CoderZ to Launch New CoderZ League Sprint Challenge Virtual Tournament in March

This year, students across the United States can look forward to another type of March Madness. On top of cheering on their favorite collegiate basketball team, they’ll be the ones competing – in the new CoderZ League Sprint Challenge. The cloud-based robotics tournament is designed to give participating students the chance to connect with peers, improve their STEM skills and have fun while learning.

The challenge will take place in the CoderZ Cyber Robotics Learning Environment, an innovative, online platform which has a coding interface where users can activate a virtual robot, or “cyber-robot,” and watch the results in a real-time simulation.

Students will form five-member teams and compete against other teams within their school. A statewide leaderboard will also allow them to compare their progress with that of other teams throughout their state. The challenge can accommodate whatever method a school is using to deliver instruction, whether it’s in person, online or a hybrid model.…Read More

Flinn Scientific Partners with the Virginia Technology Student Association to Support Virtual STEM Competitions

Flinn Scientific, a flagship provider of science lab materials and safety and STEM solutions for the K-16 education market, has partnered with the Virginia Technology Student Association (Virginia TSA) to support and expand participation in virtual, intra-curricular student STEM competitions. Through the partnership, new Virginia TSA school chapters can purchase Flinn Scientific’s WhiteBox Learning program at an exclusive rate to be used by students as they compete in regional, state, and national competitions that test their engineering skills. Additionally, new Virginia TSA school chapters will receive incentives from Virginia TSA for engaging and exposing STEM students to learning, leadership, and career opportunities.

“In today’s virtual and in-person environments, WhiteBox Learning allows students to work like real-world scientists as they experience the engineering design process,” said Michael Lavelle, CEO of Flinn Scientific. “Our partnership with Virginia TSA will help us support and grow virtual competitions throughout the state, as well as expand Virginia schools’ use of our virtual engineering curriculum to support CTE and STEM education.”

Virginia TSA is the state affiliate of the national Technology Student Association (TSA) which is a national, non-profit career and technical student organization (CTSO) of middle school and high school students who are engaged in STEM. Since TSA was chartered in 1978, more than 5 million student members have participated in the organization’s competitions, intra-curricular activities, leadership opportunities, community service, and more.…Read More

VHS Learning Partners with Schools in Massachusetts to Offer Online Courses

Three Massachusetts schools are the latest to join the hundreds of schools around the world in choosing VHS Learning as an online course provider for their students. Schools can easily increase their course offerings by giving students access to the VHS Learning catalog, which consists of more than 250 unique teacher-led online courses, including 24 AP® offerings, innovative STEM programs, and a wide variety of unique electives.

Marblehead High School, located in Essex County in the northeastern part of Massachusetts, has chosen to expand course offerings with a new membership that provides 112 student enrollments in VHS Learning courses. Andover High School, also in Essex County, expanded their VHS Learning partnership by purchasing 100 enrollments, and is also incorporating one teacher into the program. Natick High School, located in the Greater Boston area, purchased 40 enrollments.

VHS Learning design and delivery standards were the model used by the National Education Association when they created the first standards for online learning. Last year in collaboration with the international nonprofit Quality Matters and the Virtual Learning Leadership Alliance, VHS Learning helped revise the National Standards for Quality (NSQ) in three areas: Online Courses, Online Teaching, and Online Programs.…Read More

Kanopy Enhances Kanopy Kids with Short Films from Sesame Workshop and Highlights

According to a soon-to-be released Kanopy survey of more than 730 librarians — primarily in the U.S. –50% of public libraries believe it is their responsibility to provide their local K-12 schools with streaming films that support their curriculum. Despite that, just over 14% say they are currently collaborating with local schools to help meet their needs.

To help facilitate collaboration between public libraries and the communities they serve, Kanopy is adding a dozen Spanish-language videos from Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit organization behind Sesame Street,and 30 films from Highlights to Kanopy Kids. This carefully curated collection now includes a growing selection of more than 1,500 educational, age appropriate videos with parental controls covering topics from STEM to history and story time.

“Parents, educators and librarians know that having access to quality content is important,” said Darryl Eschete, Director of the West Des Moines Public Library. “The educational and instructional films that Kanopy offers helps our library make sure that we meet the strategic goal of supporting education and making content appropriate to all grade levels accessible wherever our patrons are.”…Read More

Flinn Scientific Partners with the Texas Technology Student Association to Support Virtual STEM Competitions

“Whether in person or remote, WhiteBox Learning allows students to experience the STEM engineering design process in a dynamic and engaging way,” said Michael Lavelle, CEO of Flinn Scientific. “Through our partnership with TTSA, we look forward to supporting its virtual engineering competitions with our technology while helping to grow student participation across the state. This partnership brings together the unique strengths of both of our organizations to extraordinarily advance opportunities for today’s STEM students.”

