By Parker Thomas
Over the last few years, I've watched from afar as Pittsburgh's Remake Learning initiative has blossomed into a resource-rich network. Its 533-member organizations are striving to inspire and equip the next generation of innovators, problem-solvers and critical thinkers through hands-on, relevant learning.
If we need students to be learning coding now, yet the schools are not ready for it on many levels, where does that leave us?
By Dian Schaffhauser
Nearly 50 students attended classes at the downtown campus of the university, where they learned about programming, computer architecture, careers in computer science and cybersecurity and how to do professional networking. Now they're expected to return to their schools and serve as "computer science and cybersecurity ambassadors" and recruit a team of classmates to compete in Cyber Security Awareness Week, NYU's annual cybersecurity competition.
Parents, district administrators and the community agree that computer science and coding classes will help students develop the workplace skills they will need to be successful in the future.
Microsoft is backing two STEM education nonprofits to the tune of $500,000: Black Girls Code and the Technology Access Foundation.
By Dian Schaffhauser
The use of drone technology captivates students while allowing them to learn abstract concepts in off-the-ground ways.
The makerspace isn't just a fixed space where kids come and go to complete busywork. It's an extension of a well established approach to educating students that has applications and deep implications across disciplines.
Schools without a makerspace or without plans to implement a makerspace are now in the minority.
By Dian Schaffhauser
Just a couple of weeks after Microsoft announced that it was acquiring GitHub for $7.5 billion in stock, the platform launched a new bundle of its education tools for use by schools.
By Dian Schaffhauser
A project newly funded by the U.S. Department of Education will focus on the creation of a prototype of a web-based coding progression tool for high schoolers and college students.
By Dian Schaffhauser
A group of organizations announced plans to launch a graduate-level educator preparation program for Colorado teachers, intended to help them gain the credentials they need to teach STEM classes in K-12. The first focus of "STEMpath" will be computer science.
By Dian Schaffhauser
H2O.ai, an artificial-intelligence platform producer, is partnering with AI4ALL, an Oakland, CA-based nonprofit working to increase diversity and inclusion in AI and to educate future AI workers about how it can be a force for social good. The goal: to democratize AI.