next generation of educators. Through our innovative STEAM & Stories program and Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) program, we are shaping young minds aged 15-18 to become the best educators of the future. By blending creativity, science, and emotional intelligence, we equip these aspiring teachers with the skills and mindset needed to inspire and empower future generations.
Fostering Environmental Innovation: A Citywide Collaboration
From 2017 to 2020, STEM_n_Stone spearheaded an inspiring initiative in partnership with the city of Evanston, Northwestern University, The Evanston Public Library, the McGaw Y.M.C.A. Meta Media Lab, and school district 65. Together, we organized an annual citywide Invention Convention, engaging over 900 eleven and twelve-year-olds in showcasing their environmental solutions.
In 2020, amidst the challenges of the pandemic, we pivoted to a virtual platform, leveraging Minecraft as a creative tool for students to exhibit their inventions and solutions for Climate Change. Guided by the Stanford Design Method and inspired by the former mayor's Climate Action Resilience Plan (C.A.R.P), students tackled Evanston's toughest environmental issues:
Reducing Waste: Implementing solutions for household and school waste reduction.
Energy Conservation: Exploring strategies to minimize energy consumption and increase renewable energy sources.
Preserving Urban Canopy: Innovating ways to preserve and restore urban green spaces.
Stormwater Management: Developing solutions to reduce stormwater runoff and increase absorption.
Making an Impact, Together: Through collaborative efforts and creative problem-solving, we made a tangible impact on Evanston's environmental challenges. Now, we stand ready to extend our expertise and support to help you change the world for the better. Whether you're an educational institution, community organization, or individual with a vision for positive change, STEM_n_Stone is here to empower you to make a difference.
Join us in shaping a brighter, more sustainable future – together, we can turn ideas into action and create lasting impact.
Within the next five years, STEM & STONE will expand our mission by doubling the number of countries that we work with to develop the minds of their youngest designers so that they are S.T.E.M Career Ready for High School and beyond! We love helping kids change the world for the better one environmental issue at a time.
Carla Stone is a Nationally Board Certified Teacher, a 2011 Golden Apple Award Winner who has served district 65, the Evanston Community and Chicago Neighborhood Communities with passion for Design Thinking, the Arts, Technology, Entrepreneurship and Career Readiness with S.T.E.M to develop the minds of young designers who learn how to be “The Boss of Their Own Thinking” while solving design challenges and environmental issues.
No matter what age, kids can learn how to design solutions to most problems large or small. When we give kids time to sit with their thinking, spend time figuring out science, exploring phenomenon, expressing their natural talents and supporting all of this with resources…the possibilities are always endless!
Our Programs include professional development for teachers with or without students. We also have workshop series that range from 1 day, 3 day, 5 day, two weeks or quarterly check-ins. Workshops can be tailored to the curriculum needs of the institution if requested. We focus on inquiry science incorporating student driven experiences. We love to show educators that S.T.E.M and Design Thinking can be applied to any content area. Some of the best projects have been developed outside the area of S.T.E.M. Our team has experience weaving the Arts into our design challenges. Creativity is our specialty. Nurturing young minds and the minds of the teachers who stand with them is our passion!
The E in STEM is what drives our team. We use the Stanford Design Method with children ages 5-18 to solve mini design challenges all the way to local/global environmental issues. Students learning how to think like an Engineer gives them the ability to compete in a modern technological world. We facilitate collaborative talk, active listening, ideating, prototyping and redesigning skillsets with students of any age.
Our team is currently writing a grant to the Bill and Linda Gates foundation to support the distribution of more technological resources for the students, localities and countries whom we impact. We support students at any age who want to learn how write code (the language of a computer) and create applications that will change their lives enhancing their skills sets for the demand of the future job market.
Inquiry Science is a way of student centered learning where student interest is ignited through scientific phenomenon and their natural curiosity. Students are asked to notice, wonder and think critically about real world problems. Their driving questions can lead to investigations and experimentations that can be shared locally or globally.
“Applying mathematics during engineering design challenges can help children develop critical thinking, problem solving, and communication skills. Challenging students with important mathematics prepares them to solve problems in class and at home” (National Council of Teachers of Mathematics). Thus, we support the use of grade level math curriculum with integrity though out our S.T.E.M activities.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
We could not do what we do without the help of amazing volunteers who give generously of their time and resources.
6 Programs to choose from to develop your creativity and inspire others using STEM/STEAM and design thinking!
Sign-up to be a creative thought partner, sponsor, collaborator, 6th grade invention convention judge or more!
We accept all donations, large or small, to help create a better world for a brighter tomorrow. All kids need S.T.E.M!
