Core Learning Exchange and uniteSTEM Expand Access to STEM Learning
Partnership focuses reach on rural and economically disadvantaged students that are the least likely to be given the opportunity to benefit from STEM learning
Boulder, CO. December 1, 2021 - Everyone deserves access to excellent STEM education. Core Learning Exchange (Core-LX) and uniteSTEM announced today a partnership to expand and deepen access to a comprehensive ecosystem of resources and programming designed specifically to remove barriers to STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) learning across the U.S. Leading with a project-based and mastery approach to learning, the pair aims to both prepare students for jobs in the new economy, and to solve real-world problems with creativity, curiosity, and confidence.
“Employment in STEM occupations has grown 79 percent in the past three decades, but as the need for a specialized STEM-focused workforce grows, it’s clear that not everyone has an equal opportunity to master STEM. These are the tools the new generation needs to shape their world. We’re going to change this equation,” said Jeff Katman, CEO of Core Learning Exchange.
During a recent Harvard-sponsored talk, “New Pathways to STEM,” panelists cited a large subset of students who are not being prepared for STEM. Experts pointed to online learning and the rapid advancement of new digital tools as ways to make STEM education more readily available-- with new ways of learning-- that can create a more inclusive and equitable STEM workforce.
“We believe everyone deserves access to high-quality STEM education. We know that the STEM disciplines can seem intimidating. The truth is, they don’t have to be. No matter who you are, your zip code, or what resources your district has available,” says Frank Norton, Co-Founder of uniteSTEM.
uniteSTEM was born out of an undeniable need for equity. As educators, uniteSTEM saw entire school districts struggling to offer high-quality, experiential STEM learning. Barriers like lack of knowledge, funding, and materials were keeping youth from exploring and mastering new skills and ways of thinking. uniteSTEM goes farther than any other nonprofit to solve for barriers—including the provision of affordable resources. In just one example, uniteSTEM programming uses the engineering design process to develop plans for a bipedal robot; designed first on paper, then to cardboard, and then to 3D modeling. Modeling is followed by the printing of parts on 3D printers, and then those completed components are then used in learning programming, mechanics, physics, and more. All of which makes labs aligned by purpose, and more affordable and accessible in more resource-strapped areas.
The partnership notes how inequitable access to STEM is distributed by income, race, ethnicity, and gender, and simply refuses to accept the status quo, often burdened by low expectations and overpriced STEM programming and equipment. By bringing together online learning, new digital tools and robust personalized pedagogies formed at the hands of experienced educators, the partnership focuses its reach to support Native American, Black, and Latinx students, students from rural areas, and those with economically disadvantaged backgrounds that are the least likely to attend schools that teach computer science.
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About uniteSTEM
uniteSTEM is a nonprofit driven by the belief that everyone deserves access to excellent STEM education. We offer a comprehensive ecosystem of resources and programming designed to remove barriers to STEM learning. Our project-based approach prepares students to solve real-world problems with creativity, curiosity, and confidence.
About Core Learning Exchange
Core-LX offers a best-of-breed, and natively digital turnkey solution for Career and Technical Education (CTE) and STEM programs for middle schools, high schools, and community colleges. The Core-LX mastery learning platform offers courses that lead students to earn industry-recognized credentials, pathways to high-paying, high-demand careers that require neither a 4-year degree nor the associated student loan debt.
Contact Core-LX at Support@Core-LX.com.
