STEM/STEAM

An externship program run by the Oklahoma State Department of Education expanded this summer, allowing K12 teachers to gain professional STEM experiences they can bring back to the classroom. During the pilot last year, teachers tested soil samples and worked in a concrete-making lab, among other activities, during a paid two-week externship at an Oklahoma […]

Empathize: Gather information from users In action: Fourth-graders in Colorado solicited ideas from local residents to help their city redesign a local park. Define: Frame the problem In action: Administrators in Glenbrook High Schools District 225 considered student experience when redesigning classrooms. They chose furniture that let learners move around. Ideate: Generate possible solutions that […]

Advocates of design thinking in education know what you’ve heard. “Its hard to look at design thinking and not see it as a buzzword” says Ryan Bretag, director of instructional innovation at Glenbrook High Schools District 225 outside Chicago. “When we narrow down design thinking to just a bunch of steps that you can follow […]

Today’s education leaders increasingly take it upon themselves to tackle the external challenges their students and teachers confront beyond school hours. These varied solutions also stretch back into classrooms to enhance instruction and increase achievement. The 45 schools and systems recognized by this year’s District of Distinction program have created homegrown initiatives to support students’ […]

NMSI’s mantra is that education empowers opportunity. How have you experienced that? During speeches, I say, “As I stand before you, I stand as a physician, as an astronaut and as a businessman. All of that was empowered by education.” When I was 13, I saw Neil and Buzz land on the moon. It became […]

Not long ago, 3D printers were the hot new edtech tool. Costing thousands of dollars, they were prized possessions that only teachers in specialties such as art and engineering knew how to use. Today, they have become necessary devices in ever-evolving, increasingly sophisticated classrooms in all subjects. And out in the workplace, students who have […]