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Helping Students Succeed: The Nobel Approach

June 11, 2020/0 Comments/in For Individuals /by Jelena

With summer just around the corner, you may be feeling sad or even anxious. You probably planned to send your child to a summer camp, where they could socialize, continue to learn, and avoid summer learning loss. But with coronavirus, lockdown, quarantine, and things getting cancelled right and left, you may be wondering – now what?

The great news is, they can still go to a summer camp virtually, and get to socialize with peers from all over the world! Moreover, if it’s a good fit, they may even progress further and become a class instructor!

Nobel Explorers – What It Is and How It Works

Nobel Explorers is an online STEM camp, whose innovative classes have been available for a number of years. But, in this unprecedented situation, we felt the need to step up and support our communities. And so, during this time, our classes are being offered free for everyone. We firmly believe everyone deserves a free education and an opportunity to learn both STEM and soft skills.

That’s how we’re helping students around the world thrive. Our classes were created by STEM experts as well as our coaches, who understand the importance of teamwork, critical thinking, and good feedback. Over the course of just one week, these classes provide our Explorers with valuable knowledge necessary for real jobs and success in the real world.

And what better way to prepare them for it all than by letting them experience other cultures and learn about them?

Our Explorers join classes from all over the world, and in doing so, they bring their unique backgrounds and experiences along with them. Helping them all understand these differences – anything from time zones to different ways we approach conversation – allows kids to be more sensitive towards those who aren’t from their own culture. By learning very early on to understand their own cultural background and become knowledgeable about others’, our Explorers gain valuable life skills, become kinder and more empathetic, and prepare themselves for future workplace challenges.

And the mere process of interacting with other kids makes the whole experience more interesting, and teaches them about cooperation and other important people skills. It’s a win-win-win… win situation! Just take a look at the highlights from one of our latest EXPO events:

Coaching & Tutoring

Nobel Coaching & Tutoring has been around for even longer, but for much the same purpose: to provide education based on understanding each and every student’s unique personality, perspective, and interests in order to provide them with assets they can use in the real world. At Nobel Coaching & Tutoring, we believe that learning to understand those obstacles outside of school (such as shyness, anxiety, procrastination…) which prevent kids from reaching their full potential, goes hand in hand with learning any specific subject.

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Nobel Explorers, Nobel Coaching & Tutoring… All combine into one mission: helping children progress by providing them with the tools they need to succeed right now and later on in life as well. We’re immensely proud to be providing kids with these means to succeed, and we’ll continue supporting students around the globe, as well as their parents, on this exciting journey.

The Nobel Explorers Constructive Colonel Badge

February 14, 2020/0 Comments/in For Students /by Daria P

Think back to a time when your colleague or classmate has done something you didn’t like. Did you struggle with how to handle it? Is there a way to tell them you disagree without hurting their feelings? The alternative is to say nothing, but potentially risking the future of the whole project.

Providing your teammates with actionable and constructive feedback is a skill we hold very high in our soft skills training for all Explorers. This means you learn how to provide feedback that is results-oriented and offers concrete suggestions on what can be done to improve the project.

Let’s illustrate this. Instead of saying “I don’t like the colors on our website,” – which can be perceived as judgmental and less useful for the feedback recipient – you could try saying “I think we have done a great job organizing parts of our website so far. One thing I would change is the color of the background. That yellow color makes it hard for me to look at the website for a long time. How about we change it to a darker shade of blue? It would be more comfortable to look at, and it matches our topic of ocean life better.”

Our Nobel Explorers have a chance to start practicing this skill as early as the mini project or intro class, and as they go on we dedicate more and more attention to this complex but important skill.

We believe that we all grow through real, constructive feedback, that comes from a good place. Our program is organized in a way that supports and promotes collaboration, so providing feedback is inevitable and valuable!

Asking and providing feedback is something you can practice as well! Leave a review on Facebook, Google and let us know what you enjoyed and what you like to see more of! Book a session with me, Daria, for personalized feedback on your Explorer’s improvement and growth journey!

Learn more about Daria.

Benefits of Nobel Explorers’ Online Internship

November 17, 2019/0 Comments/in For Students /by Jelena N.

Why should you choose a Nobel Explorers’ internship? No one could answer this question better than our interns themselves. That’s why we interviewed Michael, one of our interns, and here’s why he’d recommend this internship to his friends.

Flexibility and comfort

When you think about online internship, the most obvious first benefit is that you can work from the comfort of your home. This lets you save money for gas and any time that you’d spend on travelling. Also, you have complete control over your working environment.

Plus, with Nobel Explorers, there’s a flexible schedule, so you can organize your time and work however you want to. A flexible schedule means that you don’t miss out on anything important to you, whether it’s someone’s birthday or a basketball game you’re planning to watch.

Developing new skills

The goal of a Nobel Explorers’ internship is to teach interns the skills that lay the foundation for their careers.

On one side, they learn hard skills – STEM knowledge. These include web design, web coding, etc. On the other, they gain soft skills – skills that are highly sought-after by employers but are not job-specific. Some of these are teamwork, time management, problem-solving, and communication. Hard and soft skills go hand in hand and make NE interns future-ready!

Learning hard skills

You wonder why learning hard skills is emphasized? Friends of our interns didn’t have internships where they learned actual skills. They were doing a lot of manual work. As Michael said, the job of one of his friends was only to turn the computers on and off all day. Sounds really boring, right? And we’re pretty sure his friend didn’t learn much.

