PBS KIDS and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting Join National STEM Video Game Challenge
The Second Annual National STEM Video Game Challenge, which aims to encourage interest in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) learning, opened for entries this week. Students and educators can enter their original video game concepts and designs in four categories, middle school, high school, college, and educators at StemChallenge.org. A new sub-categories being introduced this year is the PBS KIDS stream, which invites entrants from all four categories to design educational math-based video games for kids in pre-k through grade four. Read on for details:
Inspired by the “Educate to Innovate Campaign,” President Obama’s initiative to promote a renewed focus on science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education, the Challenge is an annual competition to motivate interest in STEM learning among America’s youth by tapping into students’ natural passion for playing and making video games.
The 2012 Challenge features four entry categories: Middle School, High School, Collegiate and Educator. Within each category, PBS KIDS and CPB are challenging participants to develop educational games for children ages 4-8 that focus on specific math curriculum skills. Contestants can find insights and more information about the challenge on PBSKIDS.org/stemchallenge, including resources that help guide game production for young children and interviews with top PBS KIDS game producers.
The Middle School and High School winners will each receive laptops, game design software packages and other tools to support their skill development, and youth sponsoring organizations will receive cash prizes and educational software. A prize of $10,000 will be awarded to each of the winners in the Collegiate and Educator categories.
The Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop and E-Line Media launched the 2nd annual Challenge in partnership with the Digital Promise, a new initiative created by the President and Congress, supported through the U.S. Department of Education. Entries will be accepted from November 15, 2011 through March 12, 2012 at www.stemchallenge.org. At the end of the competition, the winning games for the PBS KIDS and CPB track will be featured on the PBS KIDS Lab and PBS LearningMedia websites.
PBS KIDS and CPB are participating in the 2012 National STEM Video Game Challenge as part of the Ready To Learn Initiative, a grant program managed by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Innovation and Improvement.
