Podcast Series: Innovations in Education

Explore the full series of eSchool News podcasts hosted by Kevin Hogan—created to keep you on the cutting edge of innovations in education.

8 STEM learning challenges students can do at home

I was chatting with my brother the other day about how things are going with my two nieces learning at home while their schools are closed due to COVID-19.

My 13-year-old niece, Sophie, has continued to follow a typical school schedule each day with her school delivering a full learning program online. Her high school is doing a wonderful job providing lessons and activities to keep her motivated, learning, and engaged. She is enjoying this new way of learning, although she does report that hands-on subjects such as music and science are not quite us much fun sitting in her bedroom as they normally are at school.

Related content: A virtual learning lesson from Hong Kong…Read More

Stem based PE for students at home

STEM Sports, a Phoenix-based supplemental curriculum company, is offering free lessons for parents and caregivers to use at home to keep students in grades 3-8 engaged and active. The STEM lessons provided are family-friendly and require simple sports equipment so both parents and students may be involved in the STEM learning process while students stay home during this isolation period.

To access the STEM education resources, visit the organization’s website at https://stemsports.com/Samples/ and fill out a brief form. The free lessons will be emailed to the user for PDF download with Google Drive. Additionally, a free, non-sport specific lesson called Playing with Precision will be offered.

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4 examples of engaging vision-impaired students in STEM

STEM learning is a cornerstone of education in today’s K-12 schools, but STEM classrooms often aren’t all that inspiring to students who are blind or have low vision.

So much of science is based on sight and observations, and when students who have vision challenges are forced to stand off to the side and listen to classmates’ observations about experiments or data, they lose some of the excitement that goes along with scientific discovery.

But students who are blind or have low vision don’t have to miss out on STEM’s engaging aspects. Science companies are creating tools that accommodate different needs, and some groups have created science experienced geared toward students with vision challenges.…Read More

Colocation America STEM Youth Program Grants

Colocation America proudly supports the development and integration of STEM learning opportunities for youth in the communities we serve. One of the ways we support these activities is by funding innovative Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) youth programs. Youth organizations and K-12 educators with STEM programming may apply and be awarded upwards of $7,500 for their new or reoccurring program.

Resources to engage girls in STEM learning

More girls are needed in STEM fields–and engagement begins in the early grades

girls-STEMSTEM education is important–in fact, it is essential to U.S. economic success. Today’s K-12 STEM students are tomorrow’s college STEM undergraduates and leading STEM innovators in the workforce.

Most STEM fields are traditionally male-dominated, and research has found that fostering an interest in STEM learning when students are still young makes those students more likely to pursue STEM majors and STEM careers.

Part of the trick to pulling more girls into STEM fields is getting rid of the stereotype that these subjects and careers are male-dominated. Educators, too, must encourage female students to nurture their interests in STEM fields. The stereotype that “boys are better at math” is incredibly detrimental. Having strong STEM teachers who are enthusiastic about and confident in the subjects they teach can encourage girls to get involved in STEM, too.…Read More