LATEST NEWS & INFO Category: Students

Today’s career-technical education doesn’t look much like the shop class or home economics lessons of past generations. Such traditional “vocational” education — teaching the best way to hammer a nail or bake a pie — has mostly given way to students learning high-tech job skills and earning professional certifications that can translate directly into well-paying, in-demand career opportunities. Supporting this transition and the educators who lead it is the Ohio Association for Career and Technical Education. For more information about […]

With the cyber world becoming ever more complex and pervasive, demand is growing for competent professionals to keep the cloud, and our personal data, safe from nefarious hackers. To introduce students to the possibilities of such cyber-security work, Columbus State Community College held a competitive “Capture the Flag” event late last year. The college is also working on curriculum leading to a cyber-security degree. To find out more about the college’s interest in cyber security, we contacted Lawrence McWherter, an […]

MakerMinded competition sounds enticing: Have students participate in STEM- and manufacturing-related activities, programs and experiences listed on the MakerMinded web site; document and showcase the participation on social media; earn and track points received for participation; win prizes based on points earned at the end of the school year. But how does a teacher fit all this into a crowded curriculum? Two Ohio educators have found a way to incorporate MakerMinded participation into their regular classes and school club activities. […]

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 […]

Many manufacturers across the United States are begging for skilled workers to fill positions, and manufacturers in northeastern Ohio are no exception. Enter MAGNET (Manufacturing Advocacy & Growth Network), an organization based in Cleveland that helps such regional businesses grow and compete. MAGNET is sponsoring a workforce program to interest area high school students in manufacturing careers and to get them paid internships on shop floors well before graduation. The program is called Early College Early Career. For details, we […]

April 13, 2018 update: We will be notifying the winners of our 2018 contest on Monday, May 14th.  Last year, we ran our inaugural student essay contest. We were thrilled by the responses from 100 students from across the state. Thanks to students like Erica Barnes, we learned more about how middle and high schoolers persevere through personal challenges, in and out of school. In 2018, we want to keep learning from and listening to Ohio students of all ages. Even when solving problems […]

“A school full of animals and plants; that doesn’t sound normal. But once you come here, and experience it, you realize how amazing it is.”                 – Teague Tafelski The Toledo Natural Science Technology Center is anything but normal. Since 1975, it has been a part of Toledo Public Schools career tech program, offering students a hands-on education in environmental and natural science. Their problem and inquiry based approaches toward Animal Science, Landscape and Turf, and Urban Agriculture attract students […]

By adapting the best of the European apprenticeship to Northeast Ohio, a new organization takes students inside manufacturing careers. February 28th, Dr. Terrence Robinson will detail the lessons of the program and how it could benefit your students. Battelle’s Heather Sherman will moderate and explain how the program connects with MakerMinded, a powerful tool for finding quality STEM experiences where students can earn points for their school. Webinar: How MAGNET’s Early College, Early Career program prepares students for success – Register […]

“Are we going to be able to finish our project today?” At Baldwin Road Junior High, STEM shines in The Foundry, a dedicated makerspace led by Sandra Guinto. At 9:30AM, she and 16 eighth graders were excited to finish up their group projects. From the first day of school, Art of Math is directed by student interests. “I try to find projects that they want to do,” Guinto said, so she gave the reins over to students from the outset. […]