Redesign the Human Body & Other Projects

Shawn Cornally, who helps run a competency-based high school in Iowa, appreciates “nucleators”. His “nucleators” are objects, ideas, or tasks that encourage students to take off with design. In his blog, Cornally discusses integrating design into subjects like social studies and biology.  Students might be charged with designing a utensil for eating spaghetti, printing their utensil on a 3D printer, and then living with it for a week. Some might think of ways to redesign the human body so that it will be more efficient in today’s world.  Cornally is “digging the idea of fundamental design quanta....”

Maker Faire: The Greatest Show and Tell on Earth

There are Maker Fairs all over the world, and they are all about innovation. According to Maker Media, Maker Fairs are filled with the excitement and energy of a county fair. They are our school science fairs and innovation conventions expanded with the minds of all ages and subject areas such as science, engineering, art, performance, and crafts. Maker Fair participants are given the opportunity to show how they created their idea or product and what their creation can do. If there’s a Maker Fair coming to your community, encourage your students to attend and perhaps even participate.

The Maker movement promotes a DIY (Do It Yourself) attitude. It’s about practical learning and creativity. For the many students who don’t find school subjects interesting, the concept of creating brings action into STEM studies. Students become inventors, developers, designers, programmers, mathematicians, and scientists while still in school.

3D Printing: A New Mindset

T.H.E. Journal offers a complimentary download of a white paper on the advantages of 3D printing.  Information is included on bringing 3D printing into the classroom “to accelerate more effective design” and to reduce costs.  To access the paper, you’ll need to be logged in to the T.H.E. Journal; logging in is easy and free.

Inspiring Girls in STEM

The Huffington Post article, “This Is What Inspires Girls in STEM”, includes answers to the question, “What inspires you?”, which was asked of over 1000 who were interested, aspiring to, or engaged in STEM careers.  Their answers included the ability to: make a positive impact on people’s lives, be involved in research to find a cure for diseases, move society away from “misunderstanding and ignorance”, learn how to sustain life, give students memorable scientific experiences, discover what we do not know, make the most of my abilities, protect the natural surroundings I love, explore all things “bizarre”, learn about the power of the human mind—the list goes on.  The answers are enough to inspire, aren’t they? A 19-year-old biology researcher and scientific writer answered with this phrase, “The sensation of beginning to understand something which cannot be comprehended, like the size of the universe.”

Grow Teen Enthusiasm for Science

Spartici.org is a place for teens to enjoy excellent content related to the STEM subject areas. The site is a project of Twin Cities Public Television and 3M and is designed as a mobile destination complete with “articles, videos, games, and hands-on activities from hundreds of sites, all vetted by a team of experts who scour the Web for quality teen-appropriate content.” At Spartici, students interact through social and game features. They can also share, rank, and comment on content. Students who have used the site say that it is great for papers and reports, and they appreciate that it is both fun and educational.

ALA Best Apps for Teaching and Learning 2013

The American Library Association, always a trusted source for recommendations, provides a list of apps that it considers “of exceptional value to inquiry-based learning . . .”  These are apps that encourage students to be innovative and creative as they engage in collaboration with others. Categories on the list include: Books, STEM, Organization & Management, Social Sciences, and Content Creation. A few of the apps on the ALA Best App List are: Shakespeare in Bits, Got to Have Music, Operation Math, SimplePhysics, Tinkerbox, Dropbox, Evernote, Socrative, News-O-Matic: Daily for Kids, GarageBand, and Educreations. There are links to all the apps on the list.

STEM Jobs by 2018

We hear so much about future job opportunities for students who excel in STEM subjects, but exactly what types of careers in these areas are predicted to be the most promising? According to data from US-BLS Employment Projections, 2008-2018, 71% of jobs will be related to computing, 16% in traditional engineering, 4% in life sciences, 2% in mathematics, and 7% in physical sciences. When the Computer job area is segmented, it looks like 27% of jobs will be available in software engineering, 21% in computer networking, 10% in systems analysis, 2% in database administration, 7% in computer support, 1% in research, and 3% other.

Considering these statistics, schools would be wise to offer both introductory courses in computer science as well as Advanced Placement courses.

Incredible Bionic Man Challenge

Encourage your students to create a bionic body part for The Incredible Bionic Man Challenge.  According to the rules, students must be 13 or over, in Grades 9-12, and residents of a Cablevision service area in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut or Pennsylvania.

Winners will receive a trip to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. and $5000 for college. The contest begins on October 1^st and ends November 7^th.  Additional information is available on the Smithsonian Channel site. You’ll find guidelines to get your students started, help for teachers, contest rules, and FAQ. You and your students can also watch a preview of the Smithsonian Channel’s Incredible Bionic Man, which will premiere on October 20^th at 9 p.m.

Invent to Learn

The book Invent to Learn: Making, Tinkering, and Engineering in the Classroom, by Sylvia Libow Martinez and Gary Stager, helps you bring the excitement of exploration and invention into your classroom. If you want to create an exciting classroom environment in which students learn by doing, this book gives you the inspiration, as one reviewer said, to trust children by giving them the opportunity to explore, create, and experience both success and failure.  The book is available on Amazon in paperback ($28.84) and Kindle editions ($9.99).

Moving Students Ahead in STEM Subjects

Students entering Deptford High School and many other high schools throughout the nation can select a program that includes college-level courses in engineering, robotics, and Computer-Aided Design. The Deptford program will follow the Project Lead the Way (PLTW) curriculum, which is now used in schools in all fifty states and the District of Columbia.  The PLTW program considers classrooms as innovation zones where hands-on learning and critical thinking take place.