Articles

NSF STEM Day - May 10th 2025

Kathleen Crespin — Mon, 25 Aug 2025 14:54:44 +0000

NSF STEM Day - May 10th 2025 Kathleen Crespin Mon, 08/25/2025 - 08:54

The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) commemorated its 75th anniversary on May 10th, 2025. Many of the discoveries and innovations that we use every day - including GIS technologies, the internet, AI and Duolingo - are the result of NSF investments in STEM. The free event showcased some of the research projects, education initiatives, and public science communication efforts that the NSF has funded at ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� and CU Anschutz. CU Science Discovery organized and led the celebration with its Build a Better Book partners at Mountain Lakes Library in New Jersey, Explora Science Center in New Mexico, Laredo Public Library in Texas, and Arecibo C3 Center in Puerto Rico. The celebration at all 5 sites included activities and demos for the public, young and old!

CU Science Discovery Interns demonstrate various projects created during their 2022, 2023 & 2024 Build a Better Book Summer Internships. Projects included laser cut accessible games - Ingenious and Chess and 3D printed Chess and Othello/Checker pieces.

Activities at each site included:

Braille Embosser with text blocks that say "Build a Better Book"
Braille Twister dots
Braille Eggs
Braille Legos
3D printed Braille Crayon caps, crayons and swell paper coloring pages.
Each site had a tactile laser cut map of their state and the Public used fabric and craft materials to create a Tactile Map of their State.

University of Colorado Boulder (Main Internship site): Led the coordination, design, and dissemination of activities and experiences for STEM Day events and hosted a main event at the Engineering Center that showcases BBB intern projects and maker activities.

Our longtime Build a Better Book Partner, Mountain Lakes Public Library in New Jersey, who ran internship from 2022-2024, hosted an interactive event showcasing BBB intern projects and a braille book launch.

Explora Science Center and Children’s Museum, Albuquerque, NM ran BBB Internships the summers of 2024 & 2025. They shared BBB intern work in the Electricity exhibit area as part of the museum’s larger STEM Day experience.

Another BBB network partner in Texas, Laredo Public Libraries, leveraged STEM Day participation to build staff capacity and utilized BBB resources and activities in their community programming.

Our newest BBB network partner, Arecibo C3 Center in Puerto Rico is the site of the old Observatory. Their STEM Day coincided with the center’s grand opening event and enabled them to emphasize its commitment to inclusive values by supporting their community members with disabilities.

NSF impact poster

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BBB Welcomes Summer Interns in CO, NJ & NM

Anonymous — Wed, 29 May 2024 21:57:06 +0000

BBB Welcomes Summer Interns in CO, NJ & NM Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 05/29/2024 - 15:57

Summer 2024 is a busy time for Build a Better Book! We have 3 sites hosting Teen Internships in Colorado - ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ��, New Jersey - Mountain Lakes Public Library, and New Mexico - Explora! Science Center & Children's Museum.

Colorado Teen Interns hail from various Denver Metro High Schools including:

Alexander Dawson High School
Boulder High School
Fairview High School
Lakewood High School
Monarch High School
Northglenn High School
Pinnacle Charter High School
Salida High School
Stargate High School

New Mexico Teen Interns come from an assortment of Albuquerque High Schools:

Albuquerque High School
Albuquerque School of Excellence
Digital Arts and Technology Academy
Eldorado High School
La Cueva High School (LCHS)
Sandia High School
Santa Fe Indian School
Veritas Scholars Academy

New Jersey Teen Interns are all patrons of Mountain Lakes Public Library and have been working with Ian Matty in the Library Makerspace over the last couple of years.

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Making a Difference

Anonymous — Tue, 27 Sep 2022 20:09:49 +0000

Making a Difference Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 09/27/2022 - 14:09

Students at Ma'ayanot Yeshiva High School for Girls in New Jersey jumped on board their school's Build a Better Book initiative called "Making a Difference". In partnership with the School for Children with Hidden Intelligence (SCHI), Ma'ayanot students completed an in-depth STEAM and Maker course developing interactive educational toys and games for children at SCHI. Teachers Reyce Krause, Gillian Cofnas, and Gila Stein developed a robust curriculum that engaged students in 1) Learning through empathy and understanding visual impairments, 2) Product Design and Prototyping through testing, feedback, and iterations of their designs, and 3) Device Construction which challenged students to create products that were both aesthetic and robust enough to stand up to handling and use in the classroom.

After meeting with teachers and therapists at SCHI, students were given a profile of a SCHI child and went to work designing a customized product that reflected their child's interests and abilities. Since many of the SCHI children have cortical visual impairment (CVI), Ma'ayanot students used an array of Maker technologies to design devices with high color contrast, motion, sound, and lights to help focus attention and engage the viewer. After many months of hard work, re-designing, and STEAM skill-building, the students shared their projects at Ma'ayanot's STEAMposium and then presented the final products to the children at SCHI.

Guided by a "Focus on simplicity in concept and design, beauty in construction, maximum impact", the collaboration between Ma'ayanot and SCHI truly made a difference to everyone involved.

Customized projects often incorporated a SCHI student's name and interests. View images of more projects.

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