STEM Contest Challenges Students to Imagine Future Technology

Budding futurists of tomorrow are being invited to enter a science competition, from Toshiba and the National Science Teachers Association, that asks them to propose a new technology based on a problem that exists today for a shot at a $10,000 savings bond and other prizes.

Open to K-12 students in the United States and Canada, the ExploraVision program, now in its 23rd year, challenges entrants to think 20 years down the line at what future technologies may need to address while simulating real scientific research to outline how they plan to test their idea. Students also create a mock website to illustrate their concept.

Previous winners have conceptualized devices designed to help protect children and animals from hot cars, de-ice planes, and sustainably power medical implants.

Working in teams of two to four, students--with the help of a teacher and adult mentor, if they so choose--compete in age-level groups, first at a regional level. Top regional teams get Toshiba technology and move on to the national stage where they may win travel to Washington D.C. and a savings bond.

Students in grades 8-11 who enter the contest can also apply for the TOMODACHI Toshiba Science & Technology Leadership Academy, a week-long STEM exchange program held in Tokyo.

Contest registration is open until January 30, 2015

About the Author

Stephen Noonoo is an education technology journalist based in Los Angeles. He is on Twitter @stephenoonoo.

Featured

  • metallic padlock with a glowing keyhole, set on a dark gradient background with a faint digital grid and blue-green highlights

    Microsoft Announces Security Updates

    Microsoft has introduced a handful of new security tools and updates, which the company said adhere to its Secure Future Initiative, a set of three core tenets emphasizing "secure by design, secure by default and secure operations."

  • glowing digital brain made of blue circuitry hovers above multiple stylized clouds of interconnected network nodes against a dark, futuristic background

    Report: 85% of Organizations Are Leveraging AI

    Eighty-five percent of organizations today are utilizing some form of AI, according to the latest State of AI in the Cloud 2025 report from Wiz. While AI's role in innovation and disruption continues to expand, security vulnerabilities and governance challenges remain pressing concerns.

  • computer screen displaying a landline phone being unplugged from a single cord, with a modern office desk, keyboard, and subtle lighting in the background

    Microsoft Shutting Down Skype

    Microsoft has announced that it will discontinue service for its Skype telecommunications and video calling services on May 5, 2025.

  • group of elementary school students designing video games on computers in a modern classroom with a teacher, depicted in a geometric and abstract style

    Using Video Game Design to Teach Literacy Skills

    The Max Schoenfeld School, a public school in the Bronx serving one of the poorest communities in the nation, is taking an innovative approach to improving student literacy.