Our internships are designed for our interns to work by themselves – with the help of our hard-skills experts, of course. This way, Michael had a chance to be programming by himself although he’d never had training on javascript, node js, or any other programming language he was using. And today, Michael finds coding fun!

It’s like a puzzle, try to figure out the most efficient way to build something using the least amount of code.”

Website our interns made

The hard skills Nobel Interns Generation I learned during their online internship are website design and website coding. As time moved on, they became pretty comfortable, started to be more efficient, and ended up with an awesome website we couldn’t be more proud of!

Check out the awesome website our interns made

Soft skills

Besides these hard skills, they learned a lot more! Michael didn’t expect this at all! He thought that he’d just be coding, but he also learned soft skills. The two he found the most valuable are communication and teamwork skills.

Communication skills

Miscommunication can lead to frustration, missing meetings, as well as a less productive team, so communicating effectively is a vital skill to master. NE interns become good listeners and accomplished at explaining and clarifying their thoughts and ideas. The end result is the team accomplishes more work together than if they’d all worked alone.

Real Teamwork

In school, students learn teamwork but is it really teamwork? Michael said that whenever he had a group project he kind of hated it because his grades depended on how his team members behaved. So we asked him how the teamwork at Nobel Explorers differs from the teamwork in school.

I’ve never thought about teamwork the way Nobel thinks about it. I’ve never thought it was a positive thing.”

During his internship, Michael learned the importance of being able to work with other people. He found that part of working together is not just working with the perfect partner but working with people who aren’t perfect and learning how to deal with them. It’s important to learn how to talk to your teammates to make you all feel more comfortable and, of course, get a good result at the end.

Are soft skills soft?

When Michael was introduced to the term soft skills, he felt that designation didn’t really do justice to the value of these skills. It implies they’re not as important as hard skills, and therefore get little respect.

Hard skills make you qualified for the job, but soft skills are what helps you write your resume, interview to get that job, and help you stand out.

We agreed that the term “soft skills” underplays their importance in the modern world. So we’re weighing in on the term – what do you think about teamwork skills? Maybe people skills? Or social skills?

Professional development

At Nobel Explorers, you have an opportunity to be part of a real software development team. Not many high-school students have this kind of experience. A lot of people have this chance only when they get their first job. Having this kind of experience can help you adjust to the work environment faster, get better insight into the workplace, and boost your confidence at work.
A real software development team is also an international team. Working within an international team means a lot when it comes to preparation for the future of work, as it seems more and more companies will be looking into remote work and international teams.

Skills transfer

Skills you learn at Nobel aren’t necessarily for work only– they can be very useful in your private life too. It’s about how you communicate with other people, and that’s definitely important in every relationship we have. You learn how to improve your work when things don’t go well. Also, you learn how to plan your time and how to effectively split tasks up, and that’s the best way to avoid procrastination.

Which of these skills do you think is the most important? Leave us a comment!

If you like what you’ve read, we only have one more thing to say to you: We can’t wait to meet you!

Five STEM Movies that Inspire

October 31, 2019/0 Comments/in For Individuals /by Jelena N.

We’re all aware that STEM careers are and will be in demand. So how to get young people excited about STEM? We suggest watching movies! Movies are great entertainment, they can teach us about life, and at the same time, be a source of educational information. Below you can find five inspiring STEM movies we believe everybody should watch. We chose movies that not only preach STEM but also depict STEM-related issues, such as STEM equity.

The LEGO Movie

Do your kids love movies about saving the world? Then this is just the one for them! It’s about a very ordinary LEGO mini-figure who’s mistakenly identified as extraordinary and the key to saving his LEGO world. Throughout the movie, children can see the engineering design process in action – things are built and rebuilt over and over and over again.

Apart from showing us how engineering is fun and awesome, the movie also illustrates that the combination of engineering, creativity, and teamwork are crucial today.

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The Imitation Game

The Imitation Game is based on the true life story of Alan Turing, the British mathematical genius. Turing cracked the seemingly unbreakable German Enigma code during World War II, with the help of an innovative computer he built. Thanks to using math, engineering, and still-to-be-invented computer science, he helped turn the tide of the war and save countless lives!

Can machines think? This question is addressed by Turing in the movie and his arguments and analysis teach us about artificial intelligence.

Hidden Figures

Hidden Figures is the true story of three African-American mathematicians, Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, and Katherine Johnson, known as the human computers, who worked for NASA. They were given the task of calculating the launch of John Glenn into orbit and guaranteeing his safe return.

The movie highlights the ongoing legacy of women and minorities in STEM and demonstrates how these women fought for their rights (and won!). It can teach your kids a lot about STEM equity and can inspire young women to explore STEM for themselves.

The Theory of Everything

Love story? Fighting for life? STEM? Success? The Theory of Everything has it all. It is an inspirational story about the most celebrated theoretical physicist of our time, Stephen Hawking. The successor to Einstein, as he was called, wrote his thesis on black hole dynamics, in which he proposed that a black hole created the universe in a Big Bang, that it will emit heat, and that it will end in a Big Crunch (yikes!).

His accomplishments were even more remarkable considering that he was fighting motor neuron disease for much of his life. His example teaches us that we can achieve a great deal despite challenges we may encounter in life.

Spider-Man

You probably wonder what’s the connection between one of the superheroes and STEM. Well, here’s why we’ve chosen this movie.

