American Roots
Posted on August 18th, 2016 by Mary Lord
The National Park Service just turned 100 and what better way to celebrate than with the grand opening of a stunning new addition to the National Mall. The $540 million National Museum of African American History and Culture is adorned with a corona, or scrim, of 3,600 bronze-colored cast-aluminum panels that glow at night from the light within, and was built around a 77-ton, 80-foot-long railway car and other huge artifacts housed in its vast below-ground exhibit space.
Filed under: K-12 Outreach Programs, Special Features | Comments Off on American Roots
Tags: Civil Engineering, construction, History, National Mall, National Museum of African American History and Culture, National Park Service, Smithsonian
Middle and high school students can win up to $20,000 in the Verizon App Challenge — no programming experience necessary. Register teams by November 18, 2016.
As host of the 2016 Summer Olympics, Brazil has had to tap engineering expertise for everything from stadium construction to pollution control to security systems in order to receive an estimated 15,000 athletes and half a million foreign visitors. Despite the country’s economic woes, zika virus concerns, and construction delays, the games will go on… though probably not without some hitches.
Engineering is rapidly expanding at at the K-12 level but the voices and insights of experienced teachers have largely been absent. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine hope to change that dynamic – and they’re seeking classroom and informal STEM educators to attend a two-day colloquium this fall aimed at better engaging teachers in STEM policy decision making. 
Six weeks, 30 “awesome projects,” fun virtual field trips to places like Lego in Denmark and Disney every Friday. Welcome to Maker Camp 2014, a virtual DIY camp for teens 13 to 18 years of age sponsored by Make: magazine. Free and open to all on Google+, the camp runs from July 7 until August 14 and there is no registration – just go on any day you wish.
From manufacturing to fashion to reconstructive medicine, 3-D printing is changing the way America does business. ASEE’s Prism magazine has reported on this breakthrough technology in a series of articles. Check out these examples.
Infusing engineering throughout the elementary school day and a tour of TeachEngineering’s free library of teacher-tested engineering activities are just two of the presentations ASEE’s experienced educators will be making at NSTA’s annual STEM Forum in Denver July 27 to 29. It’s all part of ASEE’s Year of Action on P-12 Engineering Education. 
Annie Nash’s classes may be labeled “visual arts,” but they’re much more. While mastering the use of cold, warm, and hot glass-working tools, her second to fifth grade students also learn chemistry, physics, the laws and sources of energy, optics, history, and the scientific method.
Results from America’s first-ever test of K-12 technology and engineering literacy point to the power of hands-on, applied STEM learning – both in and outside of school – to increase diversity and achievement. The National Assessment of Educational Progress found that girls scored higher on average than boys. And while suburban and rural students outperformed their urban peers, the achievement gaps between race and income groups were much smaller than typically posted on national tests in other subjects.
