What is the STEM Mobile Application?

The Wheelock College Aspire Institute is launching an exciting new initiative to promote family-child engagement in math and science learning.  As Wheelock College's social and education innovation center, the Aspire Institute is currently developing a web/smart phone application that provides accessible, engaging, and daily information in the area of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) to parents of third, fourth, and fifth graders. This application will place STEM learning at the fingertips of families and students!

Project Update:

On May 22, 2013, we were awarded the 2013 Silvia Earl Innovation award to continue to develop the STEM app! We are excited to expand upon this project in the coming year, and hope you can be a part of it by submitting a STEM activity to be featured in the app. See below for details.

We ended the pilot at the Sarah Greenwood School in Dorchester, MA on May 17 and are looking forward to our End-of-Pilot party with 125 third, fourth and fifth graders. We will be partnering with the Discovery Museums to bring from STEM activities to life for these students.

We depend on individuals and organizations in the greater community to submit the STEM activities for the application. We are calling middle school, high school, college and graduate students, teachers and STEM professionals from public and private institutions to submit! If you're activity is chosen, you will be acknowledged alongside your activity.

Submission Guidelines:
1. Submissions are rolling, so you can submit at any time. 
2. STEM content should be grades 3-5 level appropriate. Familiarity with the state standards in Math and Science for Grades 3-5 is required.
3. The activity should be one that encourages the parent and child to engage in the activity together, and should not require more than 30 minutes to set up or complete. Remember, make it fun and engaging!
4. The length of the submission must be 100 words or less.
5. Please include with your submission the following information:

• Name
• Indicate Profession or Student status (include grade level)
• Indicate school, organization or company affiliation

6. Please submit activities using this form.

We will contact you if your submission is chosen and recognize you as the contributor directly in the application itself when your activity is displayed!

Examples of Activities Featured in the App:

1. Water Consumption - How much water should you drink each day? Take a guess. Do you think it's the same for everyone? Some experts says to calculate how much water you should drink each day, you would divide your weight by 2 and that would be the number of ounces you need. For example, if you weigh 150 lbs. you would need approx. 75 ounces of water. Have you and your child calculate for the whole family.

2. Pi represents the relationship between a circle's diameter (its width) and its circumference (the distance around the circle).   Find different sized circles in your house and measure each of their diameters and their circumferences.  Then divide each circle's circumference by its diameter.  What do you notice about your answers?

3. In which setting do you think an ounce of water would evaporate more quickly--in an air conditioned room, or outdoors in the shade on a summer day? Try it out! Put an ounce of water in two small containers (they should be identical containers) and place them in the two locations. Plan to check back on the containers a few times over the next several hours. Is there any change?

If you want to learn more about this pilot project, please contact Barbara Joseph at bjoseph@wheelock.edu or 617-879-2194.

Connection. Innovation. Optimism