TTSA is the state affiliate of the national Technology Student Association (TSA) which is a national, non-profit career and technical student organization (CTSO) of middle school and high school students who are engaged in STEM. Since TSA was chartered in 1978, more than 5 million student members have participated in the organization’s competitions, intra-curricular activities, leadership opportunities, community service, and more.

All TSA competi­tions are aligned with STEM standards, 21st century leadership skills, and the U.S. Department of Education’s National Career Clusters Framework®. TSA competi­tions are categorized by a number of career pathways and provide TSA members the opportunity to apply technology and engineering skills in challenging and innovative ways as they work either individually or in a team.…Read More

STEM Careers Coalition Marks First Anniversary and New, No-Cost Digital Resources

The STEM Careers Coalition – the first-of-its-kind national STEM initiative powered by corporate leaders and anchored in schools by Discovery Education – marks its first anniversary by welcoming new members to the growing coalition and by offering educators, students, and families nationwide access to a host of new, no-cost digital resources. The array of dynamic resources leverages the power of digital content to connect all learners to their innate curiosity by bringing STEM to life.

Members of the STEM Careers Coalition are united by the common goals of empowering educators to teach STEM effectively in the classroom, fostering and promoting quality education, and building the next generation of STEM solution-seekers with intentional focus on racial and gender equity. Representing a range of industry sectors, the STEM Careers Coalition seeks to prepare 10 million students for the future of work by 2025 by providing equitable access to digital content and experiences that engage students in instruction, build foundational STEM knowledge, and develop the critical skills students need for college and career success. Among the new organizations supporting the Coalition’s mission are:

 …Read More

Vernier Software & Technology Takes Science to the Next Level

To further support collaborative STEM learning, Vernier Software & Technology recently launched LabQuest 3. This standalone data-collection platform takes the award-winning LabQuest interface and enhances it with a robust set of new features and functionality for middle school, high school, and college students to use during classroom, laboratory, or field investigations.

“LabQuest 3 makes it easier than ever for students to collect, analyze, and interact with data as they engage in hands-on scientific discovery,” said John Wheeler, CEO of Vernier Software & Technology. “The platform’s full set of new features—from its capacitive touch screen to its compatibility with our complete family of Go Direct® wireless sensors—really take the data-collection experience to the next level for students.”

LabQuest 3 is a full-featured platform highlighted by a large, high-resolution color screen, and intuitive software navigation using gestures, which can be a faster, more ergonomic way to interact with the screen. LabQuest 3 also offers robust wireless capabilities that provide students the ability to collect data anywhere when using the device. Students can connect LabQuest 3 to any of the Go Direct sensors using Bluetooth® wireless technology or, if needed, easily connect to wired Vernier sensors. With Wi-Fi wireless connectivity, students can collect and share data with multiple devices—including computers, Chromebooks, or mobile devices running Vernier Graphical Analysis—for a hands-on, collaborative learning experience.…Read More

5 simple ways to integrate STEAM education into elementary classrooms

As educators, our goal is to shape our students’ lives by teaching them in ways that produce well rounded individuals. Whether STEAM education is new to you or you’re already familiar with it, it’s a great way to excite students about learning.

Some people like to debate STEM vs. STEAM. In case you’re unfamiliar with these terms I’ll tell you what they mean. STEM is an acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering, & Math. STEAM is all of those, plus the A for Arts. I once had an actual rocket scientist (he’s a genius & a truly brilliant man) debate STEM vs. STEAM with me. He said there is no place for art in STEM education. Well, I disagree!

When you look at a beautiful building or a breathtaking bridge, do you not see the artistic value? When engineers design something, I have to think that they take the aesthetics of their design into account to produce something unique and beautiful!…Read More

Discovery Museum Announces New STEM Learning Resources for Teachers and Families

Discovery Museum announced today the launch of Virtual Traveling Science Workshops (VTSW) and other teaching resources for schools, and Parent-Assisted STEAM Experiences (PASE), a set of in-museum and at-home learning resources and supports for families. Developed to address the educational constraints of the COVID crisis on schools and families, these resources will support student learning this school year and beyond.

