SCIENCE
Use our resources to help STEM take root.
Photograph by NASA/Aubrey Gemignani. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.
Discussion Ideas
- After reading a story in National Geographic about the global shortage of metals and elements used in magnets—called “rare earths”—and how important magnets are to objects like motors and wind turbines, Kavita Selva, 14, set out to design a strong magnet that contains little or no rare materials.
- READ THE STORY, for goodness’ sake!
- Elana Simon, 18, discovered a common genetic mutation to help identify and possibly diagnose liver cancer.
- Want to learn more about a teen taking on the “emperor of all of maladies“? Meet Emerging Explorer Jake Andraka.
- Amena Jamali, 16, and Juan Ramos, coded their own counter-factual history game! (Awesome!) Cassandra Baquero, 13, Caitlin Gonzolez, 12, and Janessa Leija, 11, developed an app to help visually impaired people better navigate their surroundings.
- Want to change the world? Learn to code!
- Deidre Carrillo, 18, helped design and build an electric vehicle.
- Want to drive the world toward a better fuel economy, lower emissions, lower fuel costs, and increased energy security? Watch our video about electric vehicles to find out how.
- “Team Rocket Power” developed a rocket designed to launch to an altitude of about 230 meters (750 feet), and then return a “payload” (an egg) to the ground safely.
- Want to design a rocket-propelled space probe? Use our activity to guide you.
- The “Catapult Court CEOs” engineered and built a custom-made catapult to determine whether they could improve basketball-shot performance.
- Want to know how else you can use science to understand the sports you love? See how one surfer used top-notch meteorology and oceanography to catch the perfect wave.
- Olivia Van Amsterdam, 16, Katelyn Sweeney, 17, and their team of invented a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) that can help search-and-rescue dive teams search for bodies.
- Want to learn more about ROVs in dangerous waters? Explore the Alien Deep with a suite of materials.
- Girl Scout Troop 2612—8-year-year-olds!—invented a “Flood Proof Bridge.”
- Want to learn more about flood prevention? Read all about it.
- Maria Hanes, 19, developed her “Concussion Cushion” helmet material to improve safety for athletes in her favorite game, football.
- Want to know more about how equipment has improved the safety of athletes? Learn about the evolution of mountaineering gear and thank goodness you’re not summiting in the 1920s!
- Katia Castañeda, 19, developed an electronic cane that senses what is ahead of it.
- Want to learn how other engineers are helping humanity? Meet Ashley Murray, cleaning water and saving lives in Ghana.
- Anne Merrill, 17, studied how “biochars,” a charcoal-like material created by burning organic waste to sequester carbon, can be integrated into topsoil.
- Want to learn more about organic waste? Who doesn’t? Learn more about biochar and biomass energy potential.
- Crystal Brockington, 18, and Aaron Barron, 18, conducted research to determine which alternative material could be used in quantum dots—a key type of semi-conductor—to create a more efficient, cost-effective solar cell.
- Crazy about quantum? Read about the dots and other groundbreaking nanotechnologies.
- Three second-grade students designed the “Hot Car Safety System,” which sounds an alarm when a car becomes too hot for people or animals.
- Did these 8-year-olds use the engineering process? You bet they did!
- Ananya Cleetus, 17, has invented not one but two prosthetic-limb devices. Her most recent project, a robotic prosthetic hand designed to aid leprosy victims in India, was computer modeled, 3D-printed, wired, sewed, and programmed entirely by Ananya.
- How else are scientists and engineers using 3D tech to revolutionize medicine? See some examples and get to work.
See President Obama talk to the scientists here!