President Obama Announces $240 Million For STEM Education

As recently seen on Education World, President Barack Obama announced over $240 million worth of pledges to focus on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education this week during the White House Science Fair on Mon., March 23. The money will come from private businesses, schools and foundations.

"Obama said the new commitments have brought total financial and material support for these programs to $1 billion," reported The Associated Press. "The pledges the president announced include a $150 million philanthropic effort to encourage promising early-career scientists to stay on track and a $90 million campaign to expand STEM opportunities to underrepresented youth, such as minorities and girls."

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Sylvan Learning Launches Sylvan EDGE for STEM Education

According to a recent survey, 88 percent of parents would rather spend their extra funds on enrolling their children in education programs that teach STEM fields. Over half agreed that developing skills in these topics will give their children an edge over their peers, and shockingly, the survey also found that more than a third of parents say their children don’t have proper technology instruction in their school classrooms.

Sylvan Learning Center responded with the launch of a new series of STEM education programs called Sylvan EDGE. The program is geared toward students in grades 1–6 and focuses on robotics, coding and math courses. They’re also partnering with leading companies like LEGO for the program. Sylvan will be offering free classes to 60,000 kids with local Sylvan Edge Bashes, and will have a launch event on April 21 in New York City.

Learn more about Sylvan EDGE.

Discovery Communications Will Launch ‘Support Our Science’ in Houston and Atlanta

During the White House Science Fair on March 23, Discovery Communications (and two of its subsidiaries, the Science Channel and Discovery Education), unveiled plans to launch “Support Our Science,” which will provide a school in Houston and Atlanta with the materials for a comprehensive STEM program.

“The Support Our Science initiative will provide one school each in the Houston Independent School District and Fulton County Schools with: free access to Science Channel programming; a professional development program from Discovery Education for educators; Digital resources like Discovery Education Streaming, Discovery Education Science Techbook and the Discovery Education Math Techbook; A hands-on science curriculum, the Discovery Education STEM Camp; a STEM lab with computers, tablets and science tools, and; An attitudinal study to measure the impact of the program.”

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Students in Porterville, Calif. Win Big at STEM Expo 2015

More than 100 students competed at the STEM Expo 2015, and Porterville students Mateo Woods and Aden Ennis of Westfield Elementary won the “Budding Young Scientist” award.

“Among the six students moving on to represent Tulare County at the state competition, four are from Porterville,” reported The Porterville Recorder. “They are Ryan Ruesch of Westfield Elementary School with his project ‘DIY Fuel Cells,’ and Mari Sanders of Sequoia Middle School with her project, ‘From Seed to Sod: An examination of seed germination and its effectiveness in establishing riparian buffers.’”

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By Samantha DiMauro, Education World Contributor

3/25/2015