Peter Parker got his powers from a radioactive spider bite. After the accident left him super-strong and super-spidery, Parker himself invented most of the outfits and gadgets that he uses day-to-day! We believe that this was possible thanks to the knowledge he acquired in STEM high school (this was revealed in Spider-Man: Homecoming). So if your kid is a superhero/Spiderman fan, getting them interested in STEM will be no trouble!

YOUR CHILD CAN BE A SUPERHERO, TOO!

HELP THEM CHOOSE A PROJECT AND LEARN HOW TO PROGRAM ROBOTS AND MANY MORE THINGS HERE.

Women in STEM: Five Inspirational Stories

September 22, 2019/0 Comments/in For Students /by Jelena N.

Have you ever been negatively stereotyped for being a young woman in STEM? Unfortunately, you’re not the only one. The old stereotype of girls being bad at STEM is as alive as ever. A great way to put an end to this is to provide young women with role models who can motivate them to be persistent and succeed.

On this Business Women’s Day, we’re celebrating women in STEM who empower and motivate all girls and women who work (or dream about working) in STEM. We’re sharing the stories of five remarkable women who changed the world with their stories. We hope they’ll inspire you as they inspire us!

Rosalind Franklin

Image: Jenifer Glyn/Wikimedia Commons

Rosalind Franklin studied physics and chemistry and later earned a Ph.D. in physical chemistry, which enabled her to travel and teach around the world. While working at King’s College, Cambridge, she spent hours studying DNA structure with X-ray diffraction. It was she who took a photo of DNA and proved it was a double helix.

Sadly, her achievement wasn’t acknowledged at that time. You wonder why? There is some controversy indicating that Francis Crick and James Watson used Franklin’s findings as theirs in their own publications. It was quite some time until she emerged from the shadow of these two powerful men and her contribution was fully recognized.

Radia Perlman

Image: Wikipedia

We couldn’t imagine the world today without the internet, right? Well, if it weren’t for Radia Perlman, we might not have had it. The Mother of the Internet, as she’s called, developed the algorithm behind the Spanning Tree Protocol (STP), which is fundamental to the operation of network bridges. She also invented TRILL (TRansparent Interconnection of Lots of Links) to correct the limitations of STP.

A wildly creative thinker, Dr. Perlman even developed a child-friendly programming language. She authored a textbook on networking and network security and holds more than 100 issued patents.

Mae C. Jemison

Image: NASA

As a little girl, Mae Jemison loved science and stargazing and dreamed of going into space. That dream came true on September 12, 1992. She became the first African-American woman to travel in space when she went into orbit aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour. There she conducted experiments on motion sickness, weightlessness, and bone cells.

As if that weren’t enough, Jemison is a dancer and holds nine honorary doctorates in science, engineering, letters, and the humanities. In 1993, she resigned from NASA and began her teaching career. Today, she is founder and president of two technology companies and focuses on improving healthcare in Africa and advancing technology in developing countries. Is there anything Mae can’t do? She’s truly inspiring!

Margaret Hamilton

Image: Draper Laboratory

Talking about space, we mustn’t forget Margaret Hamilton, whose software sent Apollo 11 to the moon. Also, when errors occurred, the software she created managed to save the lives of the Apollo 11 astronauts – Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins. Besides that, she was one of the first computer software programmers. She also coined the term software engineer.

Hamilton was a director of the Software Engineering Division of the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory, and later became the founder and CEO of Hamilton Technologies, Inc. Hamilton was the recipient of various honors, including NASA’s Exceptional Space Act Award (2003). You’ve probably already seen the picture of her alongside Katie Bouman, when Katie took a picture of the black hole this year.

Cynthia Breazeal

Image: Jibo

After seeing “Star Wars” for the first time as a young girl, Cynthia Breazeal began to dream of building personal robots. Guess what? She did it! Breazeal is a pioneer in Social Robotics and Human Robot Interaction.

She’s developed some of the world’s most famous robotic creatures – ranging from small hexapod robots to embedding robotic technologies into familiar everyday artifacts, and creating highly expressive humanoid robots and robot characters. Jibo, Kismet, and Leonardo are only some of the famous social robots she’s made.

And, one more thing…

Finally, we have one piece of advice for you or every young woman with dreams and goals seemingly out of reach. Never underestimate yourself! Arianne Hunter, a woman in STEM, explained her early self-doubts:

If I would’ve told myself five years ago that I would have the number of publications, awards, and honors… I would have probably laughed hysterically. I would’ve thought it was impossible for a black female scientist to do those things.

And yet, today she holds a doctorate in Organic Chemistry/Molecular Pharmacology, is the founder of the nonprofit, “We Do Science, Too,” and has been recognized and awarded for her advocacy work for women and minorities in STEM.

CHOOSE A PROJECT AND CREATE YOUR OWN STEM STORY!

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What’s Wrong With STEM Education In Schools: 4 Ways to Fix It

August 5, 2019/0 Comments/in For Individuals /by Jelena

STEM is all the hype right now: parents want their kids to get into STEM education, kids want to get into STEM education – heck, we wouldn’t be surprised if even their dogs secretly wanted them to get into STEM education! You might consider that last one a bit ‘barking mad’ but you get the point.

And while that’s all great, one thing’s been proven time and time again: in their current state, schools can’t provide the kind of STEM education necessary for kids to succeed.

We want to see every single kid nail it, so without further ado – here are the top 4 reasons why that’s not happening in education right now.

Students are Initially Interested in STEM – But Not For Long.

This is a depressing notion, but one we have to consider and work hard to change. We just mentioned that kids want to get into STEM, so what’s going on here? Are they interested or not?

