High School Division
Taking top honors in the high school division was the 64,000-square-foot Nikola Tesla STEM High School in Redmond, Wash. Integrus Architecture, with offices in Spokane and Seattle; the Seattle office of Heery International; and Absher Construction of Puyallup, Wash., all worked on the project. The school opened in 2012, and the team’s use of 161 prefabricated modular units helped speed up the construction schedule.

The facility features strategic orientation and extensive daylighting, a high-performance thermal envelope system, pervious paving and bioswales for 100 percent on-site stormwater management, and a 10-kilowatt photovoltaic system with net metering. The school is organized into academic clusters with dedicated learning settings and studios. Space is also dedicated to student presentation areas and commons where students can study in groups or independently.

Middle School Division
The STEM Academy of Savannah, Ga., received the STEM Excellence Award for the middle school division. The nearly 700-student school was the first in the state to receive STEM certification from the Georgia Department of Education, thanks in part to its work to build connections with local community and business partners.

The structure originally housed Bartlett Middle School and was converted to a STEM facility in 2013, offering a challenging and rigorous STEM curriculum. For example, the school has integrated the flipped classroom method, and students rely more on iPads than textbooks. Popular courses and programs include Lego robotics and broadcasting.

Elementary School Division
The elementary school division prize went to Douglas L. Jamerson Jr. Elementary in St. Petersburg, Fla. The school opened in 2003 with a curriculum that focuses on high-quality, research-based programs delivered by specially selected and trained educators. Each member of the school’s teaching staff is National Board trained, and 60 percent hold a master’s degree or higher. The school has also won numerous awards, and the engineering curriculum in particular is currently be adapted for use in university programs and classrooms across the country, according to the school’s website.

Finalists
The winning schools were chosen from hundreds of applicants, with a pool of three finalists in each division. Finalists in the high school division included Blue Valley Center for Advanced Professional Studies in Overland Park, Kan., and Immaculata-La Salle High School in Miami. Middle school division finalists were Laing Middle School of Science and Technology in Mount Pleasant, S.C., and Renton Prep in Renton, Wash. Elementary school finalists included The Evergreen School in Shoreline, Wash., and Jack Anderson Elementary in Hendersonville, Tenn.

Winners were selected by the FETC STEM Advisory Board, which includes K-12 and university educators, STEM leaders and technology experts from across the nation.
 

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The event included 150 workshops targeting communication and collaboration, educational policy and leadership, instructional design, mobile learning, online and blending learning, technology infrastructure, digital teaching tools and various curriculum aids. Attendees also had access to more then 400 sessions and nearly 500 interactive vendor exhibits from companies like HP, Casio, Lenovo and Aver, as well as STEM-, maker- and game-based learning events.

Jane McGonigal, director of games research and development at the Palo Alto, Calif.-based Institute for the Future, kicked off the event with a keynote address exploring how games are transforming the way people live and how they can challenge players to approach real world problems. CEO of MakerBot Jennifer Lawton also spoke on how 3D printing technology will impact students throughout their education, and David Moinina Sengeh, a biomechatronics engineer at MIT, delivered the innovation keynote entitled “Youth as Learners, Makers and Problem-Solvers.”

Former West Virginia Governor Bob Wise, who is now president of the Alliance for Excellent Education, headlined the closing keynote. Joined by Adam Bellow, founder and president of eduTeacher and eduClipper, and CEO of GameDesk Lucien Vattel, Wise lead an engaging discussion on the future of education technology.

Institutions at the primary, middle and high school levels were also recognized for excellence and innovation in the field of STEM education at the FETC STEM Excellence Awards. T.R. Paul Academy of Arts and Knowledge, a Fort Collins, Colo. charter school, was honored in the primary school division. The school integrates both STEM and STEAM curriculum, and offers a number of extracurricular programs based in science, problem solving skills and the arts.

Lincoln Intermediate School in Mason City, Iowa was the middle school division winner. The school has built an extremely popular robotics program that tripled in size within its first year and also encourages students to explore skills like coding.

MAST (Math & Science Technology), located on the Florida International University Biscayne Bay campus, was recognized in the high school division for offering a rigorous curriculum infused with technology and university resources like internships, guest faculty presentations and career exploration. Click here to view a full list of winners and finalists

Sponsors for the 2015 event included Microsoft, the Consortium for School Networking and Amazon Education, among others. The 2016 FETC conference will take place in the Orlando’s Orange County Convention Center Jan. 12-15.

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FETC 2015 will feature speakers, exhibitors and events designed to provide PK-12 educators and administrators access to emergent technologies and cutting-edge programs. Attendees will have access to more than 400 sessions, 475 interactive vendor exhibits, and STEM-, maker- and game-based learning events. Exhibitors represent a number of areas from furnishings to communication and include Classroom Technology Solutions, Dell, Califone and Samsung Electronics America, to name a few.

Opening keynote speaker Jane McGonigal, director of games research and development at the Institute for the Future and a world-renowned designer of alternate reality games, kicked off the event on Jan. 20. McGonigal is the author of “Reality is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World.” Her keynote focused on how games are transforming the way we lead our real lives and how they can challenge players to tackle real-world problems.

Other notable keynotes include Jennifer Lawton, CEO of MakerBot, who will speak on the expected proliferation of 3D printing in schools; former West Virginia Governor and current President of Alliance for Excellent Education Bob Wise; and MIT Biomechanics Engineer David Moinina Sengeh.

Also on the agenda are 150 ticketed workshops targeting communication and collaboration, educational policy and leadership, emerging technologies, instructional design, mobile learning, online and blended learning, technology infrastructure, Web 2.0 and digital teaching tools, and various curriculum areas.

Several new additions to the FETC lineup for 2015 include a game-based learning arcade; 20-minute aspire sessions to help teachers quickly learn new skills; fast-paced, interactive round table discussions; a maker’s hub to encourage attendees to build, play and explore; and a STEM Excellence Awards ceremony recognizing achievements and innovation across the field.

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