Mónica Feliú-Mójer writes about the Latinas in STEM Foundation, created by five MIT alumae, for Scientific American. “We want to spread awareness about STEM and to encourage Latinas in K-12 grades,” says co-founder Diana Albarrán Chicas.
Rodrique Ngowi writes for the Associated Press about ScratchJr, an app co-developed by MIT researchers to help young children think creatively and develop skills in math and science. “Children as young as 5 can use the app to craft their own interactive stories and games,” writes Ngowi.
The Boston Globe writes about Professor Sangeeta Bhatia's commitment to mentoring her students. “It's heartening to know that, tucked away in labs all over our region, solution-driven scientists like Sangeeta Bhatia are tinkering and building — and encouraging others to do the same.”
In a piece for The Boston Globe, Jennifer Smith writes about the Math Prize for Girls competition held at MIT over the weekend. “Now in its sixth year, the Math Prize for Girls competition is aimed at deflating gender stereotypes that organizers say dissuade young women from entering technology-based fields,” writes Smith.
In a piece for Forbes, George Anders writes about how edX, the online-education initiative run by MIT and Harvard, is expanding its curriculum to offer, “26 new classes aimed at high-school students who are hoping to master some advanced-placement subjects before heading off to college.”
Boston Globe reporter Chris Reify writes that Professor Sangeeta Bhatia has been awarded the 2014 $500,000 Lemelson-MIT Prize. “Dr. Bhatia is a wonderful example of a woman who has used her brilliance, skill and creativity to radically improve the detection and treatment of serious global health issues,” says Dorothy Lemelson, Lemelson Foundation chair.
NBC News reports that MIT Prof. Sangeeta Bhatia has been awarded the Lemelson-MIT prize for her work designing miniaturized biomedical tools. "As innovations emerge, we're constantly asking whether they can be repurposed for one of the two diseases we concentrate on: liver disease and cancer,” says Bhatia.
Boston Globe reporter Kelly Gifford writes about CampBio, a science camp co-hosted by the Whitehead Institute, aimed at sparking middle schoolers’ interest in science. “Kids are natural explorers,” says MIT Professor Susan Lindquist. “But it’s been surprising to me to see how many of them lose their excitement about science as they pass from middle school to high school.”
“The MIT Media Lab recently released ScratchJr, a free iPad app that helps children 5-8 learn how to code,” writes Jordan Shapiro for Forbes. The ScratchJr language is a redesign of the original Scratch programming to simplify it for use by younger children.
In a piece for The New York Times, Prof. Michel DeGraff and Molly Ruggles write of the need for Haitian students to learn in their native Creole, as opposed to French. “Creole holds the potential to democratize knowledge, and thus liberate the masses from extreme poverty,” DeGraff and Ruggles explain.
Marcus Wohlsen of Wired reports on ScratchJr, a new iPad application created by MIT researchers to teach kids how to code. “We wanted to make sure young people aren’t just using tablet for browsing and consuming,” says Prof. Mitchel Resnick.
“The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has released a new iPad app that aims to help 5-7 year-old children take their first steps in programming,” writes Stuart Dredge for The Guardian. “ScratchJr is a free app based on MIT’s existing Scratch programming language.”
Washington Post reporter Nia-Malika Henderson highlights several projects being presented at this year’s White House Science Fair, including the search-and-rescue vehicle developed by Lemelson-MIT InvenTeam students Katelyn Sweeney and Olivia Van Amsterdam.
Writing for the Boston Globe, Deborah Fitzgerald (Dean, SHASS) writes: “Some may be surprised, and, we hope, reassured, to learn that here at MIT — a bastion of STEM education — we view the humanities, arts, and social sciences as essential...”