Browsing Category

Engineering

Engineering Science & Tech

Join the Maker Movement This Weekend at Barnes & Noble

For the second year, Barnes & Noble is teaming up with Maker Faire to bring the maker movement to you. The Mini Maker Faire brings together tech enthusiasts, crafters, educators, engineers, science club members, students, entrepreneurs, hobbyists and Makers of all kinds to learn from each other, get craft ideas and science fair project ideas, hear the experts, and work on projects.

Find out more here: Barnes & Noble Maker Faire Home. And don’t forget to use the hashtag #NerdMakers in your Instagram postings so we can see your amazing creations!

Details:
November 5 & 6
All Barnes & READ MORE

Engineering Product & Book Reviews Science & Tech

Got Creative Kids? Find Great Hands-On STEAM Activity at Maker Events and Odyssey of the Mind

Like the fledgling universe after the Big Bang, Maker events can be a bit chaotic. But that’s only because of all the energy created by the swarms of curious and excited kids (and their satellite parents) clustering around robots, 3D printers, and a diversity of other experimental crafts and STEM mini-projects.

The enormous power and thrills generated by these moments of creative, hands-on learning are fuel for a lifetime’s worth of discovery and success.

With all our soccer games washed out this past weekend by three days of rain, my wife, Stylin’ IT Momma (not her real name), and I READ MORE

Engineering Product & Book Reviews Science & Tech

Nerd-Inspiring Book Review: What If? and Thing Explainer by Randall Munroe

As a Nerd and a Nerd-builder, myself, my beach read this summer was Randall Munroe’s New York Times best-selling What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions. What can I say? When I have quiet time on an airplane (or “sky boat,” in Thing Explainer parlance) or the beach, I like to stretch my brain. It relaxes me.

On the recommendation of another Nerd parent, I also bought Munroe’s follow-up book Thing Explainer: Complicated Stuff in Simple Words.

If you don’t already know Munroe’s science question-and-answer blog What If and webcomic xkcd, I encourage you to READ MORE

Engineering Nerds In Real Life

Raising Nerd Profile: The Engineering Professor

Hey, Nerd builders, it’s International Engineering Day! In honor of this Nerd-inspired “holiday,” we’re throwing our ultra-high-lumen, career spotlight on engineering professor Dr. Ethan Danahy.

Raising Nerd Profile: Engineering ProfessorDr. Danahy is a Research Assistant Professor at Tufts University’s Center for Engineering Education and Outreach (CEEO), a group that’s been around for 20 years exploring methodologies and tools for improving engineering education, as well as exploring ways in which they can enhance education through the early introduction of engineering topics to K-12 students. He has a secondary appointment in the Department of Computer Science within Tufts’ School of Engineering.

Dr. Danahy holds graduate READ MORE

Engineering Science & Tech

How to Fit STEAM Curriculum in When School’s Out

I Know What You Were Supposed to Do Last Summer Vacation: How to Fit STEAM Curriculum in When School’s Out
How to Fit STEAM Curriculum in When School’s Out

I admit it. This summer, I failed to print out the math review worksheets for RocketteGirl and Lightning McQueen.

I know, I know – bad dad! But, wait, hear me out.

Like most kids these days, when they weren’t at swim practice, Tae Kwon Do, or on fun trips with family, my rising 2nd- and 4th-grade girls’ summer schedules were packed with exhausting week-long, all-day camps.

Part of me regrets that I didn’t make more of an effort to have … READ MORE

Engineering

First LEGO League: Getting Started with LEGO Robotics

It was one of the most stressful moments I’ve faced as a parent.

My heart pounded so hard I could almost hear it through the noise thundering all around us. Sweat beaded on my brow. They were out there all by themselves and I felt helpless in not being able to help them. Had I prepared them well enough? Would they survive the pressure?

All I could do was…cheer them on.

Don’t worry, they weren’t in harm’s way. I was just coaching their robotics team in our First LEGO League State Championship.

My son, NerdBoy, and his teammate were … READ MORE