One of the slenderest reeds in the STEM education field is the capacity of elementary educators to prepare students for STEM success. No fault of theirs, to be sure – elementary educators are always being asked to do more and more. Here are some tips and resources for helping early learners start a rewarding, enriching STEM journey.
Read MoreSummer Mixed the Future of STEM with Blasts from the Past
Snoopy and friends made a long-awaited return to their old NASA home this summer, among other interesting developments in STEM education, some retro and others very now, indeed.
Read MoreHelping Tomorrow’s Workforce through Tough Times
Automation, artificial intelligence, and innovation in general promise to shape the “workforce of tomorrow” in unpredictable ways. It won’t necessarily be pretty, but STEM Solutions attendees saw both reasons for optimism and opportunities ahead for rewarding, plentiful work.
Read MoreEngineering a Start-Up to Train Teachers
Engineering is spreading through schools in all parts of the country. The main obstacle remains the lack of teachers with adequate training and support. We have launched a new non-profit, Engineers On Deck, to help solve this problem. And we are psyched.
Read MoreOpening Up the Black Box of "Career Readiness"
“Career readiness” means many different things to many different people. From career and technical education to 21st-century skills, a framework that fits for all students is hard to find. Could engineering in K-12 be a linchpin to the solution?
Read MoreHip Hop Opens a Door to STEM Learning
Can Hip Hop really work as a pathway into STEM learning? GZA of the Wu-Tang Clan and Columbia University professor Chris Emdin say yes. And they've got Science Genius in place, the program to prove it.
Read MoreCybersecurity Education Is Quickly Coming of Age
Cybersecurity education is fast becoming both necessary and popular. Right now, it’s more common in afterschool programs than formal K-12 education. But that will and should be changing.
Read MoreAccess and Diversity Occupy Attention at STEM Solutions Meeting
Questions about access to STEM education and how to connect it to students’ existing interests dominated discussions at this year’s always-interesting U.S. News STEM Solutions meeting.
Read MoreAs Engineering Grows in K-12, Who Will Teach It?
All the complicated questions about K-12 engineering can boil down this: Who will be there to teach it? Find out how current and future teachers get trained in engineering and who’s doing it.
Read MoreEngineering as a Stealth Language Art, Part 2
Putting engineering and literacy learning efforts together in the classroom can be a challenge. Here are a several ways people have done it with success and imagination.
Read MoreEngineering as a Stealth Language Art, Part 1
How many bars are in this picture? What we see often depends on how we see it. From one angle, engineering is all about math and science. From another, it's a great tool for, yes, literacy.
Read More3 Reasons for K-12 Engineering You Just Can’t Argue With
Liz Parry's K-12 engineering story has gone all the way to the Oval Office. In her vision of things, yes, engineering promotes students' learning and achievement. It can also help them become more engaged, informed citizens.
Read More150+ Ways to Pick a STEM Career
Take a look at The Career Gadget, a new website that can connect students to the STEM field that's right for them. It offers hundreds of videos featuring STEM professionals, rich informational resources, and materials in English, Spanish, and French.
Read MoreThe Heart of the Matter: How to Inspire Future Engineers
Engineering can seem like the Tin Man of professions, eminently useful but lacking heart. Here's a rich, fun talk with Dave Goldberg, of "A Whole New Engineer" fame, about how to show students the engaging, inspiring possibilities of the field.
Read MoreCS Crashes the Summer in STEM
On various fronts, computer science has announced its presence with authority in the field of STEM education. See why the next steps will be so difficult.
Read MoreWhy and How to Get Started with K-12 Engineering
Why and how to get started with K-12 engineering can be big questions. Here are the answers.
Read MoreIf a Test in STEM Can Be Fun ...
The headlines highlighted girls outperforming boys in engineering and technology literacy. But the real story lies with the test itself. It was fun. Does that have to be strange?
Read MoreRound-Up: Holiday Fun, a Mixed ESSA Bag, and Perhaps a Reprieve from the Robots
A dash of engineering for the holidays, an education law with something for everyone, and the hair dryer that fried IBM.
Read MoreHow Is Engineering Really Relevant in K-12?
Looking at the relevance of engineering to our daily lives provides a rich, accessible angle for bringing the subject into K-12 teaching and learning. From ergonomics to ethics to geopolitics, engineering can serve to integrate disciplines far beyond just the STEM fields.
Read MoreK-12 Learning by Engineering Design
The most valuable lesson students can get from K-12 engineering? It could be the design process, a template for critical thinking, transferable to almost any problem-solving challenge.
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