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Year of STEAM! Looking at a Few Examples

Year of STEAM logo

It’s our year of STEAM projects! Each week we admire some aspect of STEAM education that is being tried by people and organizations all over the place.

This week, we have a few different links you can use to explore different ideas in STEAM projects in schools. You might want to browse through these for some ideas to implement in your school, for projects we might want to work together to find grant money to fund, or to send to your principal or other stakeholders to help them think about some STEAM ideas that might be good for your community.

You can see that there are a lot of interesting projects happening that are partnerships between schools and areas businesses. Schools want great, up-to-date education tools, and businesses want qualified graduates to work for them. Teaming up to make that happen can make a great STEAM project happen! If you want to consider something like that, we can come over and chat with you to gather ideas, or help you build proposals to take to your administration or wider community.

Click on those headlines to get the full stories!

  • People & Places: Flight Night takes off to benefit STEM “The Tulsa Regional STEM Alliance works to build innovative STEM pathways for students to access high-impact careers, fueling a more globally competitive northeastern Oklahoma. Fab Lab Tulsa provides educational programming for schools and after-school programs with technology and equipment in a space where students can learn hands-on digital design and fabrication skills required to solve the problems of the future. Educational programs focus on building skills in core subjects, such as math, science and art, as well as applied problem solving, critical thinking and creativity.”
  • Cox Foundation is helping Boys and Girls of Topeka further STEM education “Cox Communications is advancing STEM education at the Boys and Girls Club of Topeka. The teen center received a $25,000 grant through the James M. Cox Foundation. The center used the money towards their Innovation Lab. The lab allows students who may not have access to the internet at home the ability to learn about robotics, 3-D printing, and STEM education. To further the students love for technology. The Boys and Girls Club purchased podcast equipment and new computers.
  • ‘STEAM’ is the focus at new school in Brooklyn Park “Classes are underway at the newest school in Brooklyn Park.  Zanewood Community School opened its doors for the first time Tuesday, and there’s a good chance it doesn’t look like the classroom you grew up in. Zanewood is a ‘STEAM’ school in the Osseo Area School District.  That means the curriculum specializes in science, technology, engineering, arts and math.”
  • Nominated by local farmers, Elba Central School awarded $10,000 grant to enhance STEM curriculum “By working with farmers, America’s Farmers Grow Rural Education Program, sponsored by the Bayer Fund, awarded $2.3 million in grants nationwide this year to strengthen STEM education in rural schools. The schools that received grants were nominated and selected by farmers in their communities and Elba’s farmers answered the call to strengthen STEM education. Elba’s grant will allow it to produce and broadcast video announcements.”
  • Amazon donates STEAM labs to Petersburg’s elementary schools “The lab was part of a $75,000 donation that created a STEAM lab at all four public elementary schools — Walnut Hill, Lakemont, Cool Spring and Pleasant Lane. That donation is in addition to another $10,000 donation last year which established a lab in the high school this year. “Just to hear that a company, an organization is investing in our students, investing in our community, they said we want to do something for our community, We want to have a STEAM lab.” said Walnut Hill Principal Belinda W. Urquhart. “We’re so happy because they said they wanted to give you something, and then they turn around and set up the lab, too. This is exciting.””
  • 41 education groups join cohort to end STEM teacher shortage “A group of 41 additional educational organizations on Thursday pledged to address the root causes of the Unites States’ shortage of K-12 teachers in science, technology, engineering, and math…. Each of the partner organizations have made commitments to address specific challenges surrounding the STEM teacher shortage — like how to increase the supply of teachers, retain talent or put policies in place to prevent future shortages. The new cohort — which includes Chicago Public Schools, LEGO Education, National Board for Professional Teaching Standards and Council of Chief State School Officers — will explore the underlying reasons for the teacher shortage, seeking solutions with the greatest potential for impact.”
  • How a Partnership is Paving the Way to STEM Education in Kurdistan “Some partnerships were meant to be. For years, kids all over the world have been learning how to program computers and build robots as part of the global movement toward STEM education. But it took a bit longer for STEM to take root in Kurdistan, the autonomous northern region of Iraq. Kurdistan Save the Children was eager to change that. Founded in 1991, the Iraqi nonprofit organization works to ensure protection, health, and education for all children. Over the years, it has developed a wide network and an excellent track record for educational youth programming.”