The field of robotics is an amazing field and it seems like every day they become more and more human-like. Boston Dynamics is one of the front runners in robotics, and if you have never heard of them you are missing out! They are constantly putting out these truly incredible videos that blow my mind every time I see them. Take a look at the video below and be prepared to be utterly wowed at what this mechanical creature can do.

If we are being truly honest, I feel as if I would struggle to keep up with the agility that is demonstrated here. In other videos, they have robots able to bend down, grab a heavy load, then stand up and move it somewhere else in a precise manner. Some of them are even able to catch items thrown at it, which truly blows my mind. The future of the world is heavily invested in robots being able to almost seamlessly take the place of humans when necessary. Whether this is a good or bad thing it is still impressive that scientists have made advances well past what the great sci-fi novels of the mid 20th century ever envisioned!

Last year, CSTL became involved in an afterschool program at a local elementary school. Once a week, we meet with a small group of kindergarteners and first graders after school and engage in hands-on STEM activities. One of our lessons this semester was about magnets. Magnets have so many functions and are used in incredible ways. We utilize magnets in navigation and transportation, as well as for simple tasks like attaching papers to the refrigerator. In our class, we explored the cafeteria to find metal objects that would attract magnets. This helped the students recognize what objects were metal, and which were not. To incorporate a bit of art into our lesson, we experimented with magnet painting. To do this, we placed a magnet wand under a piece of paper, and metal objects on the paper with droplets of paint, using the magnet wand to direct the magnets across the paper to create designs! Though they may most commonly be used as a household item, they can be applied in so many other creative ways.

The S.T.E.M. (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) community is a continuously expanding group of people and organizations who are devoted to spreading their influence within the world, not just through teaching about revolutionary concepts, but also by demonstrating their respective advances.  Teaching children about S.T.E.M philosophies can enrich learning abilities, as well as spike some interest into what this young generation might want to pursue in their future.  The realm of S.T.E.M has found its way into classrooms across the country, and the rest of the world, for there are endless opportunities in S.T.E.M. careers.  This fresh outlook on our education system can potentially assist us in re-modeling the blueprint towards a future that must inevitably utilize less of our resources, and spread the ideas of a cleaner, better world.  Through S.T.E.M we will be able to restructure our transportation systems, advance our computers to employ even further capabilities, and even tailor a new system for feeding the abundance of people who go hungry every day in our world through alternative growing systems.  The future is now.  The future is S.T.E.M.

Hello there,

Here you will find updates about what is happening in the S.T.E.M community, and other interesting topics.  Be sure to check back every week in order to find out what S.T.E.M news our staff is excited about!

Visit the official website: The Clean Tech Competition

Registration for 2016 is Now Open!

Last year’s competition was a grand success, with the finals taking place at the Dow Facility in Philadelphia! This year’s competition aims to be even bigger, with the finals being hosted on the first ever STEM Cruise!

The cruise is a week long and takes us to the Dominican Republic. In addition to the finals, the cruise is open to teachers of all grades and college staff of teacher education. There, they can participate in numerous STEM-based workshops that deal with project-based learning, STEM questioning techniques, dinosaurs, and more!

This year’s theme is “Making an Impact.” The challenge is to identify a problem associated with plastics or the need for clean, cheap energy that helps Make an Impact from negative effects of these two areas. Teams will identify a specific problem, explain and analyze in detail, and design a solution that can mitigate these negative impacts.

Registration closes February 26, 2016

• To register, please click here.
• Teams must consist of 1-3 students, ages 15-18
• Must also have a Team Leader
• First round of paper submissions for your proposal is due no later than March 18, 2016

About the Clean Tech Competition

The Clean Tech Competition is a unique, worldwide research and design challenge for pre-college youth. The program encourages scientific understanding of real-world issues and the integration of environmentally responsible energy sources. Each year, the Clean Tech Competition addresses an issue that is grounded in core technological competency areas and focuses on the next great engineering challenges and this year students are challenged to “Make an Impact”. The competition is designed to inspire all students toward achievement and make them aware of the impact of science and technology on the 21st century world.

For more information, please contact:

cleantech@cstl.org
516-764-0045