Contest: Environmental Excellence Award
The 2011 SeaWorld and Busch Gardens Environmental Excellence Awards recognize the efforts of students and teachers across the country who are working at the grassroots level to protect and preserve the environment. All K-12 schools in the United States and formally recognized school groups, such as a grade level, classroom or club are eligible to apply. Public, private and licensed home schools are also eligible. Awards include $10,000 for eight award-winning projects and all expenses-paid trip to a SeaWorld or Busch Gardens park for the awards event. DEADLINE: Dec. 1, 2010.
Filed under: For Teachers, Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12, Grades K-5, K-12 Outreach Programs | Comments Off on Contest: Environmental Excellence Award
Tags: Competitions for Students, Competitions for Teachers, Contest, Environmental science, Outreach for Schools, Programs for Students
The U.S. Army has announced that registration is now open for the eCYBERMISSION STEM competition. Students in grades six through nine must utilize innovation, creativity, and interest in STEM education in the free, web-based contest. Students on winning teams can get up to $8,000 in U.S. EE Savings Bonds. Registration for teams closes December 17, 2010.
Argonne National Laboratory will sponsor 12 Chicago-area high schools in a Rube Goldberg machine contest to be held at the Chicago Children’s Museum on Friday, Feb. 25, 2011. The 2010 task is to build a complicated machine that takes at least 20 steps to water a plant. Sign-up soon to be one of the 12 participating high schools. Information packets mailed out in November.
The Center for Excellence in Education sponsors the Research Science Institute, the National Lab Skills Initiative, and the USA Biology Olympiad. The organization is a strong advocate for gifted education and contributes to the national debate on education reform. The Center actively supports developing scholars through its programs for high school through post-graduate students.
The 2011 DuPont Challenge invites students in grades 7-12 to write a 700 to 1,000-word essay discussing a scientific discovery, theory, event, or technological application that has captured their interest. Prize include $5,000-$2,000 U.S. Savings Bonds and a trip to Disney World and the Kennedy Space Center. Application process open Nov. 15, 2010 through Jan. 31, 2011.
The web-based, real-time American Math Challenge, set for October 26 and 27, lets students from across the U.S. compete against each other. It’s open to either individual K-12 students or entire schools and classes. Students from schools that register at least 20 pupils are eligible for prizes.
Semiconductor manufacturer Broadcom will spend $6 million over six years to fund a new STEM competition, the Broadcom MASTERS, focusing on 6th, 7th, and 8th-graders. In its first year, Broadcom expects 7,500 students from 350 science fairs across the country will be nominated for the contest.
Students at a rural Alabama school are putting their mechanical skills to use developing inexpensive utility vehicles that can be shipped to poor countries and assembled. Boasts teacher Brian Copes: “These students are on the fast track of changing the world.”
Hawthorne Math and Science Academy in Los Angeles is challenging the notion that inner city schools are too beset with urban problems to succeed. And, it’s doing so with help from major corporations. “It’s all about future workforce development!” says a Northrup Grumman coordinator. 
