Flashback Friday: "Apps and Games for STEM Learning"

Happy Flashback Friday! Every Friday we focus on Speak Up data, articles, and press releases from the past. This week we're looking at National Environmental Education Week's blog post, "Apps and Games for STEM Learning" from April 2014, which features data from one of our Speak Up 2013 reports. Check out a snippet of it below:

According to Project Tomorrow's latest Speak Up report released this week, "girls and boys across all grade levels see digital games as having significant learning benefits if employed within a school environment, including greater engagement in learning and making it easier to understand difficult concepts." 

One-quarter of teachers said that they are integrating digital games into their classrooms, and students are playing games outside of school to support their own learning. "Approximately one-quarter of middle school students have played an online game outside of school on their own, specifically to learn something. The percentage jumps to almost 50 percent amongst boys and girls who consider their technology skills advanced.

Interestingly, the report also showed that nearly one-third of high school boys say that they are very interested in a job or career in a STEM field, but only 19 percent of girls share that same vision for themselves. 

Be sure to check out National Environmental Education Week's original post, "Apps and Games for STEM Learning," their guide to the "Apps & Games for Environmental Engineering," and last year's Speak Up report The New Digital Learning Playbook: Understanding the Spectrum of Students’ Activities and Aspirations for more information.

Are you a teacher or student who uses apps and games for in the classroom? Let us know by participating in Speak Up 2014! Speak Up provides an easy way for students, parents and educators to participate in local decisions about technology, as well as contribute to the state and national dialogue about educational technology. Data from the surveys - including data regarding online classes - will be released in February 2015. Click here to register for Speak Up 2014 and mark your calendars for the survey's launch date on October 6!