LATEST NEWS & INFO Category: Parents

During this time of academic uncertainty, students and families are faced with a diversity of daily challenges. Their new normal consists of remote learning opportunities with limited interactions to teachers and peers that help guide students’ educational success. This isolation can have negative repercussions on students’ growth and wellbeing, but many schools are trying to change that. Akron Public Schools created a range of supports for families. Amanda Morgan, Instructional Leader for National Inventors Hall of Fame STEM Middle School, […]

While learning continues in homes across Ohio, many young people have began looking for ways they can help. A new challenge asks students to support their communities, in a safe way. Following on the incredible success of the “Name the Rover” essay contest, the national STEMx network offers a new opportunity for K-12 students, in partnership with Future Engineers. The “Start a Smile” challenge will highlight the creativity and commitment of young people. Students, your challenge is: INVENT A WAY […]

Today, the STEMx network released a new resource for parents as many families adjust to life at home. STEMx is a national coalition of state STEM organizations, also managed by Battelle. The STEMx Parent’s Guide to STEM offers more than 30 pages of research and interviews examining how to understand STEM education. This guide adapts the Greater Cincinnati STEM Collaborative‘s Companion Book for Parents for a national audience. Members of the STEMx network and the national labs managed by Battelle […]

Parents, teachers, and kids are adjusting to life at home and learning online. Battelle’s education team, which manages the Ohio STEM Learning Network, has pulled together a list of some of our favorite education resources. Many of these feature special promotions created to help out during the COVID-19 crisis. Know a great resource? Submit it in the comments below with a link and a one to two sentence description. Throughout the next month, each new Ohio STEM Learning Network post […]

In late 2017, a groundbreaking national survey was released that aimed to reveal American girls’ thoughts, behaviors and attitudes. The report, titled “The Girls’ Index: New Insights into the Complex World of Today’s Girls,” sampled 10,678 female youths ages 10 to 18 from across the country on issues such as confidence, body image, friendships, pressure, leadership, career aspirations, school, academics, technology and social media. Now, a just-released companion report, “Girls, STEM & Careers: Decoding Girls’ Futures in an Age of […]

Thanks to support from NBA superstar and Akron native LeBron James, the I PROMISE School opened with much hoopla in late July. The public elementary school, which is part of Akron Public Schools, will have a STEM emphasis and serve some of the Summit County city’s most at-risk students — initially third- and fourth-graders. It will have a longer school day and a non-traditional academic calendar, and it will provide access to “wrap-around” social services to the students and their […]

Think back:  Did your elementary school librarian wear a chicken hat and Chuck Taylors in the building? Did he or she dress up as a cartoon scientist? Dance to vinyl Elvis records? Perform a storybook while reading it aloud? No? Well, the librarian at Summit Road STEM Elementary School does all that — and much, much more. And, she has written a delightful, insightful and heartfelt book about her purposeful antics and the unexpected reactions of her young students. In […]

April 13, 2018 update: We will be notifying the winners of our 2018 contest on Monday, May 14th.  Students of all ages encounter problems every day. For our essay contest, we asked students at Ohio’s STEM schools to shine a light on how they can solve them. Over the past three weeks, we’ve already received student perspectives on issues like gun control, depression, homelessness, volunteerism, self-esteem, and deforestation. More are rolling in each day, all responding to the prompt below. […]

We believe student voice (and teacher voice) matters. Today, we’re trying out a new approach to amplify these stories. Click below to listen to this piece as a podcast and let us know what you think in the comments. “People aren’t being as heart-healthy as they should be,” explained eighth grader Mackensie Clark, “so we want people to get used to doing that so they will be heart-healthy, so they won’t have a heart attack or have a stroke.”  Mackensie is participating in our statewide design […]

Last year, more than 1,200 students across the State of Ohio worked in teams to develop solutions to the opioid crisis. In May 100 students gathered at Battelle for the Student Solutions Showcase, presenting their solutions to scientists, engineers, and state political leaders (see below). This year, we would like to present another challenge, Ohio Heart Health Design Challenge to be showcased week of May 14th at Battelle. (Read about last year’s showcase) When choosing a statewide design challenge, we […]