STEMwire

STEMwire creates conversation about science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education that calls the audience to action and involves the user in digitally reported stories. The digital news service is powered by the Reese News Lab at the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media.

The school received a grant from Carnegie Corp. of New York to fund the 100Kin10 Digital News Service, whose effort is to advance the national conversation around the need for more STEM teachers in America. The one-year, $50,000 award will finance STEMwire’s efforts to develop stories that engage audiences and take action on STEM education issues.

The 100Kin10 initiative invites stakeholders to apply resources strategically to address the shortage of STEM teachers and improve learning for all students. It includes more than 100 organizations collaborating to reach the goal of 100,000 new STEM teachers in the classroom over the next 10 years.

The digital news service will distribute content to 100Kin10 partners and other media organizations on various platforms, tracking audience engagement with the stories in order to inform future coverage and approaches to reporting.

STEMwire will ensure that debate on the issues is framed by accurate, timely and complete information, and that the topics are presented in ways that are engaging and clear.

Focusing on content that is not necessarily reported in mainstream media and finding new ways to add context to stories, the project creates the opportunity for deeper audience research and analysis to identify content that extends discussions and stirs people to action.