It’s true that kids start out very enthusiastically. After all, what’s not to like? They can create amazing things with STEM, and have a great future while doing what they love!

And that’s where the problem arises: in a school context, they aren’t creating great things. They aren’t getting a chance to express themselves creatively, or inspired to do something innovative. As with the rest of our school curriculum, they’re expected to simply follow instructions and remain inside the box.

Now imagine if Elon Musk never thought outside the box. Do you think he’d ever have sent a Roadster into space? Hardly. Yet, that’s exactly what’s lacking in schools. Kids aren’t being taught to think in a way that requires creativity and problem-solving: they’re being told to memorize algorithms and rules. And not much else.

Is it so strange then that their initial fire fizzles out after they discover it’s nothing like the fantastic thing they were looking forward to?

STEM is Much More Than a Set of Hard Skills.

To be successful in STEM, kids need to be fluent in all kinds of cognitive and soft skills, some of which we’ve already mentioned. For example, if they’re working on a project with a couple of other people, understanding the basics of teamwork – giving feedback, asking questions, managing time in a good way – are crucial. Now the lack of technical skills can be bridged. If your child doesn’t know something, another one can show them – but the lack of teamwork and leadership skills is what leads to projects failing.

Here’s an example: all the tasks are chosen and an equal amount is given to each team member. Now, John needs to finish the basics of the website before Nancy can apply the design to it. The trouble is – John keeps on being late with his tasks due to his poor time management skills. Nancy is frustrated, but she doesn’t know how to approach the situation, so she lets it be. The whole thing ends with an unfinished website, poor design, and the lack of kids’ interest (see reason #1) in STEM. And none of it is because these kids lack the technical skills: it’s because they lack people skills.

Even Google thinks these skills are a must if you want to have any chance of succeeding in the 21st century. That’s another thing we pride ourselves in: Nobel Explorers STEM Camp is based on the idea that hard skills aren’t enough, so our educators make sure kids learn how to properly work in and lead teams as well.

It’s the full package.

STEM Career Centers Aren’t Easily Accessible to Everyone.

We rarely hear about people outside large urban areas achieving something in STEM, but it’s hard to believe that not a single person from a smaller town or even a village is interested in STEM.

The sad truth is: there are people who are very interested, but centers for that kind of education are too distant from them, so they have to make do. Making do in this case usually means having an even less structured STEM education. If large towns that get the lion’s share of the budget can’t get it right, what can we expect of smaller places where schools are barely making ends meet? And with such a gaping hole in their knowledge, students can’t get into colleges that would allow them to prosper.

It’s a vicious cycle.

We were well aware of that when creating Nobel Explorers, which is why our Online Global STEM Camp is accessible to anyone with a stable internet connection, no matter where on the planet they are!

PICK YOUR PROJECT!

Project-Based Learning? What’s That?

Project-Based Learning or PBL is an approach in which students learn by doing. It sounds very logical when you put it that way, doesn’t it? Try explaining to someone how to ride a bike, without letting them try it. Or how to tie their shoes! They could be really smart but …

But for some reason, our school curriculum seems fixated on the idea that theoretical knowledge, basically rote learning, is the be-all and end-all of education. Not so much. You can memorize any number of great poems, but that won’t teach you how to write a masterpiece of your own. That takes experimenting with words and trial and error.

With STEM, it’s even more difficult, because students need to understand how each line of code ties into the next one, by – you guessed it – trial and error! It’s the only way they can be able to a) see the bigger picture and start experimenting, and b) (even more important, if you ask us) get motivated to continue learning.

Imagine if you were never able to see the fruits of your labor, nor understand what the point of your hard work is in the first place. You’re told to move some boxes around and nothing else. What’s in the boxes? Is that work important? What are you contributing to? These are all things you’d want to know if you’re to be motivated to keep on working. Otherwise, you’d be just doing it robotically, all the while looking for a better job.

Now imagine sending your kid to a STEM class. They’re writing these codes, they know in theory what they do, and then they’re graded for it. They don’t create anything, nor are they allowed to participate in choosing the project, the topic, the way it’s all going to look.

PBL allows them to do exactly that, and not only learn better by doing it, but get excited about what they’re doing, and get motivated to learn more! Just take a look at these awesome websites our amazing interns created in only a week, without any prior STEM knowledge! It looks insane – but it’s all about teaching them the right way.

Conclusion

STEM may be all the hype right now, but research shows that including it in school education isn’t yielding the expected results. Due to its poor implementation and the lack of soft skills and PBL, as well as the whole situation being even more complicated for kids who come from smaller cities, students are lacking the excitement and knowledge to keep on pursuing it. But thanks to Nobel’s amazing STEM rockstars, we’ve come up with a solution. If you want your kid to be successful in STEM and life in general, sign them up for one of our many projects. Until our school curriculum is fixed, it’s the only way they’ll get that.

Me waiting for our school curriculum to get STEM right

6 Fields Where Coding Comes in Handy

January 16, 2019/0 Comments/in For Educators, For Individuals, For Students /by Jelena

Today’s society keeps on raving about the importance of coding. “It’s the future!”, they insist, but you rarely hear why it’s the future or what kind of job it’s preparing you for. Sure, you’re sitting at a computer and writing code – but what for?

That’s where we come in! We’d like to help everyone interested in coding learn about all the different areas in which coding can come in handy. If you’ve ever asked yourself, “How is coding even useful to me or anyone else and what can I do with it besides sit and type?”, this article is for you!

