BioBuilder
BioBuilder invites students across the Commonwealth to engage with their Idea Accelerator, a digital offering that allows students to learn the foundations of biodesign and challenges them to develop a biotechnology that solves any challenge they want to address. The world’s health crisis has focused everyone’s attention on biology and life science. A design challenge related to bioengineering is not only timely but is also a way to focus student’s ideas on solving society’s needs, allowing students to both see themselves in STEM and see STEM in the world. To learn more or join the challenge, contact Stephanie Ovitt at stephanie@biobuilder.org.
CoderZ by Intelitek
CoderZ invites students and educators to explore CSTEM, the fusion of Computer Science and STEM, through their award-winning platform during Massachusetts STEM Week 2021. Owned by Intelitek, Inc., CoderZ’s gamified online platform is as easy to use as it is powerful. Students learn core STEM, coding, and robotics skills, while supporting 21st Century skills such as critical thinking, creativity, and collaboration. It’s an accessible entry point for any student to weave CSTEM into their future! To learn more contact Kathy Scott at kathy@gocoderz.com or 215.589.3954, and to schedule a demo, visit https://calendly.com/kathygocoderz.
FIRST Robotics WPI
New England FIRST invites students and educators across the Commonwealth to engage with robotics teams through MA STEM week and learn more about how to get hands-on with robotics! FIRST programs enable students from kindergarten through high school to understand the basics of STEM and apply their skills in an exciting challenge while building habits of learning, confidence, and teamwork skills along the way. To learn more, visit https://nefirst.org/ or contact us at first@wpi.edu
Gale Force Education
Gale Force Education brings the excitement of power engineering to your high school student through Engineering for Resilience (EfR), which focuses on the design and operation of New England’s power grid. In a series of challenges aligned to MA STEM standards, students will design, test, and improve power grid system components and a model power grid system. To learn more or to join the challenge, visit https://bit.ly/2UMvRdN or contact us at michael@kidwind.org.
Kids in Tech, Inc.
Kids in Tech’s STEM Challenge will help students in the Commonwealth visualize the concepts of AI, understand how these systems affect the way our world works, and appreciate the potential they have to change the future. Students will utilize two online platforms, Machine Learning for Kids and Scratch, through which they will complete engaging activities that allows them to see what is possible with AI concepts and technology. The challenge will culminate in a project in which students will design their own Smart Cities using AI principles and programming language. To learn more or to join the challenge, visit us at www.kidsintech.org or contact us at info@kidsintech.org.
Mass STEM Hub and Project Lead the Way
As part of Mass STEM Week 2021, Mass STEM Hub, a program of the One8 Foundation, is providing an opportunity for Project Lead The Way (PLTW) schools across the Commonwealth to connect directly with industry professionals to help students deepen their learning and link their coursework to real-world careers. With Mass STEM Hub’s STEM Week Student Industry Connects, middle and high school students (grades 6-12) are invited to submit any of their PLTW projects from the 2021-2022 school year to receive authentic feedback from STEM professionals on their work. Classrooms that submit projects will also have the opportunity to continue the conversation with professionals through follow-up virtual classroom visits. Check out this video to hear directly from students on the impact real world feedback can have. Contact Katherine Skrivan (kskrivan@mass-stemhub.org) for more information; additional details will also be posted on the Mass STEM Hub website later in August, including the submission form.
Museum of Science
The Museum of Science and EiE®, the Museum’s curricular division, invites educators and students to see themselves in STEM by engaging with our newest permanent exhibition, Engineering Design Workshop powered by MathWorks, and in classrooms throughout the Commonwealth during Mass STEM Week 2021. Engineering Design Workshop enriches hands-on activities through the use of state-of-the-art tools and includes our popular Design Challenges program that invites visitors to design, build, and test their own solutions to fun engineering and computer science challenges. Challenges will engage students live and in-person as they engineer to solve problems related to environmental challenges humans face across the globe, set in the context of urban, coastal, suburban, and rural settings across the Commonwealth. To learn more or join the challenge, contact Lesley Kennedy, Manager of Professional Development, at lkennedy@mos.org.
United Way
In partnership with Boston Public Schools, United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley’s (UWMB) BoSTEM initiative challenges students and educators across the Commonwealth to explore social justice for civics by using STEM as the lever for change. The impact of social justice issues on youth has been exacerbated by COVID-19 and our current racial injustice climate. Through this design challenge, teachers will support their students in local data collection and synthesis to build a social justice message and project around equity in the city for issues like our deteriorating environment, lack of affordable housing, transportation equity and food security. To learn more or to join the challenge, contact us at bostem@supportunitedway.org.
Wade Institute
The Wade Institute for Science Education, the Salem Sound Coastwatch, and the Lloyd Center for the Environment have designed “Hurricane Heroes! Storm City, Massachusetts,” a phenomena-based challenge that will allow educators to use grade-level appropriate science and technology concepts that address the MA STEM Standards. This challenge will give students across the Commonwealth the opportunity to learn about storms and their impact and to incorporate engineering concepts with physical and earth science disciplinary core ideas. To learn more or to join the challenge, visit us at wadeinstitutema.org or contact Sandi Ryack-Bell at sRyack-Bell@wadeinstitutema.org.