iPads, MakerEd and More in Education

When you think about the most valuable cards in your wallet, you probably envision your credit and ATM cards. Here’s another one that should come to mind: your library card. These days, the nation’s 9,057 library systems let you check out a lot more than books.

Need a power tool, kayak, 3-D printer or Ninja Turtle-shaped cake pan? Your library might have one you can borrow. What about crafting or studio space? It might have you covered there, too. Some libraries provide access to courses on computers or graphic design. Many will let you borrow passes to local attractions such as zoos and museums. Others provide seeds and cuttings to check out; you can grow your own, then return seeds or cuttings to share with others.

Launching a new idea or business isn’t easy. Ever. That much at least we know and acknowledge. But it’s also not a solo effort. As individual creators and entrepreneurs, we instinctively believe we bear the full weight of responsibility for bringing the new and wonderful to life. And we’re dead wrong. In fact it’s this belief perhaps more than any other that raises the odds that your brilliant, groundbreaking dream won’t come true.

The fact is, successful innovation is the job of the many, not the few. Indeed there are countless roles to be filled before, during, and after the ideating, far too many for any one person to sustain. It all adds up to the one thing every groundbreaking creator not only needs, but must actively seek out and cultivate: community.

What's awesome about where you live? What good and services, historical buildings, attractions, or other notable places do you find the most interesting in your community? We'd love to see those places in our STEM/STEAM graham cracker gingerbread engineering challenge.  We ask that your students design and construct their own communities and then provide a presentation tour through one of the options below.