Afterschool Alliance

STEM Education the Big Winner in DOE's Investing in Innovation Awards

by Anita Krishnamurthi

The U.S. Department of Education announced 23 finalists for the Investing in Innovation (i3) awards yesterday. Applicants were required to select and address one of five “absolute priorities” for this year’s competition; one of which was science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education.

Of the 587 total applicants, 162 selected STEM as their absolute priority. Five of the 23 finalists selected STEM as their priority and three others are highlighted as having a strong STEM focus even if it wasn't formally selected as their absolute priority.

Of the five who selected STEM as their priority, two have a strong focus on learning in out-of-school-time:

The New York Hall of Science will use gaming to bridge formal and informal learning environments. "SciGames" will require students to learn about and use specific physics concepts. The technology they develop will then log physics data during students’ playground gameplay. The student data will then be incoporated into a digital app, which is designed to support deeper inquiry into the core science concepts back in the classroom.

The Baltimore City Public Schools will use its award to evaluate and refine its Middle School STEM Summer Learning Program. Targeting high-need middle school students, this program will focus on mathematics instruction and VEX Robotics to mitigate summer learning loss and help program participants gain an appreciation for STEM fields and careers.

You can see more details on the rest of the applicants at the Education Week blog.

Were you a partner in any of the i3 applications that focused on STEM? Let us know—we'd love to hear from you if you participated in this competition!

For details on the applications of those who selected STEM as their priority, check out the Department of Education's website. The STEM priority is AP2 and you can see all the applicants in this category here.