What does engineering have to do with Thanksgiving? Plenty, says the National Engineering Forum.

The advocacy group, which seeks to build the capacity, capability, and competitiveness of the U.S. engineering enterprise, noted some of the surprising ways that engineers contribute to America’s most traditional holiday in a recent newsletter:

This Thanksgiving, take moment to thank broadcast engineers for bringing football and the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade your television. The Macy’s parade has been a tradition since 1924, and designing and filling those balloons takes some serious engineering. For football fans, there’s plenty of action, and the chance to ponder engineering’s impact on the sport, including MIT’s helmet research, Oregon State’s artificial intelligence work, and Carnegie Mellon’s research into technology to help referees make better calls (insert your own joke here).

Of course Thanksgiving centers around the food, and there’s plenty of engineering at work in the gadgets for prepping and cooking, but according to this, there’s a proper way to engineer your plate to ensure maximum deliciousness. If Tofurky’s on your table, you can thank the folks in Hood River, Oregon, whose food engineering gives vegetarians an animal-free option. For meat eaters, the turkey is the main event, but not all birds are destined for the dinner table. Some get a pass from the president. There’s some debate on who originally engineered the annual presidential pardoning of the turkeys, but no matter how it began, it’s a sure bet, those turkeys are thankful.

Ever wonder how football became such a Thanksgiving tradition? As this NFL video explains, it all began with the Lions arrival in Detroit.

Hitting the road? Check out eGFI’s list of engineering icons and sightseer’s guide to iconic bridges and other civil engineering feats you can visit along the way.

Happy Thanksgiving!

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[Updated 12/4/15]

Congress is poised to deliver an early holiday gift to educators before school lets out this December: A rewrite of the 14-year-old No Child Left Behind law that established current testing and accountability mandates.

On December 2, the Every Student Succeeds Act – the new title of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) – sailed through House by a 359-64 margin. The Senate, where 80 percent supported its version of the bill, is expected to follow suit within a week.

Education Week’s Politics K-12 blog (11/13) summarized the main provisions that Senate and House conferees quickly worked out in two days of discussion this week. (Reporter Alyson Klein provided some nuts and bolts of the conference committee’s version as well as a look at what the new law will mean for teachers.)

The new bill expands opportunities for states and districts to use federal funds for STEM – which is mentioned 253 times in the 1,059-page bill, including in the section stressing science, technology, engineering, math, and computer science as part of a “well-rounded” education.

For starters, according to EdWeek’s latest cheat sheet, ESSA preserves mandates to test students annually in math and science. “That’s a huge victory because you could have easily seen science testing disappear,” said James Brown, executive director of the STEM Education Coalition advocacy group, in an interview with EdWeek’s Curriculum Blog (12/4). The bill also adds funding to help states “integrate engineering design skills and practices” into state science assessments – a boon for the 1 in 3 states that have adopted the Next Generation Science Standards.

Another change is the elimination of some programs and consolidation of dozens of others into one big state block grant. The STEM education community was pleased that permissible use of funds include offering STEM competitions and hands-on learning experiences, expanding programs for underrepresented students, and starting STEM specialty programs. The education department’s Math-Science Partnerships will be replaced with funds under Title II to create a STEM master teacher corps – a provision championed by Minnesota Sen. Al Franken – and invest in teacher professional development. The STEM Education Act of 2015 that recently was signed into law supports informal science learning in after-school programs, museums, and science centers.

As with NCLB, states still must identify persistently low-performing schools. But they will gain a lot more running room for how to improve high school “failure factories” and schools with wide achievement gaps.

In fact, one of the biggest shifts lies the return of authority to states for determining how to meet federal mandates. For example, the framework prohibits the U.S. Secretary of Education from interfering with or dictating such policies as whether to include test scores in evaluating teachers and other state-level prerogatives. There also are new investments in early childhood education, as Senator Patty Murray (D-Wash.), a leading architect of the compromise bill, had sought, although the program will be housed in Health and Human Services.

