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"Over the last several decades, the United States has declined as an economic and educational global leader in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). To regain economic success and global competitiveness in these fields, government at all levels should launch campaigns that raise STEM awareness and increase student engagement. Actively leveraging social media channels is one potential path to drive K-12 excitement in STEM education and jobs through challenges."

"Technology is helping to boost the appeal of reading for young boys, and they're getting smarter because of it, new research has found. Primary school-aged boys with little interest in reading are finding that using iPads and netbooks in the classroom adds a touch of competition and fun. "

"My colleague and I walked into a room filled with a dozen fifth-grade girls snacking on pretzels and huddling around a LEGO robot they had named Kitty. Two of them were laughing about the goggles they had made out of robot wheels, while another small group crowded around a laptop to program wheel rotations. The rest attempted to drive Kitty through what looked like an obstacle course. It was our first glimpse into life as mentors for the Girl Scouts of Western Washington's LEGO League, a competition that combines programming LEGO Mindstorms robots, team project planning, and creative problem solving to get kids excited about science and technology."

"I was 11 the year my summer camp director transformed the regular schedule, procedures, and lingo that we were used to-into the most memorable, enriching experience I had ever encountered at that point in my life. I had no idea that he had 'gamified' the week; I just knew that it was the best summer ever. Instead of grouping us by numbers, we were named after the Greek alphabet. We competed daily against the other groups in volleyball, softball, kickball, and on the final night -a chariot and Olympic flame opened an epic Olympic Game contest at midnight. The director, or 'game master' as we were inclined to call him, even made everyone reset the clocks and watches-so we never knew what the real time was, the entire schedule was set on some sort of crazy alternate schedule. Now I realize that it probably allowed him to sleep in and us to stay up later, but we were none the wiser. Daily we played games, wrote skits, went swimming, and competed for cleanest cabins. We did all the regular stuff, but it was more fun because there were rules and boundaries and points and collaboration and competition and a clear, mutual understanding of goals and performance and criteria for success. As a student, I got to learn more about the power of 'gamifying' something, and what effect it had on learners."

How to work: 99 designs are a website, here you can purchase or sell your design with contest your luck. That means if you are a good designer so you can participate competitively in 99 design.com,, here you have a great opportunity to win the competition and win lots of money if your design is world class content.

"As a science teacher, this is the best project I do all year.  I have yet to come across a project where students are more engaged.  They want to come after school to work on it, they ask to take the project home to work over the weekend, students are shocked when the class period has come to an end, and they all want to skip their next class to continue working. The purpose of this project is to reinforce Newton's Laws of Motion through roller coaster physics.  The objective is to have a marble take the GREATEST amount of time to get from the top of the first hill to where the coaster ends.  This instructable has also been submitted into the paper contest.  I know the competition is fierce so please vote for me!"

"The same organization that challenges students to compete in cyber-security competitions now wants to help younger students learn cyber-security. The Air Force Association's CyberPatriot program office has put together a free kit to teach K-6 students how to stay safe online."

logo design competition

The kids on the videos talk of very high motivation and collaboration. The teacher was worried about competition but it turned out that they were very supportive of each other. There's info on cross-curricula goals, assessment and more. Lots of 2min videos.

"I am back on my soapbox… …because I continue to see great things happening in classrooms, but get blank stares, when I ask, if these things are being shared beyond the school building. …because I watch as administrators feel the need to "protect" their faculty from "one more thing to do". …because I continue to hear fear of transparency, competition, privacy and technology skills and tech phobia.  Setting up my soapbox to raise awareness of the "moral imperative of sharing" for teachers (Dean Shareski) goes back to his keynote in 2010 at the K-12 Online Conference. Since then I have stepped on that soapbox via my blog and at conferences advocating for the IMPORTANCE and NECESSITY of sharing."

"Whether you've got a blog, business, or just a large group of people you need to contact, you've probably looked into sending online newsletters. There are a ton of options out there. Most are similarly priced and offer a competitive suite of features. They're reliable, effective, and help you actually reach the people you want. But there's one big problem. They're all expensive. If you grow your subscriber list beyond about 2,500 people, you're going to start paying about $20-$30 per month to start. Once that list hits a couple thousand more people, you're going to be doubling that monthly cost. The sliding (up) scale terrifies me and made me hunt around for a better option. I didn't find one until just a few months ago. And I think Sendy might just be the future of newsletters."

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"The judges of the NinjaEssays writing contest are looking for entries on 7 pre-assigned topics associated to education. This is your chance to examine the issues of the contemporary educational system and freely express your opinions and possible solutions."

"Ellyssa Kroski - June 24, 2014 In February I organized a pecha kucha style panel discussing topics related to law librarianship in the digital age and I ran a live competition looking for who could tweet the most about the panel. The prize was a copy of the book Law Librarianship in the Digital Age which was appropriate as the panel of speakers was made up of many of the contributing authors. It turned out to be a great way to get people excited and engaged with the speakers and it worked really well, resulting in many people tweeting about our discussion. Therefore, I wanted a way to display the live tweets as they were coming in to keep everyone excited about the contest. But I had a very hard time finding a good, free application which would enable me to project the display I wanted. Since then I've found four tools that will easily allow you to display a live tweet wall as the tweets come in, whether it's for an event you're hosting, for your library's flat screen TV display, or simply for following a topic."

"Join high school-aged girls from around the world as they try to better their community through technology and collaboration in this thrilling, heartfelt documentary. By 2017, the app market will be valued at $77 Billion. Over 80% of these developers are male. The Technovation Challenge aims to change that by empowering girls worldwide to develop apps for an international competition. From rural Moldova to urban Brazil to suburban Massachusetts, CODEGIRL follows teams who dream of holding their own in the world's fastest-growing industry. The winning team gets $10K to complete and release their app, but every girl discovers something valuable along the way."

"Last year, at an event where teens showcased apps that they created for a competition, I spoke with the high school boys who won first prize. They expressed surprise at their achievement. "We built something, thought it worked, tested it, only to find out that there were snags," one of them said. "We started again, got a little farther along, and had to stop again. This happened over and over." Their comments highlight what the maker movement is and isn't. It's not about the stuff: the 3-D printers, the soldering irons, the sewing machines, the iPads, or the craft materials. A successful experience is about learning and innovation. That's what those teenagers discovered as they worked through the iterations of their app, and it's something to keep in mind as you consider software for your libraries. Below are three of my favorite maker apps."

"One of the best gifts you can possibly give your child is an education in computer programming. Not only is it a fun, intellectually-challenging pastime, but it's also a solid guarantee of a future career in an industry that not only offers competitive wages, but also promises to provide stable and steady employment. One of the best tools for teaching coding to kids is the Raspberry Pi. At $30, these are cheap enough for most parents to buy. Using the built-in GPIO (General Purpose Input/Output), they can attach electrical components, and build their own physical computing devices. Because you're unlikely to use a Raspberry Pi as your main computer, your children can experiment and play without the fear of causing damage to your system or your documents. But if you aren't a coder, and don't know your Python from your Prolog, you might not know where to direct your children to. If that sounds like you, don't worry. Here's five simple activities to teach your child how to code with the Raspberry Pi."