In its effort to continue to encourage student excellence in STEM, Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, Georgia celebrated STEM Day on Friday. TAG-Ed, the Technology Association of Georgia’s Education collaborative, partnered with several Georgia institutions and companies to encourage participation in STEM day and schools and classes across the state participated.
TAG-Ed’s mission is to promote Georgia students involvement in STEM studies and “works to elevate the quality and effectiveness of Georgia’s schools in order to produce more students pursuing STEM specific majors in institutions of higher education and ultimately STEM-related careers.”
The Georgia Aquarium , Zoo Atlanta, the College Board, Discovery Education, STEM Premier and HiFi Kids all were involved in promoting STEM day. In 2015, over 630,000 students participated from 50 different school districts in the state.
The Georgia Aquarium showcased how its employees use STEM in their careers supporting a 24 hour, 365 day a year operation with over 600 team members and 1,300 volunteers. All types of careers and different STEM focuses are supported at the aquarium, everything from graphic designers to biologists to animal trainers.
The College Board helped to support STEM Day through its offering of possible STEM Day projects for teachers to use in the classroom. One project suggested was “A Silly Polymer Activity”, which involved cross-linking a polymer and observing the changes in physical properties. In layman’s terms, cross-linking a polymer can also be called making silly putty. Another project was called the Great Clade Race, a lesson designed to teach students how to construct and read a phylogenetic tree. A phylogenetic tree is a branching diagram used to show the evolutionary relationships among different species.
Randstad US, the staffing and HR services giant, also got in on the STEM Day action with a partnershup with Junior Achievement of Georgia to show Freedom Middle School students the benefits of STEM. Randstad is in a unique position to see the position of the labor market and according to Phyllis Finley, EVP of Diversity and Inclusion, “we hear from clients all the time about underrepresented STEM fields and the need to close these gaps. These programs give us a hands-on opportunity to show students the opportunities available to them, further supporting our mission to shape the world of work.” Randstad awarded Junior Achievement of Georgia $50,000 to support a variety of events at different schools and and also at the Chick-Fil-A Foundation Discovery Center.
Georgia STEM Day and the projects promoted by its partners were designed for all levels of students, from high school down to elementary schoolers. At the STEAM school in Gainesville, a school set up specifically around STEM, with an “A”rts component, projects included an egg drop, bucket towers and working on 3D CAD software.
The fifth annual STEM Education Awards will be later this year in November to recognize outstanding efforts and achievements in supporting and promoting STEM. Categories for nomination include Elementary School, Middle School and High School, as well as STEM Certified School Outreach and several others. Nominations opened on STEM Day and is a first round of judging before the winners are announced in November.
To learn more, see here: http://www.tagonline.org/events/stem-education-awards/
