The world has changed dramatically since the National Science Foundation coined the term STEM in 2001 (though they originally called it SMET). We are light years ahead of 2001 where dial-up modems were all the rage! With STEM back then, content was king and there was a critical need in our industries for content area
4 STEM Ties to Careers of the Future
When many of us were growing up and considering that tough question during the junior or senior year of high school, “What do you want to study in college,” the options set before us would fit on an 8 ½ by 11 sheet of paper. Careers were limited and the pathways to obtain these goals
STEM Strategies that Work – January 2017
STEM Culture is something that is developed over time through intentional strategies which highlight STEM careers, STEM skills, and the interconnectivity of the world around us all. Each month we are highlighting some of the strategies we see in classrooms from our DEN and STEM educators building pathways for their colleagues to implement a STEM culture.
Summer is Here: Let the STEM Fun Begin!
By Jonathan Gerlach, Discovery Education’s National Consultant for STEM Education Initiatives One of the most important parts of STEM teaching and learning is students having the opportunity to see how the world works outside the classroom bringing content to life in context. We stress the importance of integrating the idea of “real-world” into learning. However we
Challenging your pupils with Free Code in Discovery Education Coding
This is a guest post from Max Wainewright, a big thank you to Max for contributing to our community blog. To find out more about Max, please see his bio at the end of the blog post. Recently I was lucky enough to hear Phil Bagge talking about teaching coding. One of the things
Computing in the Classroom – Linking on and offline
The objectives in the curriculum specify that students learn coding – coding being a language that is needed to program computers.Alongside teaching coding and the terminology that goes with it, is understanding computational thinking and how this relates to coding.The first blog post under this category of Computing in the classroom focussed purely on offline activities. Offline, sometimes called unplugged,is essential
iMake iLearn – Summer Learning
Coursera – Tinkering Fundamentals: A Constructionist Approach to STEM Learning Course Description:Tinkering activities provide a powerful way to inspire students’ interest, engagement, and understanding in science. The Tinkering Fundamentals course will help educators and enthusiasts develop a practice of tinkering and making. This course will focus on key design elements of high-quality, science-rich tinkering activities,
Some More Sphero – iMake iLearn
It isn’t often that I am impressed by a company’s support of their product. After finding out on Friday that 2 of my new Spheros were not working correctly and having planned to use them with students, I contacted the company. I was very frustrated and expected to have to jump through a bunch of