1. It’s All About the Design

Have you ever visited a website that was just a plain background with text on it? You weren’t really in awe of it and didn’t want to go back there unless you had to, right? To stop that from happening to your website – or some other you may simply be working on – you can use the magic (and science) of web design.

Any website, whether it be a cooking blog or Facebook itself, needs good design in order to be attractive – and highly functional – for its visitors. This is where coding meets art – you can combine and create endless versions of a single website until you’ve found the one that works and looks best.

If this is something your child might be interested in learning, enroll them in our online mini-project, “Coding & Web Design”. In only a week, they will learn how to build the entire website from scratch. They’ll be working in an international team from the comfort of their home, while creating a website that will go live at the end of the project!

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2. Make Our Lives Easier with Robotics

You might have guessed this one already. The field of robotics would be impossible without the art of coding. Yes, I said art. Because, even though coding is a very exact science, if you find a fulfilling project in a field that interests you, you’re bound to become an artist. You need to always be coming up with creative ideas in order to make something that has not been done before – work. Today, we may think that inventing a phone is pure science, but Alexander Graham Bell probably thought of it in different terms.

Trial and error, and the joy of seeing your robot friend move and respond exactly the way you wanted it to once you get the code right – can you imagine anything better? Just take a look at what has already been accomplished in this field thanks to coding and the brilliant minds behind it:

3. Teach Artificial Intelligence to Think

Have you ever chatted with Cleverbot? Or Siri? Or Cortana? Those are all AI’s – artificial intelligence programs. They are able to learn based on your answers, much like a child would when they are just starting to talk and ask questions.

However, they are still very basic in what they do – but AGI’s (Artificial General intelligences) are not. They are capable of what is referred to as deep learning and they are able to pass the coffee test. This is not a joke, I promise – it’s an interesting, yet very telling way of making sure your AGI is functioning at a human level.

4. Send People into Space

Yes, astronomy. NASA would have gone bankrupt decades ago if it didn’t have some of the brightest programmers in history working on its projects. Margaret Hamilton is one of them. She is a brilliant programmer, who created the software that put the first man on the Moon. [1] When Apollo 11 was reporting problems, her code was what made it possible for the Moon landing to happen. The software for this mission had thousands of lines of code – but don’t let that scare you! Margaret also had 400 people helping her with the software design, so she was never alone in it. [1]

Imagine being able to say one day that your code was the one that helped invent traveling through hyperspace! Why not? Once upon a time people thought that going to the Moon was impossible, too.

5. Help Psychologists with Their Numbers

This one might sound the weirdest of all. Aren’t psychologists supposed to be talking to people? They are, and they do! But to learn how best to help people, they need to have data that tells them what people are usually troubled by. The way they can do that is through giving them tests. However, they don’t just count the answers in their heads in order to acquire data – they mostly use a program called SPSS. SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) is like a very cool Excel for psychologists; it contains all the necessary formulae for the types of measurements they need.

Not only did someone need to code that entire program, but from time to time, you need to be entering your own code into it to make it do exactly what you want it to. Who knew even social sciences relied on coding?

6. Learn All About the Human Code

Let’s finish this list with another surprising field. Biology is the science that studies living beings – which, as far as we know, do not have any code inside of them… Or do they? We are all, essentially, all made up of code. For example, our DNA consists of four nucleobases – adenine, cytosine, guanine, thymine, and uracil. These five little things are what makes you – you. They are at the basis of your genetic code. And that’s just the beginning! We are made up of millions upon millions of microscopic parts. Each of them is different from the other, and biologists keep finding out new ways in which they affect us.

In order to be sure of what they’ve discovered, they need to run tests. They used to use Excel sheets to help them look at data and come up with results. But looking manually through 15,000 data points is not only exhausting, but impossible as well – at least if we’re to eliminate any chance of making a mistake. [2] That’s where coding comes in: it helps biologists organize their data, go through different variations and simulations, and eventually gives them the result they were searching for so they can continue doing their amazing work. [2]

We hope this list (that can certainly be even longer) convinced you that whatever it is you wish to do in life, coding can be a great addition to it. If you’re interested in helping yourself or your child start learning, check out our upcoming projects.

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References:

1. https://www.thevintagenews.com/2017/12/04/margaret-hamilton/

2. https://www.wired.com/2017/03/biologists-teaching-code-survive/

The Importance of STEM Education

December 20, 2018/2 Comments/in For Educators /by Anja Zlatovic

STEM – Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics – is the field that helps children learn how to program, make codes, and understand technological devices. We at Nobel Explorers focus on these STEM activities in our projects.

Why the focus at NE and in today’s world in general on STEM, and why has it become so universally discussed? Here we’ll list the most important reasons why STEM is so valuable and why STEM education for children should be in the forefront of the learning process.

We need more people in STEM

Statistics tell us there are currently more than a million job vacancies in the STEM industry, while at the same time only 16% of college students graduate in STEM fields or subjects [2].

Demand for STEM jobs increased three times between 2000 and 2010, and continues to grow [4], with many new fields and professions emerging each day. With advances in artificial intelligence, millions of jobs are now vacant [5]. So clearly, STEM is the key to the careers of the future and it needs many more participants.

But it must be noted that there is more to IT professions than just computer science and data mining. In this competitive labor market, people who know math and science have better employment chances – for example, this knowledge and skill set are necessary to win IT positions in Silicon Valley [1]. That is why we should not undervalue math or science and only focus on technology or engineering. We need to learn all STEM fields together and see them as equally important.

