National Robotics Week 2015
Posted on March 19th, 2015 by Mary Lord
A Robot Block Party on the campus of Brown University in Providence, R.I., FIRST Robotics and LEGO League contests, and Botball regionals in New Mexico are just some of the 250-plus events taking place around the country during National Robotics Week.
Filed under: Competitions and Contests, K-12 Outreach Programs, Special Features | Comments Off on National Robotics Week 2015
Tags: Class Activities, Competitions for Students, Internet Resources, National Robotics Week 2015, Robotics, Video contest
NASCAR, the National Association of Stock Car Automobile Racing, is speeding into STEM education. Acceleration Nation is a new learning program created in partnership with Scholastic to teach elementary and middle school students about math and science behind the Three D’s of Speed: Drag, Downforce, and Drafting.
Looking for a fun way to engage students in STEM and help them understand core concepts? Check out the Scientist’s Curiosity Cabinet, a video-laden website showcasing Boston College chemistry professor Ross Kelly’s collection of gadgets that offer “neat examples” of such scientific principles as buoyancy or “things that seem impossible but are staring one in the face.”
What do fashion designers, rock stars, and restaurant owners have in common? They all apply algebra in their work! Get the Math promotes algebraic thinking and problem-solving skills through video challenges that illuminate such real-world math.
America’s “green economy” is growing, and that means new jobs in sustainability, construction, engineering and many other areas. To help students discover their interests and career pathways, Green360 offers self-assessment inventories, career coaching, and other free online curricular resources. 
Whether seeking to prepare for Advanced Placement® Biology exams or take engineering math, high school students now can access 27 free online courses from the MIT-Harvard edX consortium designed to help boost their chance of college STEM success.
To encourage more schools to teach computer science, the nonprofit Code.org has launched Code Studio — a set of tools, lesson plans, and curriculum to help students in kindergarten through high school explore the underlying concepts behind coding. The site includes a dashboard for teachers to monitor their students’ progress.
What sparks invention? Find answers on the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s updated website for kids, teens, teachers, and parents. Highlights include a video series on innovation created with NBC Learn and the National Science Foundation that covers topics from 3-D printing to self-driving cars to synthetic diamonds. There also are videos showcasing teen inventors, inventor trading cards, and a “cool IP” timeline of historic patents.
The market for educational apps has exploded, but which ones work best for teachers?
