The United States of America has seen a decline in the number of individuals pursuing degrees in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics or STEM. With an understanding that in order to stay competitive in the global economy, the United States must enhance its pipeline towards STEM disciplines. Schools must find a way to motivate and…

Lists the awardees from the Craftsman/NSTA Young Inventors Awards Program and relates the stories behind the inventions. (MM)

This issue of Exploratorium Magazine focuses on the topic robotics. It explains how to make a vibrating robotic bug and features articles on robots. Contents include: (1) "Where Robot Mice and Robot Men Run Round in Robot Towns" (Ray Bradbury); (2) "Robots at Work" (Jake Widman); (3) "Make a Vibrating Robotic Bug" (Modesto Tamez); (4) "The Robot…

Current instructional and learning models insist that when teachers prepare lessons for their technology and engineering classes, they must begin with a sense of what students already know. In preparing lessons, many teachers use their years of classroom experience as data to inform them about students' prior knowledge and about student…

Experiments with exercises that are distinguished from those employed with elite students by reducing competition and increasing cooperation through the use of tests against nature, large dynamic ranges in performance, initial prototype designs, and alternative methods of recording and presenting results. Finds that formulating easily understood…

Students at King Philip Junior High School run a rockshop as an alternative to the traditional study hall and science club. (BB)

Understanding how to better engage young students in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) is essential. The constraints of U.S. K-12 schools (e.g. insufficient institutional supports, lack of technology access, testing pressures, etc.) often make it difficult to create truly engaging STEM curricula with which students can deeply…

Since 2007, Chevron has funded the Research Experience Vitalizing Science -- University Program (REVS-UP), which lasts four weeks each summer to develop Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) projects at CSUB [California State University, Bakersfield]. Over the past six years, a total of 26 STEM professors have led the…

The Algebra Project DR K-12, funded by the National Science Foundation as a Research and Development Project, addressed the challenge of offering significant STEM content for students to ensure public literacy and workforce readiness. The project's primary purpose was to test the feasibility and effectiveness of a model for establishing four-year…