Group items tagged

"This DIY zoetrope is the perfect STEAM project for kids who love art, science and engineering. You most likely have all of the supplies you need around the house, or can get them easily and inexpensively. Have you ever played with a zoetrope? Zoetropes are simple devices that pre-date film animation. The viewer looks through the slits in a spinning cylinder and sees an animated image."

"Over the past year, I have been gradually working to implement the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) into my classroom. Our new Wisconsin State Science Standards were designed with the NGSS in mind. They align very well, so please forgive me if my language focuses on the NGSS in this post. As I design lessons aligned the standards, I am considering to the skills students will be implementing that carry across multiple units. This relates to the Science and Engineering Practices contained in the standards. I am looking at the technology tools that can be used to leverage these practices. While there are 8 different practices and I hope to delve into each one and the technology tools that can help learners in each, this post will only focus on one practice. That practice is Developing and Using Models. As the name indicates, there a"

"We are in an exciting time in education, where innovative topics like Design Thinking, Rapid Prototyping, Entrepreneurism, Engineering Design, High Quality Project-Based Learning, and The Future of Work are at the center of discussion. How can we give our students the chance to master content knowledge while integrating these student-centered approaches to education in the classroom? For the last five years, 3D printing has been an important part of my classroom because it encourages an innovation mindset, exposes students to elements of design thinking, and fosters self-directed learning."

"When someone mentions scientists, chances are good that the face that pops into mind is male: perhaps a picture of Albert Einstein or Neil DeGrasse Tyson, or maybe a more generic man in a lab coat. However, even when women were largely shut out of science, there were still groundbreaking women making discoveries, conducting experiments, and publishing research! And while school curricula and popular culture are slowly expanding to include women beyond a few notable favorites such as Marie Curie and Jane Goodall, many people - young and old alike - still often find themselves struggling to name even a handful of female scientists. Fortunately, with the increasing availability of great biographies for children and teens, we can show our girls that women in science make contributions every day! And, of course, these titles are just as important to share with boys because all kids need to know that science is for girls! With that in mind, we've showcased 25 of our favorite biographies of female scientists for young readers. From primatology to physics, the expanses of space to the vast floor of the ocean, these women made their mark and changed the way we see the world... just like the budding Mighty Girl scientists of today will one day! For fictional stories featuring Mighty Girl scientists and engineers, check our our blog post Ignite Her Curiosity: 25 Books Starring Science-Loving Mighty Girls."

"At ISTE 2016 I presented a new session called "Make It, Wear It, Learn It" about wearable electronics. It's a combination of what's out there now that can be done by students today, some far out gee-whiz stuff coming in the next few years, and how to start with wearables for young people. Wearables are a way to introduce people to engineering, design, and electronics that are personal and fun!"

"Want to learn more about using industrial additive manufacturing? Here's a breakdown of the different technologies, applications, companies, and services. Year by year, the additive manufacturing industry continues to flourish in ways that were previously unimaginable. Currently, the market is divided into two primary factions: one for consumers and another for industrial purposes. In this "Additive Manufacturing Overview," we will focus in on the professional uses of 3D printing technology. Whether you're a manufacturing business owner, an industrial engineer looking to create a functional automotive prototype, or anyone else who could benefit from professional-grade additive manufacturing, we've strung together an incredibly comprehensive breakdown of the pros and cons of industrial additive manufacturing as well as an introduction to the different technologies, applications, companies, and services that are out there."

"Everyone uses Google for random queries, but it's way more powerful than a traditional search engine. Check out these Google tips and tricks that'll change the way you look for stuff online for good.      "

"I don't think I know anyone who isn't in a search rut. We usually begin our search in one of two search giants. But while they may not have achieved verb status, we have other choices well worth discovering. And it's kinda in our ballpark to ensure that appropriate choices are easily available on both desktops and mobile devices. Today, I'd like to share a few search engine options that might be worth sharing in a curation with your learning community. "

"Now that we have more ways for students to get into making, we also need to explore the potential outcomes for those who become makers. We're hosting our first-ever Industry, Career and College Day in partnership with Cornell University College of Engineering and San Mateo College. The speakers on the program will talk about preparing for the future of work. It will also be an opportunity for young people to meet representatives from startups, companies, colleges and universities, to explore career paths, and evaluate new possibilities for their education and future."

