This week in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) news, girls show the country why people shouldn’t be so worried about their performance in STEM, the White House launches a new STEM initiative inspired by a nine-year-old visitor, and 3D-printer clubs take off in schools.

3D Printer Clubs Are Last Year’s Robotics Club

For a while, it seemed like no other STEM-related club would have as much success in K-12 schools as the robotics club has.

Well, that might be changing with the recent success of 3D printer clubs.

This week, a $50,000 grant from the National Science Foundation and the Greater Cincinnati STEM Collaborative made it possible for 13 schools in the Cincinnati area to participate in 3D printing clubs.

"The 3-D printer clubs, modeled after the collaborative’s STEM bicycle clubs, challenged students to identify real-world problems and develop and create solutions,” said WCPO Insider.

Read more about the clubs here.

White House Seeks Kid Science Advisors

Inspired by a nine-year-old, President Barack Obama likes the idea behind using the country’s children to advise him on what they need to best learn STEM.

That’s why the White House is now seeking kid science advisors to do exactly that.

Once the White House has a corresponding site up-and-running, urging your student or child to get involved is a great learning opportunity, especially for over summer.

Read more.

Girls Outperform Boys on Nation’s Report Card for Technology and Engineering Literacy

Released for the first time this week, the Nation’s Report Card for Technology and Engineering Literacy revealed that girls are outperforming boys in the two subjects.

Overall, 43 percent of the eighth-graders surveyed scored at a “proficient” level.

Other interesting results from the first study of its kind found that most students did their technology and engineering learning outside of the classroom.

Read more about the results here.

Annual Maker Competition Begins This Week

This week IEEE, the world’s largest organization of technical professionals, launched its annual Maker Project Competition.

Another great summer learning opportunity for students 18 years or older, the company will be accepting submissions for the competition until September 17, 2016.

"Entrants must be 18 years or older to enter and submissions must be an engineering project that was built or created using hardware or software. Submissions must also include an image or video of the tech project, as well as a description. Visitors to the site will be able to share, link, comment and even vote for their favorite submissions,” IEEE said in a statement.

The submissions will be judged on how original, innovative, and beneficial to humanity they are.

Though they must be an engineering project, they will be looking for submissions in the categories of accessibility, education, entertainment, health and safety, sustainability and transportation.

Find out how to enter here. 

Debate Over Animal Dissection in Classrooms Starts Again Following Viral Classroom Footage

Individuals and animal rights organizations are encouraging science teachers to consider alternatives to animal dissection in their classrooms once again following video footage from an anatomy lesson that went viral.

In the footage, students are seen jump-roping with the intestines of cats they dissected. The students were not being disrespectful but rather were participating in a lesson from their teacher to learn about the durability and length of vital organs. 

Some say the footage indicates that animal dissections desensitize students to the value of life and that students would be better served using virtual dissection programs to learn anatomy. Many organizations stand behind performing dissections in schools, arguing that there is no alternative to the real thing. 

Read more.

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