Youthlearn Current News

"The Open Society Foundations' Youth Initiative is seeking proposals from organizations interested in developing and curating thematic pages on Youthpolicy.org, an online global youth portal that aims to consolidate knowledge and information on youth-related policies around the world.

"The Afterschool Alliance and the Noyce Foundation invite applications for one of two $10,000 Afterschool STEM Impact Awards!   As afterschool STEM programming grows around the nation, we would like to recognize programs that are clearly demonstrating their impact on participants.  Such programs highlight the power of afterschool programs as key partners in STEM education reform and can also serve as best-practice models. Submission Deadline: May 15, 2013 at 11:59 p.m. EDT."

"Go inside a high school classroom where students were asked to design a shoe! See how the design thinking process works, and how it can give students a valuable framework for solving problems and being innovative."

"Children and young adults who do not receive adequate education are not able to thrive, and often become yet another statistic in the developing world’s challenges with poverty and sickness. But with widespread dissemination, education technology, or ed-tech, has the power to change that, giving students the opportunity to access educational resources that hold up to any world standard."

This STEM-focused issue of the journal was funded by the Noyce Foundation, and includes articles on models for STEM learning, scaling programs, and serving girls, etc.  Download the whole issue as a single pdf or read individual articles separately.

"Target Arts and Culture in Schools Grants help schools and nonprofits to bring arts and cultural experiences directly to K-12 students. These programs must have a curriculum component. Maximum award: $2,000. Eligibility: schools and nonprofit organizations. Deadline: April 30, 2013"

"The Campaign for a Presidential Youth Council has teamed up with SparkAction to find the best and the brightest young people and youth councils in America. We are building a knowledge and story bank about the ways that young people’s input helps improve policies. In addition to profiling effective Youth Councils and individual young people (members of Councils or independents) who are influencing policies and local practice, we’re recognizing them for what they are – the Top Young Leaders of Today.

"Sugata Mitra delivered everything you could want in a grand prize-winning TEDTalk -- it was timely, inspiring, provocative and highly entertaining. His central thesis that our current systems and processes for educating children across the globe need to be completely wiped out and radically restructured into structure-free, micro-learning outposts connected by broadband is radical, to say the least.

Digital Media and Learning Research Hub, a collaborative blog, features an interview with Mitch Resnick.  "As Professor of Learning Research at the MIT Media Lab, Mitch Resnick channels his own creative intellect to transform classic forms of play into hands-on learning experiences. These new educational technologies, which are thought up by his Lifelong Kindergarten group, are designed to actively engage youth in the creative thinking process...

"Smartphone adoption among American teens has increased substantially and mobile access to the internet is pervasive. One in four teens are “cell-mostly” internet users, who say they mostly go online using their phone and not using some other device such as a desktop or laptop computer.

These are among the new findings from a nationally representative Pew Research Center survey that explored technology use among 802 youth ages 12-17 and their parents."