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NATIONAL STEM Challenge

presented by EXPLR

champions announced





Description
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Challenge Themes
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Challenge Details
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Prizes
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Team/Sponsors
Challenge Details
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Description
Challenge Themes
Challenge Details
Prizes
Team/Sponsors
NATIONAL STEM CHAMPIONS

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL CHAMPIONS & FINALISTS

NATIONAL STEM CHALLENGE
entries due: nov 15th 2023 | 8:59 PM PT
Welcome to the 2024 National STEM Challenge - Your chance to unleash your creativity and innovative thinking!

U.S. students in grades 6-12 this challenge is for you!



Your mission? Craft a STEM project that tackles a real-world challenge. Choose from one of the 2024 themes listed below and use the scientific method or engineering design process.

Create a PDF presentation about your project, keeping it to 3 pages maximum with a minimum of 12-point font. You may include text and images to explain your ideas, but no faces or names in your PDF. Your project should be tested (if using the scientific method) or constructed (physically or digitally if using the engineering design process). Theoretical projects will receive lower scores.



The best projects from all 50 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories will become Challenge Finalists with the opportunity to advance to the next level by submitting a video in the second round. Up to 200 National Champions will win a trip to the National STEM Festival in Washington, D.C., in April 2024. There, Champions will showcase their projects to some of our nation's most influential leaders. The Festival is co-presented by the U.S. Department of Education and EXPLR.



Canva has a collection of free templates and graphics to help create your project submission.

Challenge Themes 2024

Environmental Stewardship

THE CHALLENGE

Design a project that promotes environmental stewardship and responsible use of natural resources.

This could include conserving water and energy, preserving habitats and ecosystems, or mitigating the impact of climate change.

Projects could also explore socioeconomic factors contributing to environmental issues and scalable solutions to address them.

NEED INSPO?

Jacqueline Prawira invented a way to use fish-scale waste to absorb metals in contaminated water, making previously dangerous water drinkable again.

Waste-to-Energy plants - facilities that burn garbage and turn it into steam to create electricity.

Global Forest Watch uses the high-powered NOAA-21 satellite to identify areas where illegal deforestation is occurring in the Amazon so governments can try to stop unauthorized logging.

STEMBASSADORS

Adrian
Solgaard
Charitie
Ropati
Lauren
Ritchie
Tracy
Fanara, PhD
Environmental Stewardship
Future Foods
Health & Medicine
Power the Planet
Space Innovation
Tech for Good
Details

DATES

Ideation & Design Phase
Sep 12
Entries Open
Oct 4
Entries Close
Nov 15
Challenge Finalists Announced
Dec 22
National STEM Champions Announced
FEB 12
National STEM Festival
Apr 12

Who can Enter

Individual 6 – 12th grade students attending public, private, and home schools in the 50 U.S.States, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories (including DoDEA and BIE schools) are eligible to enter.

Multiple entries are not allowed. Team entries are not allowed.



How to Enter

Please review the Challenge Rules and FAQ prior to creating your entry.

Challenge Rules FAQ
Teachers

Sign up to register your class and manage entries. We support Google Classroom registration, too!

Students

Sign up on your own or use a code to participate with your class

Student Using Google Classroom

Judging Criteria

ROUND ONE

ROUND TWO

50

Points

Project’s potential for positive
impact on people, communities,
or the planet

25

Points

Innovation, creativity,
and/or originality of the project

25

Points

Clarity of your project
through images and text

5

Points

Bonus points award to students who attend Title 1 eligible schools

PRIZES

2-months of Codédex Club
Codédex is a brand new way to learn to code. Journey through the fantasy land of Python, HTML/CSS, or JavaScript.

TEAM

Jenny Buccos

Co-Director
 

Kari Byron

Co-Director
 

Courtney Thomas

Digital Producer

Sahil Pandit

Digital Manager
 

Meg Kilroy

Manager of Edu. Participation

Alyssa L. Briggs

Community Engagement

Jan Morrison

STEM Advisor
 

Jeremy Shorr

Community Outreach
 

Kate Harris

Student Engagement
 

Jody Gottlieb

Strategy & Outreach
 

Emily Neill

Community Outreach
 

Intuitive Content

Production
 

Skai Blue Media

Public Relations
 

SPONSORS

Contact us

Thank you for your interest. We look forward to connecting with you!

General Inquiries

support@nationalstemchallenge.com

 

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