I believe in extended celebrations — really, just ask my friends and colleagues who gather for three weekends in a row of birthday celebrations — and when STEM is involved, it’s even better.
So when I heard this week was a celebration of Girl Day (Feb. 26) and Engineers Week (Feb. 22-28), I wanted to do something special. I went a little crazy buying Shawn Fitzgerald’s suggestion of engineering toys for my two nephews in December, so I thought this time around I would do the recommending instead of shopping.
I’m an aerospace engineer, so it’s great to help inspire others into a STEM career, but I also know it’s all about finding the right way to reach them. Below, a few examples of tech, toys and tools worthy of the next-gen STEM professional (and yeah, I’ll probably break down and ship those K’NEX to my nephews).
K’NEX Bricks, Rods & Connectors
K’NEX Bricks, Rods & Connectors are building sets, manufactured in the U.S. by The Rodon Group, that promote physical science, biology, math/geometry and more. (Bonus: The company also provides sample STEM education lesson plans for educators and additional resources for parents.)
Amazing Alex
The creators of Angry Birds have apparently moved away from birds and pigs and into STEM with Amazing Alex. There are 100 challenging levels to navigate and solve puzzles with a little help from physics.
Function Space
A few months ago, I wrote about the “social learning network for science,” Function Space, that serves as a news aggregator and discussion harbor for the STEM community.
PBS KIDS Lab
In 2012, PBS KIDS took part in a National STEM Video Game Challenge, which looked to “motivate interest in STEM learning among America's youth by tapping into students' natural passion for playing and making video games.” Awesomesauce, right? You can still play the games here.
Hopscotch
Speaking of kids getting creative, you’ll want to check out Hopscotch, an education app that teaches programming for all those future “computer techno” people out there.
GoldieBlox
GoldieBlox challenges gender stereotypes by creating stories and construction sets featuring a female lead character, Goldie. This girl inventor builds machines to solve problems she encounters and serves as a great role model for young readers.
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