Tincan Partners with Spokane Public Library for Discovery Tech Project

Hands on exhibits, speakers, and panels focused on engineering come to the downtown Spokane Public Library for six weeks starting on September 29. If you ever wondered what an engineer does, or wanted to try your hand at being one, this is the place to be. Tincan partnered with the library to bring the exhibit to Spokane with funding from the American Library Association, among others. The exhibit includes hands on activities for all ages from all areas of engineering. Discover Tech: Engineers Make a World of Difference is an exciting new traveling exhibit that shows that engineering provides solutions to better meet everyday needs and that it can develop sustainable innovations for the future. The hands-on nature of the exhibit will inspire a better understanding and interest for the engineering in our lives.

Opening day is Saturday, September 29, and will include children's programs, a "Build-A-Palooza: Bridge Edition", and engineering panel focused on Spokane's past, present, and future. There will be time to explore the hands on exhibits. There are additional engineering panels on Oct 2 (storm water) and Oct 17 (medical engineering) at the downtown library. Engineering videos from the girls of Tincan's Science Journalism project will be part of the exhibit. Tincan will be actively involved in the project, putting on after school programs for elementary age students on Mondays in October and November at the library. The after school programs will include hands on time with the exhibits. For more information, schedules, and information on events at branch libraries, go to the libraries Discover Tech website.

News from the BTOP Front

Our public access computer program continues to expand. We have added computers to the Salvation Army so that their residents and constituents can have access to the Internet. In October, we will upgrade the computers at Richard Allen's Neighborhood Network Center, and provide computers to additional public housing sites. These additions will allow training to be spread more broadly through the community. Our public access computer lab at Tincan continues to experience heavy use, with people using the computers to search for jobs, prepare resumes, find local resources, and information about numerous topics of interest. Our 1-2 hour workshops allow people to learn new Internet skills. Check our schedule for upcoming workshops.

Science Reporters: Filming with iPads and Tackling the STEM Crisis

This summer, the Science Journalism Reporters decided to tackle STEM education itself in their summer camp. Their question: Is there a STEM crisis in America? Or is there good news on the STEM front? Tincan used this summer camp to pilot a new technology for Science Journalism: filming on iPads, as a means of exploring a more cost effective model for science journalism in the schools.

Girls from four middle schools interviewed Chris Majer, Mobius Science Center CEO, and science center staff, and toured the not-yet-opened science center. While the perspective at the Science Center was clearly documented-that the US has fallen behind the world in STEM, and informal science experiences such as their Center are part of the solution for engaging youth-the staff were also able to speak to the complexity of the issue and its history. While the overwhelming sentiment there was that STEM in America is in crisis, they also offered hope for the future via innovative educational experiences. The interviews left the girls with an overarching question, though: what is the other side of the story? The girls talked with Jake Armstrong, the Science Reporters teacher at Evergreen Middle School. As a classroom teacher, he was able to shed light on the progress that has been made and some of the successes (and challenges) that he sees every day in education.   The students read articles on the good news in STEM education and reports that bolster the position that the state of STEM in the US isn't as bleak as some sources might suggest. The girls spent the rest of the week finding balanced perspectives, questioning the statistics they were hearing, and creating their science journalism pieces. A showcase the final afternoon resulted in a standing-room-only crowd of over 40 people. To view the students' films, you can go to http://tincan.org/sciencereporters/.