"Science, technology, engineering, and math are more important than ever, so we've put together a list of books to encourage girls to persevere in these subjects. "

"Representation matters: Girls do better on science tests when their textbooks include images of female scientists. And a 2017 survey by Microsoft found that girls in Europe begin to show interest in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields at 11 years old but lose it at around 15-and a lack of female role models is one reason for the drop in interest. That's why we've created this list of books showing girls and women who are passionate about STEM fields. After asking librarians for recommendations, pulling still more from School Library Journal, and checking best-seller and award lists, we selected picture books, biographies, novels, and memoirs appropriate for kids from kindergarten to 12th grade. These books-most of which were published in 2016-represent a wide range of STEM fields, from marine biology to volcanology to math. "

"To survive in today's world, it's imperative for students to become innovators able to think both critically and creatively. Because of this, many schools are looking to STEAM education. If you're unfamiliar, STEAM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts, and Math. STEAM education aims to help students see and use connections between all of these disciplines to become well-rounded. However, STEAM didn't always exist. In fact, the arts were never part of the original equation. Read on to see how STEM morphed into STEAM and how to bring these important ideas into your classroom."

"Author Andrea Beaty has created a series of free downloadable 11" x 17" posters featuring characters from her bestselling series of books, which celebrate science, reading, and critical thinking! These posters were created in support of the March for Science, and encourage kids to remember that all citizens -- astronauts, engineers, and architects, but also each and every one of us -- need to be informed and think critically to create a better world for all of us."

"Much like cooking, computational thinking begins with a feat of imagination, the ability to envision how digitized information-ticket sales, customer addresses, the temperature in your fridge, the sequence of events to start a car engine, anything that can be sorted, counted, or tracked-could be combined and changed into something new by applying various computational techniques. From there, it's all about "decomposing" big tasks into a logical series of smaller steps, just like a recipe."

"This is a selection of the best 3D printing websites, content repositories, marketplaces and search engines for free 3D printer files to download. Each lets you browse a large choice of 3D printing designs to print at home. "

"Google Scholar is one of the top academic search engines out there. It provides research community with a host of useful features that facilitate their work and enhance their productivity. We have extensively covered Google Scholar in our previous posts and we have an entire section dedicated to everything teachers and student researchers need to know to tap into the educational potential of this platform. In today's post, we are sharing with you an infographic we created a few months ago that turned into one of the most popular posts of 2016. The visual features 6 important tips to smartly use Google Scholar. These are:"

In response to concern over kids' interest in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math), companies have been churning out cool toys that teach them coding and logic skills. The idea: get kids hooked on STEM early, and via their toys. Since there are so many more STEM toys on the market these days, it can be difficult to figure out which ones will be the most worthwhile. Below, Working Mother's picks for the best toys and games that teach the basics of coding. Your kid will be building her own robot in no time.

"Robotics for kids is an area that covers a wide range of subjects, giving children hands on experience in learning math, engineering and creative design. These robot kits for kids let you build your own robot from the ground up, and discover how moving parts fit together. Robotics kits are educational and they help develop patience, imagination and problem solving skills. Being able to build robotic toys is a past time that kids enjoy and it combines the offline and online world of apps."

"Last year, I went to Nigeria with Mark Zuckerberg. One of the first stops on the trip was a program that taught kids how to code. When Zuckerberg entered the room, many of the young students had a hard time pulling themselves away from their projects, even to gawk at one of the world's richest men. Facebook's founder instead came to them. "What are you making?" he'd ask. And they would proudly say, "A game!" or whatever it was, and begin showing him how it works. Zuckerberg would stop them. "Show me the code!" he'd say, because, well, he's Zuckerberg, and any occasion is ripe for an ad hoc programming review. And that's when the kid would click on a menu that toggled from the game to the LEGO-like building blocks of a Scratch program. This happened several times, with kids ranging from ages 8 to 15. In every instance, the maker of a cool project could clearly show this famous visitor how he or she had methodically implemented a plan. Zuckerberg was clearly impressed. As we headed up the stairs to leave the building, Zuckerberg called out to me, "Scratch! Have you heard of this?" Oh, yes I had. Though it was not yet released to the world when Zuckerberg left Harvard to launch his quirky little startup, Scratch (developed just a couple of T stops away) is quickly becoming the world's most popular computer language for kids taking their first bite of programming. Last year, over 120 million people came to its site, and many of them built and shared projects, at a rate of a million a month. "It's the gateway drug for Silicon Valley engineering," says Fred Wilson of Union Square Ventures, a Scratch supporter."