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Innovation / Education

The Dining Room of the Colored Girls Museum

A Pop-Up Museum Documents the Stories of Philadelphia’s Black Women

Vashti DuBois is looking to build community and pride in underserved neighborhoods, starting with her own

Students can take virtual field trips to places across the globe.

The Innovative Spirit fy17

How Can Schools Use Virtual Reality?

The expansion of Google’s VR education program could make classrooms more engaging, and also more just

This New App Wants to Help You With Your Homework

With GotIt!, high school students take a photo of a tricky math or science problem and get live tutoring by text from the highest bidder

Kids test out the new 1,700-square-foot Wegmans Wonderplace at the National Museum of American History.

How the Smithsonian Hopes to Turn Infants, Toddlers and Young Children Into Museumgoers

The National Museum of American History opens its new “Wonderplace,” a space for the youngest members of the family

Smart Startup

College Football Fans, Here Is a Vacation Rental Site for You

Looking for lodging near Penn State? How about Ole Miss? Notre Dame alum Mike Doyle wants you to “Rent Like a Champion”

Med School Students Can Play “Operation” With These Synthetic Cadavers

Florida company SynDaver is making life-like organs and bodies. But, as teaching models, are they as helpful as the real thing?

The Innovative Spirit

Six Ways Schools Are Using Neuroscience to Help Kids Learn

Schools around the world are incorporating neuroscience research into the school day, to help kids with dyslexia and to teach complex math skills

So far, nine states have tried to pass laws that encourage a "teach the controversy" approach to climate change.

Age of Humans

See Where Climate Science Conflict Has Invaded U.S. Classrooms

Conservative politicians are introducing bills that promote teaching climate science as controversial

Children at the Free School Under the Bridge, an outdoor, donation-supported school under a highway overpass, learn about not just reading and math, but climate change and the ozone layer.

Age of Humans

How India Is Teaching 300 Million Kids to Be Environmentalists

In an enormous undertaking, schoolchildren nationwide are learning about climate change and the environment

The cello plays notes that correspond to changing temperatures in the equatorial zone.

Age of Humans

This Song Is Composed From 133 Years of Climate Change Data

Daniel Crawford, a senior at the University of Minnesota, has written music for a string quartet that traces rising temperatures since the 1880s

Arthur Benjamin speaks at a TED Conference in Edinburgh, Scotland, in June 2013.

From Poof to Proof: Inside the Mind of a Mathemagician

Arthur Benjamin has a few new tricks up his sleeve to help people learn “alge(cada)bra”

The Innovative Spirit

17 Inventions That Could Make Going Back to School a Little Bit Easier

From an aromatic alarm clock to a school bus locator system, these patented products could help students and parents with the transition

Visitors apply aerodynamic principles to design their own virtual fighter jets and then race against other in a high-speed flying competition.

A Next Gen Museum Show Takes Aim at Inspiring Next Gen Ingenuity

Curators are betting high-tech playtime will turn today’s kids into tomorrow’s engineering visionaries

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The Innovative Spirit

Teenage Inventor Alexis Lewis Thinks That Kids Have the Solutions to the World’s Problems

With a patent to her name and more likely on the way, the 15-year-old has made it her mission to inspire young innovators

The Bay Area sees stark geographical divides between the rich and the poor

These Maps Help Explain the Numerous, Complicated Factors Behind Income Inequality

Education, housing costs and even internet access are all a part of the difficult public policy matter

Prototyping is a vital part of Stanford d.school courses. Students build physical and digital products and test them.

How Are Universities Grooming the Next Great Innovators?

Design and entrepreneurship courses at Stanford and other institutions are fundamentally changing higher education

The founders of NecropSynth use SketchUp Pro to design the external shell of a 3D printed model of a rat.

The Innovative Spirit

How a Cheap Plastic Rat Could Change Biology Class

With a couple of 3D printers, a husband and wife team is building accurate replicas of rats that could one day eliminate the need for dissection specimens

Smithsonian geologist Elizabeth Cottrell (right) helps undergraduate intern Kellie Wall examine a sample of Earth’s interior. Cottrell co-directs Natural History Research Experiences, a program funded by the National Science Foundation that trains 18 students every summer.

Commentary

Hey Scientist, Who Are You Mentoring this Summer?

The director of education at the National Museum of Natural History delivers a clarion call to all scientists: Be a Mentor. Raise Up the Next Generation

Seven Inspiring Innovations In Education From Around the Globe

American schools, start taking notes! There may be some things to learn from these successful programs

BioTech students prepare a solution for orchids.

Can Young Botanists at a Magnet School Play a Vital Role in Protecting an Urban Ecosystem?

Miami’s BioTech, the country’s first ever botany-focused magnet high school, is teaching kids real-world plant science

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