When I say that my son, Isaac Moldofsky, won the Verizon Innovative App Challenge, I don't mean it in the traditional sense. Indeed, the Verizon folks only know him as some kid whose name appeared on an entry form back in 2013. I'll explain below how he won. But first, read about the 2016 Challenge. Verizon App Challenge This competition is all about the ideas. The challenge is open to middle school (grades 6-8) and high school students (grades ... [ Read More ]
Future City 2016 Challenge Topic
Future City is an engaging engineering competition for middle school students. It's one of the most affordable STEM team competitions around and has a low barrier to entry. I attended the Future City finals in Washington, D.C. a couple of years ago to provide social media coverage. I was impressed by what I learned and the people I met--students, teachers and engineers. I wouldn't normally trash talk this organization, but trash is actually ... [ Read More ]
Sikorsky Helicopter Design Challenge
The brand behind Black Hawk Helicopters is back with their yearly design challenge. Now in it's 5th year, the Helicopter 2050 Challenge provides a chance for kids ages 9-16 to earn recognition, along with a $1000 scholarship and a tour of Sikorsky HQ as well as a chance to meet with Sikorsky engineers. Helicopter Design Challenge 2050 This year's theme is is sustainability. They want your child's vision for an environmentally-friendly ... [ Read More ]
Ant-Man STEM Girl Challenge
Sometimes I just can't wait until STEM Girl Friday. For instance, I just learned about the Marvel Ant-Man Micro-Tech Challenge for STEM Girls and the deadline is just around the corner--June 11, so I wanted to share the news ASAP. The contest requires girls* between the ages of 14 and 18 to make something useful, artistic or exciting out of small and inexpensive items, like a Raspberry Pi and found objects. The creations should inspire. ... [ Read More ]
Kicking off a Weekend of STEM Fun
We'll be setting the stage for a weekend of STEM fun with this evening's #STEMChat on Twitter. Join in with our fantastic group of panelists--we've got parents, we've got educators, we've got STEM professionals (some of the panelists are all three)! We're going to have a blast sharing ideas and resources that encourage kids to find the science in everyday life thanks to our sponsor, the Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist Challenge! This ... [ Read More ]
Discovery 3M Young Scientist Challenge 2014 Finalists Announced
In April I partnered with the Discovery 3M Young Scientist Challenge to promote the competition. We also joined forces for a #STEMchat to share ideas for raising America's next top young scientist. We had such a lively chat that the summary was broken into two parts. The Young Scientist finalists were announced a earlier in July and, wow, are they an impressive lot! Click through to learn more about their impressive projects. You don't even ... [ Read More ]
Reporting Live from the Future City Competition
I spent the morning watching teams set up their Future City models and prep for the competition. As I mentioned, I'm here in Washington, DC, with my client DiscoverE. They are one of the sponsors of the Future City middle school engineering competition. The Future City Engineering Competition Each team is associated with a teacher and an engineer mentor. I had the chance to talk with several and it's clear they are quite fond of this ... [ Read More ]