Students who grow up in small, rural towns do not have the same exposure to high-tech jobs as their "big city" counterparts and may not be aware of what it takes to be a rocket scientist or video-game programmer, according to N.C. State University. With an increasing need for workers to fill STEM careers in the United States, educational researchers at N.C. State are finding ways to reach students at a time in their lives when research shows they

ITEST project Reach for the Sky brings innovative curricula and activities in STEM disciplines to the White Earth students over a five-week span. This program is particularly beneficial because it makes STEM culturally relevant to local Anishinaabe youth.

Visionaries like Glen Bull, a professor of instructional technology at the University of Virginia's (UVA) Curry School of Education, are using 3-D printing systems to change the way teachers present science concepts and, in turn, how students learn and retain the material. In a lab school, elementary school students and teachers are invited to use engineering design and fabrication to teach and learn science and math concepts.

The FabLab Classroom: Preparing Students for the Next Industrial Revolution in an ITEST project based in Virginia where elementary students and teachers have the opportunity to discover principles of design and fabrication. Principal investigator Glen Bull interviews with WHRV NPR's “With Good Reason” host Sarah McConnell to talk about this project.

On March 8, President Barak Obama paid a visit to TechBoston Academy in Dorchester, Mass., a technology-driven pilot school for grades 6-12 within the Boston Public School System (BPS), to promote the importance of education in today's society and to highlight TechBoston as a model school for student success. Teachers at TechBoston represent participation in a wide number of ITEST projects, including the Urban Ecology Institute, the CapsULE

SRI International, Girls Incorporated of Alameda County (Girls Inc.), TERC, andAlameda - Contra Costa Transit District (AC Transit) announced a new, scalable community action project, "Green Riders: Innovative Transportation Systems." This project, which is part of the ITEST InnovaTE3 project, guides girls in developing real-world innovations for their own community and serves as a model for youth development programs that promote youth-led

In celebration of the 2012 theme, Greening STEM: The Environment as Inspiration for 21st Century Learning, EE Week is highlighting five organizations from around the country that are connecting STEM to the environment in unique and creative ways. One of these projects is ITEST's own SENSE IT, highlighted for its flexible instructional modules that can be used in many educational contexts and for a range of youth.

Launched in 2007 by ETR Associates, a Scotts Valley-based nonprofit focused on health, education and social service issues, Watsonville TEC (also known as ITEST project Animando a Estudiantes con Technologia) has grown from a small program serving middle school girls (known as the ITEST Girl Game Company) to include video game programming classes for middle school boys, separate computer skills tutorials for fifth graders and for parents, and

The Virtual Hall of Science has the potential to extend those lessons well beyond the New York Hall of Science’s brick-and-mortar walls and reach students all over the world. Built by NYC middle and high schoolers over the course of two years, this ITEST project not only provides interactive installations to the general public, but also cultivated the teamwork, illustration, and programming skills of its builders.

The under-representation of Latinos in fields like computer science and engineering troubled Watsonville TEC director Jacob Martinez and led him into a career where he teaches technology to students as early as the fifth grade. Watsonville TEC (also known as ITEST project Animando a Estudiantes con Technologia) is an after school program that will be in 14 Watsonville elementary and middle schools this year.For his efforts, Martinez will be