LATEST NEWS & INFO Category: Design challenge

The pandemic has forced much of the hands-on learning typical of STEM classrooms to be shared virtually. And so it was with STEMfest!, an annual design challenge sponsored by The Works: Ohio Center for History, Art & Technology. The Works, which is located in Newark in central Ohio’s Licking County, made STEMfest! a virtual event in this year with great success. And one of the STEMfest! design challenges that middle and high school students could pursue was #STEMpowersOhio – the […]

The #STEMpowersOhio Design & Entrepreneurship Challenge will connect your students to hands-on learning, community partners, and more. Since launching the challenge in September, participating schools have joined us and our partners for special educators professional development events, built lessons using our https://designchallenge.osln.org portal, and worked together to share STEM tips. All these efforts help Ohio students work to reimagine energy production and/or consumption to improve your communities. Now, it’s time to get your registration submitted. Whether you’re a school or […]

With all the pandemic protocols, teachers might say that this school year has been a real challenge. But some STEM teachers in Ohio are taking on a specific challenge, asking their students to reimagine energy production and/or consumption to improve their community. It’s the Ohio STEM Learning Network’s #STEMpowersOhio Design & Entrepreneurship Challenge and it asks students to explore the topic of energy. Julie Hunter, sixth-grade science instructor at Bio-Med Science Academy STEM School in northeastern Ohio’s Portage County, is […]

Will your school join the #STEMpowersOhio Design & Entrepreneurship Challenge? Not sure how to get started? Below is a reminder about timelines and a collection of resources to help you dive in and get moving on this engaging student design challenge. First, here is an update about the challenge timeline – there is still time to participate this year. The registration deadline is February 15th.  We already have more than 30 schools registered – but we would love to have […]

Considering joining this year’s #STEMpowersOhio Design & Entrepreneurship Challenge, but not sure how to get started? The Ohio STEM Learning Network and The Works: Ohio Center for History, Art & Technology will join forces to bring 6-12th teachers a robust series of sessions to help you get started. We want as many students as possible to participate this year, and we hope this workshop series will give educators the support needed to make this program a success. These webinars will […]

This year’s #STEMpowersOhio challenge question is a big one: “Reimagine energy production/consumption to improve your community.” Through the challenge, students can explore a wide range of energy related sub-topics. We’re offering a special webinar on Electric Vehicle Charging on both November 19 and November 30. We encourage teachers and afterschool leaders facilitating the design challenge to modify the design challenge question into something with a narrower focus, as long as the modified question ties back to energy.  Perhaps you want […]

The Ohio STEM Learning Network recently announced the addition of two educators to help lead the network’s Dayton Hub. Jenn Reid and Stephanie Adams Taylor, both on staff at the Dayton Regional STEM School in Kettering, will join Dr. Brian Boyd, associate professor of mathematics education at Wright State University, in directing the hub’s programming, professional development, partnerships and outreach. To gain a bit of insight into their educational backgrounds, current jobs and plans for the hub, we contacted Reid […]

For 20 years, the Columbus-based PAST Foundation has been working to improve education and “link learning to life.” The PAST Foundation (Partnering Anthropology with Science and Technology) offers educational programs for students and teachers and evaluates others’ programs to measure their impacts and outcomes. In a new endeavor, the foundation has been chosen to lead the Central Ohio Hub of the Ohio STEM Learning Network. A STEM innovator at the foundation – and its “Queen of Queries” – Mary Schneider […]

For this year’s design challenge, we’re partnering with Ohio Energy Project, the Ohio Oil & Gas Energy Education Program, Young Entrepreneur Institute, and the Ohio Afterschool Network to explore the topic of Energy. The #STEMpowersOhio Design and Entrepreneurship Challenge asks students to “reimagine energy production and/or consumption to improve your community?” We’ve modified this year’s challenge to account for a variety of education options – hybrid, in person or fully remote.  We know this year is different from most – […]

Amid the turmoil, disruption and uncertainty that the COVID-19 pandemic thrust upon education in the Buckeye State, one southwestern Ohio school for young learners still had much to celebrate this spring. In May, on its third try, the Kinder Garden School received the state’s STEM/STEAM designation from the Ohio STEM Committee. In addition, Kinder Garden School students celebrated successfully tackling the Ohio STEM Learning Network’s #STEMdrivesOhio Design Challenge on smart mobility, coming up with creative and practical ways to make […]