Should Congress approve the ESSA as expected, states would be submitting new accountability plans for the 2017/18 school year for approval by the U.S. Department of Education.

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Think computer science is only for an elite group of professionals? An Hour of Code could change your mind – and inspire your students!

Join more than 41,000 U.S. schools, libraries, and other organizations celebrating Computer Science Education Week this year by hosting hour-of-code events from December 7 to 13. One public school in every U.S. state (and the District of Columbia) will win $10,000 worth of technology.

There are Star Wars-based tutorials for beginners as young as four, inspiring videos about learning computer science, fun Minecraft adventures that children can program using smart phones or tablets, and even “unplugged” Hour of Code activities for people without a computer or Internet connection.  Check out these teacher-led activities and other educator resources to get some ideas for your classroom.

No computer science teacher at your school? Edhesive offers a free AP Computer Science massive, open online course (MOOC). It’s one of 14 providers of curriculum, classroom tutorials, and platforms for teaching computer science to kids that you can integrate in your lessons.

Seek more information? The September 2013 eGFI Teachers newsletter focuses on computer engineering activities, as does the eGFI Teachers blog post with computer science education resources.

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Imagine if you could tap a network of engineering experts and seasoned STEM teachers to provide inspiration, instructional tips, and advice?

That’s the vision behind the National Academy of Engineering’s new online portal, LinkEngineering Educator Exchange. Learn more about how this website can connect you with preK-12 teachers. engineering experts, lesson plans, and tools at a Town Hall Google Hangout on November 18, 1 to 2 pm EST.

Register HERE. <https://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/eventReg?oeidk=a07ebruno6m8b9a3d8a&oseq=&c=&ch=>.

Can’t make the online town hall? No problem! Feedback from educators and lessons like this four-part unit on  using failure to introduce the engineering design process are just a click away!

Photo of the National Science Foundation’s interactive exhibit at the 2014 USA Science & Engineering Festival by Jackie Conciatore, NSF.

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What is graphene? How do we see color? These are just two of the questions Brown University researchers answer in a series of engaging animated science videos called Sci-Toons.

Designed for use in after-school or informal science programs, the free online series seeks to communicate scientific research and concepts to broad audience via storytelling, animation, multimedia, and art. The college’s associate dean, Oludurotimi Adetunji, led the initiative. Topics include:

• Rocks & the geologic history of the Mica Schist at the Brown Science Center (with Prof. Jan Tullis)
• Asbestos (with Prof. Lundy Braun)
• Modeling global climate change (with Prof. Stephen Porder)
• Conductive Polymers
• How do we see color?
• Graphene (with Prof. Nitin Padture)
• Climate and Weather (with Prof. Baylor Fox-Kemper)
• RNA Splicing (with Prof. Williams Fairbrother)
• The Human Microbiome

Brown’s informal science and outreach website also includes a searchable database of science lessons and activities developed by Brown faculty, undergraduates, and others. Keywords let users pinpoint lesson by grade level (elementary through college), target audience (girls), and format (hands-on or lecture).

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CLICK HERE for the 2016 Winners

Deadline: February 1, 2016 at 6 p.m. EST
Level: Boys and girls in grades 3-12

“Responsible ENgineering ” is the theme for the National Academy of Engineering’s 2016 EngineerGirl! Essay Contest. Students in grades 3 to 12 are asked to imagine they are engineers working on a promising new technology. They then write about the challenges  this new technology might present to at least one of the four main areas of responsibility in engineering’s code of ethics:

• Safety
• Health
• Well-being, and
• Environmental sustainability

Prizes range from $100 to $500.

The contest is open to individual girls and boys in the following three competition categories :

1. Elementary School Students (grades 3-5); Essays must be 400 to 700 words.
2. Middle School Students in (grades 6-8); Essays must be 600 to 1,100 words.
3. High School Students (grades 9-12); Essays must be 1,000 to 1,500 words.

How to Enter

Write an essay which addresses the requirements in the contest description. Essays should be written clearly. They may be shorter than, but should not exceed, the word limit. Submit the essay through the Online Submission Form on the EngineerGirl! website, and include all required information.

