NETL’s K-12 STEM Education & Outreach team engaged students during several day-long visits at area elementary schools, conducted an educational energy workshop for teachers, assisted in a cybersecurity competition and aided two preliminary West Virginia Science Bowl (WVSB) regional qualifying events in November.

The team’s efforts to promote the value of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education across several platforms each month generates interest in STEM topics and provides opportunities for the next generation of scientists, problem-solvers and critical thinkers.

WVSB Regional Education Service Agency (RESA) Areas I-IV Regional Competitions (Institute, West Virginia; Athens, West Virginia) – The K-12 STEM Education & Outreach team provided support services to local RESA area Science Bowl coordinators at several WVSB qualifying competitions Nov. 1 and Nov. 16. The events serve as the WVSB preliminary competition to qualify teams from former RESA areas I-IV for the 2020 WVSB high school regional tournament. The events were held at West Virginia State University and Concord University.

Triple E Workshop (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) – The team conducted the annual Triple E (Energy, Environment and Economics) Workshop at NETL’s Pittsburgh site Nov. 14-15. Teachers from West Virginia and Pittsburgh convened to receive fun and engaging activities involving science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) to bring back to their classrooms. Activities involved the engineering design process, understanding the difference between observations and inferences, investigating sound, design/redesign, problem-solving and collaboration.

CyberForce Competition (Morgantown, West Virginia) – Undergraduates, graduate students and post-doctoral researchers gathered to compete in the two-day-long CyberForce Competition. Held at NETL’s Morgantown site Nov. 15-16, the competition consisted of a career fair for regional university students and involved student teams competing in interactive, scenario-based events involving cybersecurity. The event seeks to increase hands-on cyber education to college students and professionals, bring awareness to critical cybersecurity infrastructure and provide a basic understanding of cyber security within a real-world scenario.

Duquesne Elementary School (Duquesne, Pennsylvania) – The team conducted day-long programs Nov. 19 with Duquesne Elementary School’s first-, second- and fourth-grade students. Team members engaged students in active learning experiences emphasizing the engineering design process, problem-solving, observation, prediction and more.

Clara Barton Elementary School (West Mifflin, Pennsylvania) – Students in second and third grades at Clara Barton Elementary School were presented with activities involving design/redesign, construction and collaboration in a day-long program Nov. 21. They also received instruction involving the use of important scientific tools such as microscopes to make predictions.

Clairton Elementary School (Clairton, Pennsylvania) – The K-12 STEM Education & Outreach team visited Clairton Elementary School Nov. 26 to work with third- and fourth-grade students. Students learned about camouflage, predator/prey relationships, food chains and more and practiced problem-solving and collaborating with others as part of two active learning experiences throughout the day.

NETL’s mission to provide technology solutions for today and options for tomorrow begins by inspiring the next generation of innovators through STEM outreach efforts. Learn more about opportunities and activities here.