Blog

The Road Less Traveled: Could Apprenticeships Solve the STEM Skills Gap?

jlucas

Workplace apprenticeships have long fought against the perception that they represent a poor relation to academic qualifications when it comes to finding a route into a long-term career. However, more and more employers in the digital and technology ...
- 16 Jan 2017
Rise of the Baltic Tiger | How Estonia became a STEM Education Powerhouse

jlucas

A quick glance at the latest global education rankings for Science and Mathematics shows a near total dominance of the top positions by Asian countries including Singapore, Japan and China, alongside a smattering of affluent Western nations such as C...
- 12 Jan 2017
How women are working to close the STEM Gender Gap in 2017

jlucas

Representation and equal opportunities for women remains a major issue in STEM fields, where men continue to disproportionately dominate the workforce across numerous key industries. Worryingly, despite a number of initiatives aimed narrowing t...
- 3 Jan 2017
Best of 2016 | Business of Engineering and STEM Academy

jlucas

As one of the resident content specialists at element14, it’s been my job to take charge of two key areas of the community throughout 2016 – Business of Engineering and STEM Academy. Here are some of our favourite features and projects from the past ...
- 21 Dec 2016
Five Christmas Gift Ideas for Future Coders

jlucas

From maths and science to art and literacy, toy manufacturers have been finding ways to combine learning with play for centuries. In the modern world, the next generation is likely to spend more and more time grappling with aspects of coding and comp...
- 15 Dec 2016
Boy Scouts | Swapping outdoor survival skills for STEM?

jlucas

The Boy Scouts have a grand tradition of helping to equip young members with practical life skills with real-world applications. In the past this has meant outdoor survival skills such as knot tying, cooking and map reading. However, the next generat...
- 9 Dec 2016
Onecall named preferred supplier for the UK's Higher Education Sector

jlucas

Onecall, Farnell element14's dedicated electronics and technology business for higher education and research councils, has secured its strong working relationship with the National Universities Working Party on Electronic Components (NUWPEC...
- 29 Nov 2016
Are inclusive environments the key to closing the STEM gender gap?

jlucas

Despite progress in some areas, many key STEM areas are still struggling to achieve gender parity. While the number of women studying biology, chemistry and mathematics has increased in recent years, progress has been slower in the fields of engineer...
- 24 Nov 2016
Five Reasons to Study Engineering in Germany

jlucas

element14 Global Spotlight | Germany the element14 Global Spotlight German Engineering at a Glance We Are Makers ...Five reasons to study in GermanyFive of the best | Projects ...Texas Instruments in Germany Germany is well known as one of the lead...
- 18 Nov 2016
Educational toys for engineers and engineers-to-be

jlucas

The Maker Movement has fostered some pretty fantastic developments for makers, creators and engineers of all ages and skill sets, including a new breed of toys that are helping to make electronics a fun, accessible and creative learning experience. W...
- 7 Nov 2016
Five classroom project ideas for Halloween - featuring BBC micro:bit, Raspberry Pi and more...

jlucas

Halloween is a great opportunity for teachers to get their students involved in creative projects while also engaging with some fundamental coding and electronics techniques. Classroom-friendly devices such as BBC micro:bit, Raspberry Pi and Codebug ...
- 26 Oct 2016
Five Key Moments in the Evolution of Engineering

jlucas

The history of engineering can be traced directly alongside the evolution of the modern world, with countless scientific breakthroughs and revolutions marking mankind’s journey towards ever more sophisticated methods of controlling and exploiting the...
- 18 Oct 2016
The best of both worlds: Creative collaborations between artists and engineers

jlucas

In our modern world of specific academic majors, pop culture stereotypes and sharply defined career paths, artists and engineers are thought to be like oil and water. But some engineers and artists are embracing the differences of their disciplines t...
- 13 Oct 2016
Getting More Girls into Technology

Catwell

A partnership between Netflix and the Girl Scouts aims to get girls interested in science early on-and stay there. Girl Scouts meet accomplished women from a variety of companies at Netflix headquarters to learn more about STEM opportunities(via Girl...
- 10 Oct 2016
Kano kits teaches programming with LEGO-like kits

Catwell

Kano kits teach kids the basics of programming and electronics with camera, speaker, and light board kits. All the kits work with one another(via Kano) With endless campaigns, programs, and websites dedicated to teaching kids the basics of progr...
- 6 Oct 2016
Subscribe Now: The YouTube influencers inspiring the next generation of Tech Enthusiasts

jlucas

The way we consume media has changed dramatically over the past decade, with social media and content sharing platforms allowing users to get closer to new ideas and technologies without relying on traditional textbooks and lectures. YouTube ha...
- 28 Sep 2016
3 Easy LED Projects - video games and skateboards

Catwell

I recently put together three easy to build projects - that are awesome - with younger builders in mind. We are talking breadboards, glue, hand-files, heatshrink tubing kind of easy. These projects seem complex, but they are surprisingly ...
- 22 Sep 2016
Two stories that illustrate the value of mentors

jlucas

As he was finding his footing in both America and his career, William “Bill” Knudsen, a young Danish-born immigrant in New York, took a low-paying job at a Buffalo bicycle manufacturer to learn more about the manufacturing process. The plant su...
- 21 Sep 2016
Meet the engineering class of 2020

jlucas

Every generation of young engineers and innovators benefits from access to knowledge and experiences that weren't available to their predecessors. Technological advances and the patronage of various foundations are helping teens to levera...
- 31 Aug 2016
Three Innovative Student Design Projects with Humanitarian Benefits

jlucas

Each year, engineering students on the cusp of graduation are tasked with the challenge of completing a senior design project before embarking on their journey into the “real world.” Although the specific requirements of the project vary among ...
- 23 Aug 2016
Grassroots engineering: The US universities pushing manufacturing forward

jlucas

The United States boasts some of the most impressive research universities in the world, many of which have earned a reputation as hotbeds of innovation. Funding from private companies and federal agencies has helped entice thousands of engineers to ...
- 16 Aug 2016
5 Successful Inventions that Originated in the Classroom

jlucas

Most major innovations in technology and engineering are discovered by experts, reflecting with years of experience in their chosen field. However, every so often a student will surprise the world with an innovation that displays knowledge beyo...
- 9 Aug 2016
EAGLE software now available free to students and educators

jlucas

Last month (June 2016), Autodesk officially acquired Cadsoft Computer GmbH from Premier Farnell, giving them ownership of the popular EAGLE PCB design software. In an interview originally posted in the element14 Design Centre, Autodesk Director Matt ...
- 21 Jul 2016
Who are the Networks in Your Neighborhood? Using the Raspberry Pi 3 as a WiFi Sniffer

mikedavis

A copy of this blog post can be found at my own blow (Faradaysclub.com). As you all probably know, the Raspberry Pi turned 4 on February 29th, and this was celebrated with the release of the Raspberry Pi 3. What’s new? Well the big things...
- 23 Mar 2016
A Raspberry Pi Data Logger for about $25 (Temperature Probe and ThingSpeak)

mikedavis

I was as excited as anyone else when the Raspberry Pi Zero (RPi-0) was announced over Thanksgiving. This $5 computer is 86% cheaper than the Raspberry Pi 2 which is already a great deal at $35. I thought I would try it out as a temperatur...
- 4 Jan 2016