Entries must be received by 6:00 p.m. (EST) on February 1, 2017. Click HERE for the 2016 contest rules.

What are the Awards?

All winning entries will be published on the EngineerGirl! website. (Please review the publication agreement before you submit your essay.) In addition, all winners will receive the prizes listed below:

• First-place winners will be awarded $500.
• Second-place entries will be awarded $250.
• Third-place entries will be awarded $100.

Honorable Mention entries will not receive a cash reward but will be published on the EngineerGirl! website.

Additional Rules

• Essays will be judged on the basis of design content, research, expression, and originality. You may wish to preview the 2013 Contest Scorecord.
• All essays must be the original work of the author submitting the entry and must not have been published anywhere else.
• A contestant may enter only one essay.
• All entries will be read by a panel of judges, whose selections will be final.

For more information and to apply, click here.

updated June 5, 2016

Filed under: Competitions and Contests, Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12, Grades K-5, K-12 Outreach Programs | Comments Off on EngineerGirl! Essay & Video Contest

Ever wonder who sets STEM education policy – or yearn to influence it?

Apply to become an Einstein Fellow and spend a year at the Department of Energy, National Science Foundation, NASA, NOAA, or a congressional office.

The Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellowship (AEF) Program offers a unique opportunity for accomplished K-12 STEM educators to serve in the national education arena. Fellows (like the class of 2014/15 in the photo) come from all over the country, and reflect a diversity of disciplines, grade levels, and regions. eGFI featured one of them from the class of 2011, Mike Town, a high school environmental and sustainability educator.

Program applications for the 2016/17 fellowships are due by 8:00 pm EST, November 19, 2015.

Applicants must:

• be U.S. citizens,
• be currently employed full time in a U.S. public or private elementary or secondary school or school district, and
• have taught full-time in a public or private elementary or secondary school for at least five of the last seven years in a STEM discipline.

Information about the Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellowship Program, including eligibility requirements, program benefits, application requirements, and access to the online application system can be found at the Department of Energy’s Workforce Development for Teachers and Scientists office: http://science.energy.gov/wdts/einstein/.

For any questions, please see the FAQ or contact the AEF Program at sc.einstein@science.doe.gov.

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A Greek mythology-themed app to help kids learn math. An app to reduce school shootings by helping teens manage stress.

These are among the winning ideas that middle and high school students dreamed up in the Verizon Innovative App Challenge, a four-year-old competition sponsored by the Verizon Foundation in partnership with the Technology Student Association. The contest, which awards a $20,000 grand prize to eight “Best in Nation” schools, asks teams to apply their STEM knowledge and submit an idea for a mobile technology application that can be used to solve a societal or community problem.

Absolutely no coding or app-building experience is necessary – just creativity and communication skills to come up with a novel app idea! MIT App Inventor Master Trainers then teach the teams coding and app development using MIT App Inventor, and work with winning teams to turn their concepts into downloadable apps.

New for 2015: The contest is open to nonprofit groups and clubs.

In the past three years, more than 18,000 students have participated in the app challenge. Submissions have come from a wide variety of disciplines, including the humanities and language arts, and from a broad array of schools. Among last year’s winners, for example, were teams from a high-poverty New York urban school, a Delaware arts magnet school, and a Texas middle school, where a group girls conceived of an app to help a blind classmate navigate their school. Along with a grand prize, that team won an invitation to the White House science fair!

REGISTER by NOVEMBER 24, 2015

See FAQ for details on signing up, developing winning concept, and more.

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From weather patterns and food supplies to society’s daily electricity and heating needs, energy drives everything we know. Created with the National Center for Science Education and the American Geosciences Institute, the U.S. Department of Energy’s new energy literacy video series highlights the seven principles that demonstrate energy’s role across the natural and social sciences.

Topics include how economics and other factors determine energy choices, and the physical and biological processes on Earth that depend on energy flows.

The video series is part of a broader set of education resources, lessons, and activities maintained by the Energy Department’s office of energy efficiency and renewable energy.

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