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How to keep students engaged in STEM while in high school

Thanks for sharing this, Chris. It's both interesting and relevant to my project for this course. A comment at the bottom suggested that really the companies need to change their unrealistic minimum criteria for job candidates. I've heard that argument before, and sometimes I do wonder when I see complaints from companies looking only for people with 5+ years of STEM work experience railing on the state of STEM education. What do you think?

Thanks for sharing Chris! I can totally relate to this. I remember having to sit through those "weed out" intro biology and chemistry courses in undergrad. They were the antithesis of motivating but I pushed through because I knew without them I couldn't do the "cool science" I wanted to. I remember at the time thinking these courses were weeding out people who were entertaining the idea of a STEM career but just didn't want to put up with the cut throat nature of these courses. It seemed to me the classes were more concerned about weeding out people than by providing an environment that really fostered learning.

More fodder for STEM education. Diverse units of business and industry are joining forces to rev up support for STEM.

Here's some more stuff on technology and STEM, but as it pertains to professional development. The question is how does this program motivate teachers other than the extrinsic reward of professional development points???

NASA Resources Enrich STEM Curricula at Forest Lake Elementary Being a NASA Explorer School allows Forest Lake Elementary to deepen the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) curricula with technology tools and resources.

report documenting measurement of STEM interest

As we get closer to the presidential election, organizations and individuals are once again appealing to officials for an education reform. Over the past few years there has been a push for Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics (STEM) programs. What about a push for language instruction?

Priming the pump with STEM games and building human capacity for design

Those of you working on TESLA may be interested in this article! (Or anybody interested in the gender gap in students following STEM careers.

relates to my T545 course this spring

Contest for stem cell scientists to to sell their research to an unscientific public with a short attention span.

An old game learns new tricks

Also as a follow-up to our conversation on Monday. Although more women are in STEM careers, there is still a lag in those considered "hard sciences." Most people look at mathematics as the core difference, these authors look at creativity. "For instance, three factors that are widely accepted as being positively correlated with creativity are playfulness, curiosity, and willingness to take risks. Studies have found that boys and men are generally more playful than girls and women, and are more curious and more willing to take risks, which could help explain why men are more creatively productive than women in general, and in particular, in the hard sciences."

DigiGirlz is an event that promotes STEM careers for middle school girls, in which students experimented with Microsoft Kodu and robotics.

MIT students are creating and sharing short videos about STEM subjects for K-12 learners.  

Can engagement and motivation in Middle School/HS STEM areas sustain itself through college? "Undergraduates across the country are choosing to leave science, technology, engineering and math programs before they graduate with those degrees according to a 2010 University of California, Los Angeles, study."

'DU The Math' (http://www.duthemath.com/) is an educational game and this competition touts prizes and pop stars. Interestingly, the reporter asks important questions, such as : But is competition between students the best way for educational gaming to increase its penetration into formal K-12 education? Or would game makers be better served to focus gaming on competition between the student and him or herself, especially for players who are struggling to keep pace with class and feel left behind?

Students at George R. Staley Upper Elementary School compete in a math video game that incorporates the STEM curriculum