We need to better prepare children for college – and for the STEM field in general

Research show horrifying statistics – 78% of high-school graduates have been proven unprepared for college courses, including courses in mathematics, science, reading, and English [4].

Better STEM education before the college level will encourage students to enroll in these courses there, and perhaps decide to pursue a career in related fields. Moreover, they’ll be more confident about their studies in general and far less likely to drop out.

Keep in mind that there are some non-degree STEM jobs – pharmacy technicians, veterinary assistants, computer support specialists, registered nurse, air traffic controller, etc. The focus should not only be on students who plan on getting a Bachelor’s degree in STEM. It should be on all students who are interested in STEM and might pursue a career in it. [7]

STEM is vital for non-STEM jobs as well

We must remember that STEM education also reaches beyond the classroom and although it doesn’t necessarily mean someone will end up in a STEM-related profession, scientific, technological, and mathematical knowledge is integral in today’s world to many different careers, such as journalism, museum curation, and community outreach [3].

Every job includes a financial aspect – math education can help in this. We live more and more in the digital age, so technology is important in all jobs. Even if you end up in humanities and the arts, computer skills are something you should be familiar with.

STEM is vital to understanding the basics of the environment

Yet we don’t only need STEM in our careers. So much of STEM-related knowledge can help us learn about our environment and society. In today’s world, we can understand more phenomena if we understand STEM – from the weather to technology and electricity, even to politics [3].

So, a good STEM education is not just vital for tomorrow’s Ph.D. candidates in biology or Nobel prize winners. It is vital for everyone who wants to understand the world they live in.

Making everyone mathematically and technologically literate is the goal of technology and engineering education and is why it is being addressed not only at the state level but nationally as well [5]. Teachers should never focus solely on those who have prospects to “succeed” in the STEM field and who are gifted. Their goal should be to make all children technologically and mathematically literate [6].

Minorities are underrepresented

Not only do we have a lack of women in the STEM field, but numbers prove all minorities are underrepresented. There are just 2.2% of Latinos, 2.7% of African Americans, and 3.3% of Native Americans earning a college degree in STEM fields [4].

The fact that these minorities are not enrolling in STEM courses in college means they will have difficulty qualifying for STEM-related jobs. They will not be eligible for good positions and well-paying employment. If we continue to work on universal STEM education and provide a welcoming environment for all minorities, we will be enabling them to qualify for higher-ranking, well-paying jobs [4].

“SCIENCE is a way of thinking much more than it is a body of knowledge. Its goal is to find out how the world works, to seek what regularities there may be, to penetrate to the connections of things—from subnuclear particles, which may be the constituents of all matter, to living organisms, the human social community, and thence to the cosmos as a whole.” – Carl Sagan

STEM sparks general creativity

Studying STEM-related subjects can broaden the horizons of the mind. If you learn to think in a scientific way, you will learn the techniques of trial and error. The key is solving problems creatively, of questioning things, seeking the truth, and always be eager to explore more about how things work. Children should learn these things. That is why children should study science and its way of thinking.

In order to be a good scientist, you need to be creative and imaginative. And while the arts and imagination are often set aside as not that important for children, it is a great thing to know that by learning STEM, a child also practices these aspects of their thinking [6].

Good STEM education must not be boring, simplistic, and focused only on the pure facts of mathematics or science. It should be multidisciplinary, incorporating other skills and geared towards all children, so they can learn and enjoy.

[1] https://www.datanami.com/2018/09/17/improving-your-odds-with-data-science-hiring/
[2] https://coderacademy.edu.au/blog/people/why-is-STEM-education-important
[3] Neal, Homer A, Smith, Tobin L. and McCormick, Jennifer B. 2011. Beyond SPUTNIK – U.S. Science Policy in the Twenty-First Century. The University of Michigan Press: Michigan.
[4] https://ssec.si.edu/stem-imperative
[5] https://www.theverge.com/2017/12/5/16737224/global-ai-talent-shortfall-tencent-report
[6] Chesky, Nataly Z. and Wolfmeyer, Mark R. 2015. Philosophy of STEM Education: A Critical Investigation. Palgrave MacMillan: New York.
[7] https://stemjobs.com/dont-require-a-bachelors-degree/

Nobel Explorers’ Projects – Explained By Our Hard Skills Specialist

November 14, 2018/0 Comments/in For Educators, For Individuals /by Jelena

Yours truly had the pleasure of talking with Nobel Explorers’ hard-skills specialist a couple of days ago. I wanted to find out more and to give you, dear reader, an exclusive peek into Nobel Explorers’ story, programs, and all the benefits your child can get by signing up for them.

Aniko, Nobel Explorers’ hard skills specialist.

Hey Aniko! Thank you for finding the time to talk to me. First of all, could you tell our readers what it is that you do in Nobel Explorers?

I am a hard-skills team lead, and I’m also the content creator and instructor of the Coding and Web Design project. Basically, this means that I am the person responsible for the content of the projects in the sense of all the technical skills, how much coding goes in, how the content will be organized, etc. Of course, for different projects we have different developers who tackle their specific area of expertise, and I oversee and coordinate to make sure everything is aligned with the way we do learning in Nobel Explorers, with the way we do PBL (project-based learning), and with our overall goals in the team. In terms of my work on the Coding and Web Design project, I am the person who does the content, chooses the materials, who works with the Explorers, who guides them on their journey to create their first website, to code it, design it, to make it come to life and share it with the world.

