Mouser Electronics Inc., a semiconductor and electronic component distributor, will be a sponsor of the 15th annual National STEM League (NSL) Finals for Ten80 teams. The Finals will take place April 29–30 at Miami Coral Park Senior High School in Miami, Florida, powered by the iNational STEM League. Student teams will compete in virtual and in-person events at the finals.
The NSL Finals mark the peak of year-long Ten80 science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) programs that teach students to theorize how engineering performance and emerging technologies can improve personal, academic and professional pursuits.
Student teams from across the United States and China compete in Racing, Autonomous Vehicle (AV) and Unmanned Autonomous Vehicle (UAV) challenges using skills they have practiced during the academic year, including STEM innovation and entrepreneurship. Participants also practice communicating and collaborating as a team while using ingenuity and critical thinking to solve problems. For instance, in the AV challenge, students learn to integrate physical computing systems to unlock the power of the self-driving vehicles. Once students understand the form and function of each component and system, they optimize its design and automate its operation using open-source hardware and software such as the Arduino platform.
“Mouser is excited to support Ten80 and its highly engaging STEM educational initiatives for students,” said Kevin Hess, Mouser’s senior vice president of marketing. “Education is central to Mouser’s history, and we gladly support STEM events like this to help prepare students for successful careers as leaders of technological innovation.”
Ten80’s first engineer-educator teams formed in the late 1990s to champion project-based learning through professional development. During the last 20-plus years, through National Science Foundation grants, longitudinal studies and K-12 educators, Ten80 has developed a comprehensive, data-driven philosophy and framework for STEM education that can engage and serve all students.
Today, Ten80 is a leader in STEM education, named one of four Exemplary and Ready-to-Scale initiatives by Change the Equation and STEMWorks. K–12 schools, organizations and networks partner with Ten80 to initiate a comprehensive STEM system or strengthen existing programs through collaboration, curriculum and kickoffs and competition.
