Help your child get inventive with these resources

Do you have students who love inventing, experimenting, and computing? Then check out my article on Answers.com which features quality, free or inexpensive places you can turn to help your students discover, explore, and develop his or her inner inventor. 

Visit "Help your child get inventive with these resources" to find out about more about resources like Super Awesome Sylvia, Tynker, and Makey Makey.  

5 reasons less is more when it comes to STEM

This post was original featured on Smartblogs on Education in Inspiring Others, Public Policy

Schools are missing the boat when it comes to addressing the problem of preparing students to recapture America’s leadership in producing scientists, inventors, engineers, programmers and more through STEM initiatives. The answer has little to do with more teachers, more common graduation requirements, more tests or more school as our policymakers and corporations who stand to profit off this have suggested.

Instead, if we listen to what the experts in these fields are telling us we discover that when it comes to producing successful STEM graduates, the key lies in the adage “less is more.”

Five lessons from STEM experts

Elementary school students leave school to make a difference in the world

Elementary school teachers Pauline  Roberts and Rick Joseph know that the best place to make a real-world difference is, well, in the world.  So when their students set out to do just that, they let them.  

Their students wanted to tackle the issue of sustainability and their strategy was to educate and encourage businesses in the community to be a part of the solution.  To do that students learned what businesses could do to be sustainable and created brochures that included concrete advice in a variety of categories such as using energy efficient lightbulbs, using motion censors, unplugging devices when not in use, adjusting work schedules for efficient utility use, using recycled paper, implementing policies that require less mobile vehicle use such as telecommuting and carpooling, using web conferences rather than traveling for f2f meetings, and more.
The students then formed groups of about three and selected local area businesses to target and educate. Each group of students took it upon themselves to do this work.  They found a chaperone, got parental permission, made appointments with each business, and then met with business designees to discuss sustainability strategies and scheduled follow up to access progress.    

Want to succeed in STEM? Listen to the experts!

President Obama believes “The quality of  math and science teachers is the most important single factor influencing whether students will succeed or fail in science, technology, engineering and math.” The problem is that our “quality” teachers  and their administrators are not given the freedom to support children in ways that will produce the scientists and innovators our country needs.  This is because we are stuck in an outdated system that values test scores and grades rather than creativity and innovation.  

This is no secret.  America’s great scientists and innovators have been clear about how our nation’s schools need to change to support great thinkers like themselves. Unfortunately it seems those with the power to make decisions (the politicians and corporations) are not listening to the very type of people we say we want our students to become.  

Let’s take a look at what those in charge are failing to hear when our nation’s historic inventors, scientists, and physicists share their advice and experiences.

Verizon Innovative App Challenge for Secondary Students

Created to ignite interest in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), The Verizon Innovative App Challenge opens student's eyes to exciting new possibilities for their futures, opening doors they may never have known were there. The Challenge is a collaborative competition that offers $10,000 grants and Samsung Galaxy Tabs for winning secondary schools and students.

Here's how it works:

• Working with a faculty advisor in teams of 5-10, students will develop an original concept for a mobile app that incorporates STEM and addresses a real need or problem in their school or community. While designing their apps, students will consider marketplace need, usefulness, audience and viability. Teams will submit their design concepts online through a visual presentation accompanied by an essay.
• One middle school and one high school team from each state will be judged “Best in State” and team members will be invited to participate in a live webinar hosted by Verizon Foundation featuring industry experts who will share how they use STEM skills in their own careers.
• A distinguished panel of STEM educators and corporate innovators will then judge the top Best in State teams and provide feedback on their design concepts to each team via a live webinar. The 10 overall winning teams will then be selected and announced.
• Each of the 10 winning schools (5 middle school and 5 high school teams) will receive $10,000 cash grants plus professional support and training to help them bring their designs to life by building their apps and bringing them to the marketplace. Students on each winning team will receive a Samsung Galaxy Tab and be invited to present their developed apps in person – on their new tablets – at the 2013 National Technology Student Association Conference in Orlando, Florida in June.

The Verizon Innovative App Challenge offers a rich, project-based learning experience that fosters teamwork among students with a wide variety of academic interests and strengths.

It’s a unique opportunity for students around the country to explore new ideas and potential careers in STEM that will serve them well in the future.

Registration is open. Submissions accepted: December 1, 2012 - January 18, 2013

Download the Verizon Innovative App Challenge flyer

Find out more here.