The measurable success of recruiting students into STEM based pathways via a popular high school program known as FlexFactor has led the Department of Defense to recently invest $5 million via its Manufacturing Engineering Education Program (MEEP). This investment will adapt and export the FlexFactor framework to be used nationally by eight Manufacturing USA Innovation Institutes…
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Despite students saying that STEM courses are their favorite subject areas and that they aspire to go to college, Black and Latino students and students from low-income backgrounds continue to be excluded from crucial learning opportunities available through AP STEM courses, according to a new report from Education Trust and Equity Opportunity Schools, Shut Out:…
This story was originally published by Chalkbeat. Sign up for their newsletters at ckbe.at/newsletters. My Advanced Placement computer science course is half girls and half boys. I coach an award-winning robotics team, Retro5ive, that is equally balanced between girls and boys, nearly all of whom are students of color. Getting there requires combating gender norms and…
Even with a strict budget, limited teacher expertise in computer science, and the chaos of a pandemic, the Metropolitan School District of Pike Township (MSDPT) launched a comprehensive and engaging K-5 computer science curriculum for every student. As an instructional specialist at MSDPT during the launch, I now understand how much collaboration, clever resource management,…
A few months into the 2021-22 school year, teachers, parents, and students are once again confronted with the devastating reality of pandemic-prompted learning loss. The global health crisis forced students out of the physical classroom and into a new virtual world for nearly two grades, and their initial homework and test scores reveal a significant…
At Brooklyn Preschool of Science, I’ve been using robots to make computational learning fun in my 4-year-old rooms for years. When I decided to add computational learning to the 3-year-old group, I didn’t want teachers to always be the ones handling the robots. I wanted the kids to have the ability to control the robots…
Introducing students to coding and robotics gives them early exposure to STEM in general. This early exposure, according to research, is key to the future of the workforce. Aside from the cool factor K-12 coding and robotics offers, students will learn a number of skills they’ll take with them well into adulthood, including creativity, problem solving,…
It’s an early morning wake up call for Trinity Smith, lead teaching fellow and student studying business data analytics at Arizona State University (ASU). During the Spring 2022 semester, Smith started most mornings with 30 high school students who were enrolled in CIS 194 Cloud Foundations, a course delivered by ASU. The online course was co-developed…
In this week’s episode of Innovations in Education, hosted by Kevin Hogan:• It’s time to invest in tech equity in education• How to fund your CTE program• How to make the most of your COVID relief funds
The Columbus City Schools recently released a new Strategic Plan that details how we are going to achieve our mission over the next five years. This plan is a new North Star for our district, guiding us as we work every day to ensure that all our students are highly educated, prepared for leadership and…