Tag: STEM

GoldieBlox Makes Engineering a Girl Thing!

Goldie-Blox-Engineering-Toy-Just-Girls

Listen up, girls! Engineering is cool! That’s the message that GoldieBlox inventor Debbie Sterling, a Stanford University-educated engineer, is passionate about sharing. Designed for girls ages six and older, GoldieBlox is a storybook and construction set that challenges girls to help the inventor protagonist Goldie, build things. We can all remember reading childhood fairy tales about princesses in distress ultimately …

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Manufacturing Growth Holds Less Promise for Women

women and manufacturing

Today in the United States more women graduate college, they make up nearly half of the working population, and one-third of women out-earn their spouse. So why are women losing their footing in the manufacturing sector? A report released this week by Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., vice chair of the U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee (JEC) seeks to answer this …

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Science-Minded Kids to Show Projects at MIT

Photo courtesy of MSSEF

The weather is finally turning to Spring… so what’s up for the weekend? At our house, the schedule is often packed with the kids’ sports and other activities and the weekends fly by too fast. But, maybe you can find time to squeeze in something different – the state science fair. The Massachusetts State Science & Engineering Fair (MSSEF) for …

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Art, Design Educational Needs Pushing STEM To STEAM

STEAM

A push for better U.S. art and design education is changing STEM to STEAM. Science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) have long been the Holy Grail of a U.S. drive for improved education, producing students who can compete globally. But a growing chorus says art and design must be in the mix. The STEAM movement has wide-ranging support from academia, …

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Engineering for Humanity: Local Students and Seniors Team Up

Olin Engineering for Humanity

The first time Shubhangini Prakash had to propel herself to the bathroom in a wheelchair at a local council on aging activities center, she almost gave up in frustration. Prakash was only sampling what life was like for people with limited mobility. But she says it was her “aha” moment. “I never realized how hard it is,” the 27-year-old MBA …

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Don’t Worry; Today’s Kids Are Smarter Than You Think

Nick D’Aloisio, Photo: Nadine Rupp/Getty Images

Quick – what is the temperature at which water boils? Correct, 100 degrees. But what about in Fahrenheit? Yes, 212. But did you know this when you were seven years old? Last weekend, my son and husband went to a cryogenics workshop at H3XL in Burlington, MA. And the second- and third-graders in that class were able to rattle off …

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15 Ways to Spot a Future Engineer

Future Engineer, Photo by Diane Williams

Are some people natural born engineers? Does engineering ability run in the family, like artistic or musical talent? Engineering is hot right now, and continues to top the list of highest-paying college majors. But, it takes more than desire to be an engineer; it takes passion, ability and academic rigor. How can you spot that passion in children as they …

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Video Games Help Promote Engineering and Science

EyeWire Neuron Cube, Image: Eyewire

All over the world more and more of us are playing video games. According to a Business Insights report, by 2015 they’ll be 150 million social gamers in the United States alone. Sixty-seven percent of American households play video games, with the average gamer spending eight hours per week playing games. And there’s no turning back the tide. The gaming …

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Shouldn’t We Know What a Meteor Is?

Russian Meteor, Photo: Russian Emergency Ministry

Today I happened across the March edition of Space Watch, a newsletter sent out by the Space Foundation. The top story—entitled Not Necessarily Smarter Than the Dinosaurs—got my attention. The article turned out to be an impassioned editorial from Space Foundation CEO Elliot Pulham on the poor state of STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) policy in the United States, …

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Engineers and Scientists Get the Gift of the Gab

Thesis in Three

Bob the Stem Cell, all squiggly lines and eyes, stares out from under a hard hat at an audience of 500 people in Dublin’s Smock Alley Theatre. “He was a construction worker once, and built up all our bodies,” the presenter, Thomas Schwarzl, is explaining, one hand on a microphone and the other gesturing at Bob, whose caricature is projected …

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