That’s quite a lot of work! I’m wondering, how did you get into STEM? Could you share a little bit about your educational background with us?

Well, this is a tough one. My background is quite versatile, and I strongly believe that in 2018 coding is no longer a life path on its own, but a required skill for any type of work that you do, and I don’t think coding skills are limited to coders and programmers anymore but that they can be utilized by many professions. One of the reasons I’m saying this is because my starting point and university education set off as linguistics, which is a social science. I got into coding by attending a program really young, but other things got in the way and I stopped pursuing that side of my interests. Then, somewhere along the line, I realized that there’s a way to combine linguistics with the coding that I had been neglecting, and I started working in a field called computational linguistics or natural language processing. This basically meant that I was working with natural language data, but applying artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms to work with these kind of things. So this was my entry point into coding. I realized there are so many things I can do, and I also had this visual side of my interests where I really liked to create beautiful things, so it was like – ‘Okay, I know Python already from artificial intelligence and there’s Python in web development, so what can I learn in web development further than this?’, and it became kind of a side interest, so now I have two parallel careers, or maybe even three! (laugh)

Like a side career of a side career! (laugh) You’ve mentioned just now that you don’t think coding is limited to programmers only anymore. Which other professions do you think can benefit from coding?

We’ve seen a lot of professions advance from the automation that programing brings. You can automate everyday tasks and make your life easier in any profession. Some of the professions that I have seen coding bring huge benefits to are biology, astronomy, and many more. Oh, there’s psychology as well! There are programming languages developed for stats, for getting information out of data.

Good point – I remember working with those during my university years. In your opinion, why is it important to be knowledgeable about STEM? What makes STEM so crucial in today’s society?

I think there are several aspects to this. I think coding will become a tool to facilitate our work and enable us to do more things in the future and do them better, more precisely. There are some things computers are really good at, and some things humans are really good at, and I don’t think… There’s often this fear that computers will replace us because they do better math, but I still think that there’s a human component to whatever we do and that we will be dared to use coding skills and programing and automation to our benefit, to enable us to do more and do better.

Since you’ve touched on the topic of programming and math, I have to ask – Do we need some prerequisites in order to start coding? Do we need to know math, for example? Or can anyone learn how to code?

I don’t think there’s a set of requirements. Coding is a wide field, so if you’re not really good at math, you can probably find an area that relies more heavily on logic, functional programming… In that sense, you will use some concepts from math, but it won’t necessarily be calculus or algebra that’s needed for it. Even in areas like machine learning where algorithms rely heavily on some concepts from math, there are ways that the code is organized so that you can actually use it and do amazing stuff with it without an understanding of the high-level math concepts that are behind those algorithms.

That’s good to know! I’m wondering, what drew you to Nobel Explorers in particular?

Nobel Explorers was one of those things that felt right from the first moment. I loved the company story, I loved the motivation behind it, I could really resonate with the long-term vision. As time was passing by, I felt like I was discovering all these new layers of Nobel Explorers that I did not see initially or that have developed in the meantime, and it has always been a positive surprise. There are always new challenges ahead of us, but we have an amazing team with versatile backgrounds and experiences, and there is no way we don’t come up with a solution if we put our heads together.

Could you tell us a little bit about the programs?

NE programs are designed as a way to engage Explorers, and they are conceived around something called PBL (Project-Based Learning), which means that the way we learn and the way we teach in NE is a really hands on experience. So there is not a lot of theory, not a lot of teaching where everybody’s just listening to one person sharing the knowledge, but we have real-life tasks with real-life values, and everything our Explorers learn is focused towards achieving a certain goal. So you will never code just for the sake of coding, you will code to create a website, to solve a real-life problem, and the one thing we really make sure happens is that the project does not end with the Explorers’ time with us, but that they create something that is maintained in the real world. For example, once they create a website, that website is accessible to everyone, it’s spread to the community, and they can even work on it further if they wish to.

What is it that makes Nobel Explorers’ programs different from other projects you’ve worked on?

I think one thing that Nobel does in an excellent way is to try different approaches to education. We constantly go through testing and adapting to make sure that we’re giving and sharing the knowledge in a way that is fun, that is accessible, and that has real value. I’m not sure if all of these components are unique and if no one else does them, but definitely the combination of all the different aspects is definitely unique to us. The fact that we integrate teamwork and collaboration in an international environment – I think that’s the magic recipe and the secret sauce.

You are a hard-skills specialist, but I assume you work very closely with the other people in the team. Could you tell us what made you include soft skills as well in your program? What makes them so important?

As I said, coding and STEM are only tools. Coding is a skill you can acquire, but in order to create really good, unique things that are amazing, always takes the joint effort of a team. And soft skills enable us to collaborate and communicate and share ideas in a way that ensures they are being heard which, in turn, ensures that we can bring our knowledge together and not just work as individuals. Because as a team, we can always achieve more.

So kind of like Steve Jobs didn’t start out alone but he had Steve Wozniak with him?

(laugh) Something like that.

What is your message for parents who are thinking about joining the NE programs but are not sure about it?

If you are thinking of NE vs. another program, apart from us having amazing content, the outcome is that in a really short time, we teach kids or anyone working on our projects a lot of things. For example, in the Coding and Web Design project, we manage to organize content that takes somebody who didn’t know how to code, and in 13 meetings, or 26 hours of time with us, they learn to code a website from scratch, organize it, make it visually appealing, and publish it on the web. If you ask me, that is pretty amazing.

