STEM Action Center gives Idaho schools free access to online career toolbox
BOISE, Idaho (KIFI) - The Idaho STEM Action Center, with support from the Governor's Office, is offering the online career-awareness platform Learning Blade to public schools and organizations statewide for free for the next three school years.
The STEM Action Center began piloting Learning Blade in 2017 wIth a small group of schools throughout the state. Participating students completed more than 160,000 online lessons during the last four years, and STEM Action Center executive director Dr. Kaitlin Maguire said the results have been remarkable.
"Students who used Learning Blade experienced a 26 percent increase in their interest in pursuing a STEM career," she said. "And 68 percent of students said they learned about new technologies and STEM jobs."
Dr. Melyssa Ferro, former Idaho State Teacher of the Year and Presidential Award Winner for Math and Science, is a big fan of Learning Blade, too.
"Students are coming out of the Learning Blade opportunity with new facts about the topic they're given, a chance to be exposed to career fields that they've never been exposed to, and look at skillsets in real-life scenarios," Dr. Ferro said. "So, that's something that can continue to fit in really comfortably with our curriculum as we move forward."
The Learning Blade program includes an online platform, aligned to Idaho state standards, for educating students in grades 5-9 about a wide variety of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics careers and computer science occupations using real-life situations in a mission-based format.
Thinking Media, the creators of Learning Blade, recently added the Career Blade system, a new resource that connects students to high-demand careers by providing K-12 teachers with classroom-ready lesson plans. Lesson plans are customized for teachers' needs based on student age range and a variety of industries.
Learning Blade and Career Blade help develop student interest in high-demand jobs by increasing awareness of the careers and relating the academics to helping solve social issues youth care about.
"Students can't pursue a career they don't even know exists," Dr. Maguire said. "Providing educators statewide with free access to Learning Blade and Career Blade for the next three years will help increase STEM career equity and awareness earlier among Idaho students, improving the quality of our future workforce."
The Governor's Office used a portion of the CARES Act funds to support the effort. Additional collaborators include Battelle, Idaho National Laboratory, and the National Rural Education Association.
NREA president Dr. Allen Pratt said he is excited about the opportunity for rural schools in Idaho.
Learning Blade recently released a Chromebook app, the Learning Blade Backpack, to foster equity and bridge the digital divide. Learning Blade Backpack helps students access and complete the platform's interactive lessons, even with limited or no Internet access, which Dr. Maguire said can be a true game changer for both rural and urban
students.
Schools in more than 40 states have deployed the Learning Blade platform, and students have completed more than 5 million online lessons.
Learning Blade and Career Blade are available at no charge to all public schools and organizations in Idaho, which can complete a form at www.LearningBlade.com/ID to request a free license.
