Texas Instruments Releasing STEM Behind Hollywood
Texas Instruments (TI) is launching “STEM Behind Hollywood,” an education program developed with assistance from The Science & Entertainment Exchange, a program of the National Academy of Sciences, as well as actress, neuroscientist and STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education advocate Mayim Bialik.
Aimed at getting middle and high school students excited about STEM subjects and careers, “STEM Behind Hollywood” makes math and science come to life in a series of free online classroom activities that help teachers demonstrate the real-world concepts behind four popular Hollywood themes: Zombies, Space, Superheroes, and Forensics.
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Each activity can be downloaded to the TI-Nspire CX graphing calculator, Student Software or TI-Nspire Apps for iPad, allowing students to visualize and interact directly with sci-fi influenced representations of the math and science to gain a deeper understanding of the real-world concepts.
STEM Behind Hollywood
“We are helping teachers draw young people into STEM by showing the ‘cool factor’ of real-life science and math behind the magic they see in movies and on TV,” said Melendy Lovett, president of Texas Instruments Education Technology.
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According to TI, these activities were developed with the help of scientists and experts from The Science & Entertainment Exchange who consult on Hollywood films and TV shows to ensure the accuracy of science and mathematics depicted on screen.
And Bialik (pictured above), who is not only the Emmy-nominated actress portraying a scientist on The Big Bang Theory but is also a scientist in real life, helps students make the connection between what they see on screen and real concepts.
Announced Thursday, August 8, the online classroom activities are available at www.stemhollywood.com
Photo courtesy: Texas Instruments