Become a Nobel Explorer today or contact us if you have questions about our projects.

Conflict Can Be Good

August 12, 2018/0 Comments/in For Educators, For Individuals, For Students /by Jelena N.

What do you think of when you hear the word conflict?

Fighting? War?

Anger? Frustration?

Many people view conflict as bad, negative, and tend to avoid it. They believe that conflicts lead to “ugly” feelings, mistrust, damage to relationships, etc [1, 3]. True, there are indeed many possible negative consequences. Given this, can conflict be good? As with almost anything, conflict has advantages and disadvantages. So, the answer is yes – conflict can be good!

Conflict has the capacity not only to cause harm and pain, but also to create a positive change for us [1, 3]. A possible reason for its bad reputation is that conflicts are often poorly managed and handled in painful ways. Under appropriate conditions, conflict can provide important benefits.

10 Benefits of conflict

So, what are these beneficial effects? Here’s some of the advantages that well-managed conflict might include [1, 2, 3, 4]:

Conflicts focus attention on problems that need to be solved, but which have previously been ignored or neglected.
Creation of energy, focus, and the motivation needed for solving problems.
Released negative emotions (anger, tension, anxiety, sadness…) and better control of emotions.
Conflicts may prevent disagreement from becoming more intense or damaging.
Enhanced quality of many decisions– the critique of someone’s ideas by others encourages a more thorough evaluation of them.
Also, discussion of incompatible ideas may result in adoption of a more open-minded approach to issues and problems.
Facilitation of understanding of other people’s perspectives on the problems.
Increased closeness with each other and relationships clear of irritations. If the conflict is among groups, it leads to increased loyalty and cohesiveness. This further results in enhanced performance and productivity.
Stimulation of curiosity, interest, and information search. Conflicts also encourage the consideration of new ideas and approaches and leads to facilitation of innovation and change.
Growth– conflicts may promote cognitive, social, and moral development.

Conflict and emotions

So, under what conditions can conflict be beneficial? Let’s start with emotions. Conflict often creates the arousal of powerful negative emotions: anger, frustration, suspicion, etc. Also, it can cause stress and anxiety, which can lead to loss of sleep, decrease in productivity, and failure to be innovative or creative [2, 4].

At the same time, conflict situations often require the careful processing of complex information such as the opponents’ motives and intentions, their strategy, and the impact of their moves. This means that in order to solve the conflict constructively, you need to put in a great deal of cognitive effort. However, the likelihood of effective completion of these cognitive tasks is significantly reduced by the presence of powerful emotions [4]. So, what can we do about that?

A great way to master your skills in managing conflicts and making them constructive is to participate in Nobel Explorers, the first international STEM camp that focuses on soft skills as much as on the hard skills. In Nobel Explorers, we are aware of how powerful conflict can be and how important it is in negotiation. That’s why participants of all our projects work hard on mastering their conflict resolution skills with the help of our soft skills facilitators. And they earn cool badges like these below while doing that, so it is also fun!

How to deal with negative emotions

How can we maximize the probability that conflict will produce positive outcomes? In order for conflict to have benefits, it’s important either to avoid the arousal of negative emotions or to take active steps to reduce their presence [1].

It doesn’t have to look like this!

We can avoid arousal of strong feelings of anger and related emotions. That can be done in two ways:

Putting effort into inducing participants in the conflict to focus on the potential gains that may be obtained from a favorable resolution. In other words, try hard to show the participant(s) in conflict the advantages of choosing the resolution you think is best.
Providing participants with information as to why an opponent has adopted a particular stance. Here, you don’t need a third party – you can enumerate for the opponent arguments for the position you represent. This way, their reactions may be considerably more favorable and less emotional.

In many situations, it’s impossible to prevent the arousal of negative emotions among the persons in conflict. In such cases, there are two steps that can reduce such reactions:

Induction of positive affective states that are incompatible with anger or frustration. You can’t be happy and angry at the same time, right?
Exposing persons in a conflict situation to mild flattery, a small gift, etc. For example, lower your voice and tell them how good they are at managing conflict.

Now when you know how to handle negative emotions in conflicts, there’s one more thing –practice! The more you practice, the better you will be.

But why is this so important?

Conflict is inevitable

The reality is that conflict is part of all our relationships – at home, at school, at work… This being the case, it’s best to accept its inevitability, understand that it isn’t necessarily bad, and to practice managing it.

Other than learning how to handle differences in opinion, in Nobel Explorers you will also be able to practice a very cool skill that will help you turn every conflict into a constructive one and find a win-win solution for it.

Remember, The World Economic Forum listed soft skills as the skills you’ll need to thrive in the future since a lot of the jobs will be automated and taken by AI. One of those skills is negotiation and it has a lot to do with managing conflict! So, sign up for Nobel Explorers and master your future-ready skills!

Resources:

[1] Baron, R. A. (1991). Positive effects of conflict: A cognitive perspective. Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal,4(1), 25-36. doi:10.1007/bf01390436

[2] Johnson, D. W., & Johnson, F. P. (2013). Joining together: Group theory and group skills (12th ed.). Boston: Pearson.

[3] Rebroadcast: Discussing Conflict With Clair Canfield On Monday’s Access Utah [Audio blog interview]. (2016, December 6). Retrieved July 20, 2018, from http://www.upr.org/post/rebroadcast-discussing-conflict-clair-canfield-mondays-access-utah

[4] Zillmann, D. (1979). Hostility and Aggression. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.