Virtual Traveling Science Workshops – The Museum has launched Virtual Traveling Science Workshops (VTSW), a redevelopment of its popular in-school STEM workshops, with COVID-19 protocols and safety standards in place. VTSW are available for eight STEM topics including Magnets, Sound, Force & Motion, Weather & Climate, and more.  The workshops are for Kindergarten through 8th grade, for students either in the classroom or at home.

Virtual Traveling Science Workshops are taught by Museum educators, streamed live to encourage student interaction. Individual student materials are safely packaged and delivered to the school in advance of the workshop to allow for timely distribution to students, whether they will be in the classroom or at home. These workshops are available for booking now.…Read More

Samsung Launches Annual $2 Million Solve for Tomorrow Contest

Samsung today announced the launch of  the 11th annual $2 million* Samsung Solve for Tomorrow Contest, which challenges students in grades 6–12 and their teachers to use STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) to tackle local issues of national importance. Now through December 13, 2020, public school teachers across the U.S. can apply** for this year’s program and submit their activity plans that enable students to create real-world change in their communities using problem-based learning.

As students and teachers continue to navigate a complex learning environment – whether virtual, in-person or a hybrid of both – Solve for Tomorrow provides a unique opportunity for teachers to bring their students together regardless of classroom format using problem-based learning and hands-on STEM skills. Solve for Tomorrow empowers thousands of students to create innovative solutions that transform communities as they address issues ranging from mental health and wildfire safety to sustainability and climate change.

“Teachers are the backbone of our education system and Samsung recognizes the challenges that today’s educators are facing. We are in awe of the resiliency of teachers and students who have adapted to a new learning environment, and we remain focused on encouraging unique ways for students to engage in hands-on STEM learning all across the country,” said Ann Woo, Senior Director of Corporate Citizenship at Samsung Electronics America. “Over the last decade, Samsung Solve for Tomorrow has enabled our youth to pave the way towards real, meaningful change. Now more than ever, it is imperative that we guide students on the value of STEM skills to solve the greatest issues impacting their local communities and we look forward to this year’s STEM innovations.”…Read More

Go Direct Weather System provides a versatile and affordable way for educators to engage students

Vernier recently launched the new Go Direct® Weather System to engage students in hands-on data collection as they learn important environmental science concepts. This affordable wireless sensor can be used in the classroom or out in the field to help middle school, high school, and college-level students investigate and analyze a variety of environmental factors.

“This new sensor for environmental science provides an affordable way for STEM educators to engage their students in data collection as they explore the science of natural phenomena,” said John Wheeler, CEO of Vernier Software & Technology. “The Go Direct Weather System is notable because students can collect and analyze multiple types of environmental data using just one compact system.”

The two-part Go Direct Weather System consists of the Go Direct Weather sensor and the Go Direct Weather Vane. The handheld weather sensor is used to collect data around ambient temperature, humidity, wind speed, wind chill, dew point, barometric pressure, and more. The weather vane accessory is used in conjunction with the sensor to capture wind direction data.…Read More

Two Kentucky School Systems Select Discovery Education to Support STEM and STEAM Instruction

Two Kentucky school systems—Fayette County Public Schools (FCPS) and the Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS)—recently selected Discovery Education to support STEM/STEAM education in their school districts. Through these two new partnerships, Discovery Education will help educators in FCPS’s RISE Academy and JCPS’s Grace James Academy of Excellence nurture the growth of STEM cultures within these all-female schools  that help students develop the creative, critical thinking, communication, and collaboration skills needed for success in classrooms, online, or in the hybrid environment. Discovery Education is the global leader in standards-aligned digital curriculum resources, engaging content, and professional learning for K-12 classrooms.

A brand new school opening in the 2020-2021 school year, FCPS’s Rise STEM Academy will support young women as they explore science, technology, engineering, and math during their formative years so that each student may more eagerly embrace STEM career pathways. JCPS’s Grace James Academy of Excellence is dedicated to empowering, activating, and illuminating academic excellence in every girl through an Afrocentric and gender-specific STEAM curriculum.

While in different school systems, both schools sought a complete STEM/STEAM solution that combined sustained professional learning and high-quality digital resources in a way that would nurture and develop a culture of STEM teaching and learning.  In addition, each school wanted a solution that presented a holistic, research-based approach to STEM/STEAM that offered participating educators a strong support structure.  Following a rigorous review, both schools selected Discovery Education’s comprehensive STEM program and Teacher Leader Collaborative (TLC) professional development support.  In FCPS’s RISE Academy, educators in grades K-2 will participate in the TLC, and in JCPS’s Grace James Academy of Excellence, educators in grade 6 will utilize the TLC.…Read More