STEM teachers inspiring tomorrow’s innovators
Tomorrow’s engineers and mathematicians need only a spark to get their imaginations – and their careers – headed in the right direction. Each year, the PPL Foundation honors outstanding STEM educators who provide that spark for their students.
Four teachers in eastern and central Pennsylvania were recently selected as recipients of the PPL Foundation’s 2023 STEM Educator Awards. This grant program recognizes teachers who have demonstrated success in designing and facilitating STEM learning that engages the next generation of innovative thinkers. The PPL Foundation has awarded $500,000 in grants through this program since 2003.
Students showcase stem skills at school-wide fair
Every teacher probably dreams of having an extra eye to keep watch over her students. So it’s no surprise that among the 50 science and technology projects students created for Pocono Mountain East High School’s first STEM Fair, the 3D animatronic working eye was Heather Aulisio’s favorite.
Roller coaster challenge thrills eighth-graders
Lori Cirucci teacher and science content leader at Broughal Middle School uses PPL Empowering Educator grant to launch Roller Coaster curriculum to give students a hands-on lesson on kinetic energy and the forces of motion. Lori Cirucci, a teacher and science content leader at Broughal Middle School, designed the Roller Coaster curriculum to give students a hands-on lesson on kinetic energy and the forces of motion.
Students learn happily ever after with fairy-tale stem lessons
The Three Little Pigs, the Three Billy Goats Gruff and Rapunzel aren’t just familiar figures from fairy tales. They’re helping first-graders learn about science and math, too. Lynette Miller, a teacher at Fermanagh-Mifflintown Elementary School in Juniata County, is using fairy tale-themed kits that teach basic science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) concepts.
High school robotics students are engineering the future
Students in Easton High School’s (EHS) Technology Student Association (TSA) built Bella, a fully functioning robot that picks up rings, balls and other items at the beck and call of a student programmer. The students competed with Bella at the 2017 Pennsylvania state TSA competition in April and earned a top-10 finish in the robotics division.
Motorsports Engineering Club puts middle school students in the driver’s seat to success
Like most middle school students, the kids in the Motorsports Engineering Club at Lower Macungie Middle School (LMMS) like playing soccer, hanging with friends and, you know, building cars.