National STEM Video Game Design Workshops at Libraries and Museums

The fourth National STEM Video Game Challenge is well underway this year, with students from middle school and high school programs across the country creating their own video games. We can’t wait to see the results of their hard work as the submissions begin rolling in—we’ve always been blown away by their creativity!

Game design professionals will present hands-on workshops for youth and staff museum and library professionals across the country with the generous support of our national community program sponsor, the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

We’re kicking off the series of workshops this Saturday, December 13, 2014 at 1 p.m. at the Free Library of Philadelphia, Lillian Marrero Branch. The library recently received an IMLS National Leadership Grant for their Maker Jawn initiative to support STEM programming to multi-generational audiences, and the STEM Challenge workshop will fuel the momentum for the year to come.

The first 14 workshops have been confirmed at the following locations and times:

• December 13, 2014, 1-4pm: Free Library of Philadelphia, Lillian Marrero Branch, Philadelphia, PA
• December 20, 2014, 1-4pm: Science Museum of Virginia, Richmond, VA
• January 3, 2015, 1-4pm: Pima County Public Library, Tucson, AZ
• January 14, 2015, 4-7pm: City of New Braunfels Public Library, New Braunfels, TX
• January 24, 2015, 10am-2pm: Museum of History & Industry, Seattle, WA
• January 25, 2015, 12-4pm: Port Townsend Public Library, Port Townsend, WA
• January 26, 2015, 10am-1pm: Port Townsend Public Library, Port Townsend, WA
• February 5, 2015, 6-8:30 pm: Billings Public Library, Teen Game Design Workshop, Billings, MT
• February 6, 2015, 1-3:30 pm: Billings Public Library, Librarian Workshop, Billings, MT
• February 7, 2015, 1-3:30 pm: Billings Public Library, Librarian Workshop, Billings, MT
• February 7, 2015, 1-4pm: Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum Teen Workshop, New York, NY
• March 6, 2015, 9am-2pm: SciTech Days, Carnegie Science Center, Pittsburgh, PA
• March 7, 2015, 1-4pm: Carnegie Science Center, Teen Workshop, Pittsburgh, PA
• March 7, 2015: Carnegie Science Center, Teacher Workshop, Pittsburgh, PA

We’ll be posting more workshops as dates are confirmed on the stemchallenge.org website — check the homepage often! The site also features resources and tips to help students and mentors get started, so dig in and start learning about the process of creating successful games.

This year’s STEM Challenge will be accepting entries from youth in grades 5- 12 through February 25, 2015. Learn more about the Challenge rules and submission guidelines on the website.