Students at a Minnesota school are designing and building scale models of tiny houses in STEM class. Students first created designs and blueprints for their homes and then make scales that include furniture and wallpaper using craft supplies.

A program being introduced at four Vermont high schools this fall will give students who struggled with math a chance to brush up their skills before going to college or entering the workforce. The EMC^2 class, developed by the Vermont State Colleges system and the Vermont Agency of Education, will cover such concepts as statistics, functions and units of measurement.

Educators can help boost diversity in STEM by engaging more students who are female and come from diverse backgrounds, teacher Carly Berwick writes in this blog post. Berwick uses research and ideas from other educators to suggest strategies to combat STEM stereotypes.

Five studies over two years challenge the idea that students' grit can affect academic performance, but University of Pennsylvania professor Angela Duckworth, who ushered in the concept, says it never was intended to be applied in that way. Marcus Crede, a social psychologist at Iowa State University and a grit critic, says it is "not strongly related to academic success" and is "unlikely to respond well to intervention."

The International Society for Technology in Education has released an education-technology buying guide. The guide includes an approach adopted in a North Carolina school district that gives teachers a no-pressure environment -- called an "edtech playground" -- to test the education technology before purchasing it.

A Pennsylvania school district allows teenage students to work as interns in companies to experience professional environments and meet people in their field of interest. One student interned at Quest Diagnostics Flight Operations to observe mechanics and pilots, plus help with some tasks, such as removing snow and waxing planes.

ACTE is excited to announce our fourth annual student contest to redesign the 3D-printed trophies for the ACTE Excellence Awards. The winning trophy design will be 3D-printed by Stratasys and presented to the 10 national award winners at the 2019 ACTE Awards Banquet in Anaheim, Calif. Learn more.

The ACTE Impact Awards recognize groups and individuals from the education, business and industry communities who enhance career and technical education by contributing to the improvement, promotion, development and progress of CTE. Individuals or entities that have contributed to the success and promotion of CTE, thereby positively impacting the image of CTE, are eligible recipients of these awards. Learn more.